Corey Speer
Immanuel Sermon Audio
James (59:66)
And if you have a Bible, you can open up to the book of James. We will kind of be going through chronologically and reading a lot of the book of James. So be sure and stay tuned into the book because we will be going through there. The reason why we looked at siblings earlier is because James is the half-brother of Jesus. We see that James at the point of writing the book of James is a leader of the church in Jerusalem. In 62 A.D. he is going to Herod. We'll have him put to death by the sword. We see that in Acts chapter 12. But the book of James is a book of practical instructions. And as we see these practical instructions where a lot of people really like the book of James because they like a book where the faith works. They like a book that is straight to the point and a lot of people like it for that reason. Another thing that people do often is they will ignore the book of James because it's so difficult and straight to the point. So sometimes it's a good thing for some people and other times people will avoid it entirely because of its straightforwardness. One thing about James and I want to kind of mention this before we get started before we get into the book is that James did not early in his life believe that his brother was who he said he was. He doubted that Jesus was who he said he was and he even said that he was insane. We see in Mark 3 21 you don't have to turn there but he and his brothers his family thought that Jesus was out of his mind. They did not think that he was who he said he was and John 7 5. Obviously it says his brothers did not believe him. And even in Mark there it will go into part of the story where Jesus they come to get Jesus he's creating a crowd is gathering and he's making a scene and they go to get him and they say hey your family's here to get you. And Jesus makes even a point then that those who are in his family are those who belong to the father. So James is going to get into obedience and obedience putting faith into action and I can't say the word obedience without thinking about my son and because he is learning how to obey my four-year-old he's learning the hard way how to obey right and I say he's learning the hard way how to obey because so many times I have to sit and explain to him all right this is what you did this is why you're being punished because you know he when they make that sad face it's just pitiful and you just don't want to get on to him right but you do it anyway and you say if you would just and I've made the comment to Isaiah on many occasions if you would just obey if you would just do what is right and it's amazing how many times the Holy Spirit will go and I'm like yes Lord I heard that thank you very much for the slap in the face but it's amazing how difficult obedience is it's amazing how much when we talk about obedience and we talk about faith and action very popular to read very easy to ignore very popular to read and hear a sermon about and you're like yes but when it comes to putting it into action when it comes to obeying that's what when it when it gets hard so James in the book of James we're going to see that James is absolutely not interested in telling us what we want to hear he doesn't care he doesn't care what you want to hear he's going to tell you how it is and you have to deal with what he says so let's look at the outline of the book of James we have a greeting in one one we see the testing of faith in one there we see the hearing and obeying of God's word the sin of partiality faith without works is dead the sin of dissension in the community the sin of the wealthy the prayer of faith and of course the conclusion so we're going to look at some truths tonight but we're going to start with some myths because in the world that we live in it's very easy for God's word and the world's truth and God's truth they some people try to put those things together and that's not what it is so there's some myths that our world tells us and we're going to look at three myths so myth number one trials are bad now there is a lot of truth to that statement there is a lot of truth to the statement that trials are bad there are times when we have pain in our life there are times when we suffer maybe you've lost a loved one and we have suffering and we would do anything in our power to avoid that suffering a lot of the time we would do anything for that pain to go away but James is going to look at trials in a different way okay not saying that pain and suffering aren't going to be a part of life because they are going to be a part of life but James just says there's a different way to look at that trials the the world tells us that trials are bad James is going to tell look at chapter one verse two James tells us count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds trials are reason for joy and James is going to show us this and here are four ways that James will show us that trials are to be a joy to us number one trials are a way to maturity trials are a way to maturity verses three and four says this for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing you know one of the things that me and my wife over the last four months as we've been trying very hard to get in shape to lose weight and one of the things that we do in that is that we lift weights and lifting weights I like to lift weights until the next day that makes sense because the next day what happens you're in pain right you put your muscles to the test you stress them out and then the next day they're rebuilding themselves and that causes pain and honestly when that happens you want to go okay I don't want to work out tomorrow because if it's going to cause that much pain but it gets better over time right we learn from that it produces it completes our muscles it makes them stronger and that's the same thing that that James is talking about here you know another way to explain this is when two people who are not a lot get married okay another analogy of me and my wife we are without it out two of the most opposite people you are ever meet okay I'm loud she's not okay I'm somewhat insane crazy but she's not right and she's very quiet she's very organized I'm not okay I'm messy she's not as messy you're welcome honey but it's amazing how it it was kind of funny this just a little personal testimony for you but when we were dating at one time I actually stopped talking to her for a little while idiot but I stopped talking to her because I was like we don't really have that much in common and shouldn't you have something in common with someone that you're going to marry and was at dinner with some friends one night and I told them and they were like hey you're going to date Catherine what's the deal I don't know we don't have very much in common she doesn't even listen to music she doesn't even know who Michael Jackson is or anything like that and it's like really that's going to be the basis for why you don't anyway so they spoke wisdom into my life I ask if she would give me a second chance she did and it's amazing how God has grown us through that process it's amazing how God has grown me it's amazing how God has grown her but through that process we have grown to a place to where it makes us better and that's the same thing that James is talking about here with trials because I got news for you the first year of our marriage it was a trial things that she doesn't like that I did things that I like that she didn't I want my clothes right there in my closet floor just leave them there but it made us better okay and that's what trials James is saying that trials do in our life okay and makes us stronger it will grow us to maturity and and James tells us consider them joy so first thing is it takes us it's a way to maturity the second thing is trials cause us to depend on God trials cause us to depend on God look at verse five and six in chapter one says if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him but let him ask in faith with no doubting for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord he is a double-minded man unstable in all of his ways you know if we try to do everything on our own strength we will never learn to rely on God we'll never learn to rely on God the way that he he asks us to you know this reminded me of a few stories where we see Moses and he's led the people of Israel to the Red Sea and they're about to cross over and they really don't know what to do they have mountains on both sides they have Pharaoh and his army at their back they have the Red Sea at their front and Moses's comment to him is what option do I have but to trust you what option do I have but to trust you and then Jesus there was a time in John chapter six where he is teaching to a multitude of people and he says some very hard things that causes most of the people to leave and he will turn to his disciples and he goes are you going to leave too are you going to leave and in which they reply Lord to whom shall we go you have the words to eternal life in other words they were saying we have no other option but to trust you we have no other option so a way to maturity causes us to depend on God thirdly it says we consider them joy because trials will pass trials will pass verses nine through twelve says let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation because like the flower of the grass he will pass away for the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass the flowers fall and its beauty perishes so all will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him you know God's ways of measuring are not like our ways of measuring and when you know in this life we are going to face trials and the two things that the worst two things it could have first of all we need to understand that those trials will pass they will stop and the only other option besides them going away is our life to be taken from us and as we've seen as we look forward and we're going to talk about this here in a minute as we look forward to what our home is this is not our home but heaven is our home the best thing that could ever happen to us is that we'd be taken from this earth right so it doesn't matter if it's in this life or in the next it will pass it will pass so maturity those things we depend on God they will pass we know that those trials will pass so lastly trials are good for God's good purpose they are for God's good purpose you know this one is probably the hardest to understand when we're in the middle of a trial when we're in the middle of chaos when we're in the middle of suffering when we're in the middle of pain we look at that situation and we think how could this be for God's good how in the world could this be for God good let's look at these verses verse 13 through 15 chapter 1 let no one say when he is tempted I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one each but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death temptation is not from God you know temptation when we are tempted and lured it's by our own selfish desires by our own evil desires trials can come from God okay trials can but yielding to these trials and yielding to God during these trials brings us to maturity it helps mature us it helps make us better so embrace your trials consider them joy but that's always easier said than done right always easier said than done you know we cannot take direction from our emotions one of the things that we can't let happen when we're in the middle of a trial is let our emotions get in the way because sometimes they do we just get bogged down with the emotions of what's going on and but we can't let those let that happen I want to read something from you we're our staff is going through this book it's called side by side and I have a quote from it later on in a moment but I want to read something from you from this book because I think it's really good it's a story about when hard circumstances meet busy hearts and I want you to listen to this says a 54 year old father of four had a long history of walking with Jesus one of his routines was to read a psalm every day and psalm 22 was one of his favorites since he had done this for decades he certainly was accustomed to speaking honestly to the Lord in all circumstances and he too could condense his reactions into a few words during a routine exam his physician noticed a highly irregular lesion on his shoulder which he biopsied and sent to the pathology lab for testing the results were back would be back in about 10 days the physician was clearly concerned and suggested that his patient returned to the office to discuss the results and consider whatever further treatments might be helpful 10 days later he made the visit accompanied by his wife the doctor got right to the point I have bad news the lesion is cancerous what does that mean what is the treatment and prognosis prognosis it is a malignant melanoma one of the most aggressive cancers at this point the only treatment we have is experimental and they haven't shown much promise and the prog prognosis I'm very sorry life expectancy is usually between nine to 12 months he thanked the physician for being helpful clear and forthright they arranged the follow-up appointment to talk about experimental treatments he and his wife left the office and cried together the most powerful part of this story is what I'm about to read but if you put yourself in that she in those shoes what does your faith look like the next words he says to his wife he has his wife as they're crying together and his first words to her are nothing has changed that's true because if you are grounded in the lord if you're grounded the way we're supposed to be if we're looking at trials the way we're supposed to be nothing ever changes god is still good god is still in control even immense the bad times in our life so myth number one tells us that trials are bad no it's not true so myth number two faith is what I think faith is what I think just want to remind everybody myth myth number two okay faith is what I think let's look at James 1 22 starting in 22 says receive with meekness and the implanted word which is able to save your souls but be doers of the word and not here's only deceiving yourselves you know it's very easy to deceive ourselves to hear a sermon to hear to read a good christian book and think that just because we understand it that that understanding that sermon or understanding that book makes us closer to god that could be that is as far from the truth as anything just understanding it is not enough yes is it good to understand it absolutely but it's what we do with that understanding that is proves to be either good or bad because understanding is good understanding and not translating into how into how to live our lives is dangerous I feel I fear that a lot of Christians today especially people in churches have a toxic build up of religious knowledge that has not lived out let me read that again because this was this one kind of spoke to me this week I fear that many religious people in church have a toxic build up of religious knowledge that has not lived out to hear and to not do is a very scary place to be the greatest commandment love the Lord your god and love your neighbor so what is what he's saying here is okay now you've heard it you understand it now go do it I want you to love me and I want you to love others in that order let's let's continue reading in chapter two starting in verse 14 it says what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him if a brother or sister is poorly clothed then lacking in daily food and one of you says to him go in peace be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body what good is that so also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say well you have faith and I have works show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works you believe that God is one you do well even the demons believe in shudder do you want to do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar you see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he called and he was called a friend of God you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same way was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way for as the body apart from the spirit is dead so also faith apart from works is dead faith that is not acted out is not faith at all we see this in three examples in this verse we see this by number one demons the demons believe and they shudder you see many times throughout the gospels that where Jesus would encounter demons and they knew exactly who he was and they knew exactly what he had come to do and they were afraid they shudder he said they shudder they believe in God and it makes them a shudder the belief of the demons in verse 19 does not lead to their repentance and does not does not lead to action does not lead to it second person Abraham his faith and his actions work together we see that Abraham one of the fathers of our faith says was active along with his works and his faith was completed by his works one of the things that makes Abraham stand out is that of course with the sacrifice when God asked him to sacrifice his son and I know we've all if you're a father in here you've put yourself in those shoes I don't know if I could do it I don't know that I could have that kind of faith Abraham did and not only did he believe what God told him he put it into action last person here we see is Rahab okay Rahab and showed her faith by what she did not just by what she knew or by what she said you know she did not her faith carried her and we know Rahab the story of Rahab that God chose to use Rahab through the lineage and which Jesus would come so he chose to use her her faith and her action made her a very pivotal part of the story in the 40s right after the Great Depression sometime around that time cities began to build massive skyscrapers and one of the first cities to build specific skyscrapers where the buildings were a solid piece of glass obviously they weren't a solid piece of glass but the floor from ceiling to floor on the outside looking out was glass okay there was no trim where it fit into the to the wall it was just a solid piece of glass and there's a specific situation where this company I didn't look up at the name but were as they were building these buildings and putting people in offices in these buildings people were afraid to work in those office and productivity went down because they were too afraid to sit by the glass they were too afraid that something might happen if I scoot my chair back too fast it would hit the glass it would break I would fall out and I would fall to my death it would be crazy so they actually had to bring the structural engineer into the room with all of these people brought him all in and he gave all the details of what type of glass they used and how thick it was and how much weight it could hold and in the brackets that were holding it to the building and how much weight it could hold and he goes through all of these details and these people were still like doesn't matter I'm still afraid so here's what he did he had to put his faith into action it takes his hard hat off right and he scoots everybody back and he takes off at a dead sprint straight towards the glass on the outside of the building and he just lunges at it and hits the wall and falls to the ground he's like see you're safe right and they're like okay we're good as hard as he could he just tried to knock that glass off it's kind of funny as I was looking at that story there's actually another story where another guy tried that and it actually popped the window out and he fell and it was bad stuff so but in this case he was okay he put his faith into action just to show them it's okay because here's the deal there's a big difference Abraham in verse 23 it says Abraham believed okay and that word believed is not just believed it in my brain it's believed it in my heart I trust it completely and totally trust it and it's a deep abiding trust look at John 3 16 as an example we all know John 3 16 and the ESV it says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have you turn alive so boom I believe Jesus is the son of God okay so because of that belief I'm in that's what the verse says believe that's what it says if you look at the amplified bible it captures it a little bit differently this is kind of cool it says for God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that he even gave up his only begotten son that whoever believes in and in parentheses it says trust or clings to or relies upon him shall not perish or come to destruction or be lost but have he turn alive see the difference one the word believe means with your mind I believe that the world is round obviously okay but this type of belief that's talking about when Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness is being lived out through the word of God is being lived out it changes not only his mindset but it changes his actions it puts his beliefs into action we are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is never alone it's accompanied with our actions so myth number three religion is a private matter religion is a private matter this may be you may believe this tonight you may be in here and you think that I believe that religion is a private matter my relationship with me and God is very private I like it that way but most people who think that their religion is private means that they do not want to talk about it means they don't want to do anything about it for them religion has become a tool for self-centeredness and it's also often a control of their own destinies they want to be in control of their own destinies our religion becomes the same as ambitions our religion becomes the same as fantasies or even fears and if what James is telling us earlier that our faith must be acted out then the saving faith cannot be private yes it can be personal but it can't be private that makes sense it has to be personal your your faith needs to be personal your relationship with God needs to be very personal but it absolutely cannot be private so trials are bad hearing the word of God means obeying it and it is a public matter it's about life together again here's this book that we were talking about side by side by Edward Welch okay walking together is wisdom and love walking together and wisdom and love and this book is exactly about that it's about walking together with people in the good times in the bad it's about people that you need it's about people that need you and it's a great reminder to us that we live around a world where people are going through all sorts of circumstances and you know what the thing is if you're not going through a trial right now there are people around you that are and you need to be there for them because here's the deal when you're going through a trial you need them to be there for you and that's what it means to be and honestly side by side that the title of this book could be called the church because that's how we're supposed to live life side by side with one another not private and on our own but lived life together as you go through James you will see examples of division they're talking about being boastful about the future wait a minute let me go back I'm sorry let's look at this quote says along the way we will find that God is pleased to use ordinary people ordinary conversations and extraordinary and wise love to do most of the heavy lifting in his kingdom he's going to use people like me and you to do his will in this world and he wants to use people like me and you to do those things okay now James is going to get into some division the people that he's writing to the people Jerusalem they're boastful about their future they're quick to be angry they're cursing at one another they're quick to use harmful words they're slandering one another they're grumbling against each other they're showing favoritism to the rich they're oppressing the poor and behind this division James is going to point to false teaching careless teaching so look if you have your Bible open up to chapter three James three and verse one it says not many of you should become teachers my brothers for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness you know anyone who's ever taught a Sunday school class I hope feels the weight of that verse anyone who ever preaches I hope feels the weight of that verse that because here's the deal when all those things I just talked about when you have bad teachers when you have lazy teachers those types of problems arise look in verse 13 says who is wise and understanding a money by his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom but if you have bitter jealousy or selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast and be false to the truth this is not the wisdom that comes down from above but it's earthly it's unspiritual and it's demonic James will give advice as far it's even as far as our tongues are concerned and what comes out of our mouth chapter three verse five it says so also the tongue is a small member yet it boasts of great things how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire you know the great fire of Chicago of 1871 killed about two to three hundred people it destroyed over 17,000 buildings here is an artist rendition of what it looked like um store destroyed over 17,000 buildings left over a hundred thousand people homeless over a hundred thousand people homeless in today's estimation they said it would cost around with in their time to build it in their time with their cost it would cost around three to four billion dollars to to redo the damage that occurred in the great fire of Chicago and it all started by you know a cow kicking over a lantern supposedly that's what they say a cow kicked over a lantern and it caused all of that damage because all of what happened how we use our speech is important because it says how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire uh you know Lisa back here taught in youth ministry many years with me and one of the things she would always tell teenagers and teenagers need to be reminded of this often is garbage in garbage out right if you hear it you're gonna speak it and words hurt and if you can't say anything not still say anything else at all right we all have all heard that it's true our our tongues can get us in so much trouble our speech and James is addressing that here and he says how much damage it can cause and that is why speech is so important why's speech is from God and brings unity so what can be done about this division within the church what can be done about all of this bad things that are happening in the church James gives us four examples first of all he identifies the problem he identifies the problem what's going on the divisions in the church the first thing he identifies is selfishness and this is the same sort of selfishness that pretends that religion is a private thing it's a private affair James 3 16 says for where jealousy and selfish ambition exists there will be disorder and every vile practice for where jealousy and selfish ambition exists there will be disorder and every vile practice selfishness is a huge problem within the church or even within you personally and this type of selfishness doesn't end check out the next chapter chapter 4 verses 1 through 3 says what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you is this is it not this that your passions are at war within you your you desire and you do not have so you murder you covet and cannot obtain so you fight and you quarrel you do not have because you do not ask and you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions so and so selfishness is a huge problem and behind that selfishness behind the selfishness comes the second thing pride pride God opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble that's four six so after identifying the problem James gives us a command he gives us a very straight command and that is number two to submit to God first we identify the problem of what's going on secondly we have to submit to God we have to make sure that we are submitting to God before God the way up is down you know one of our classmates graduated and the pastor's daughter the pastor of the church that I went through his daughter was in my class and her senior quote we all got to put a senior quote under our our picture and hers was it's hard to lose your footing on your knees you know I wasn't a Christian when I saw that or wasn't a very I wasn't a D I'd only been a Christian about a year so I was I didn't know what it meant then I was like no that's kind of weird okay I thought it meant because she had had knee injury and basketball and I thought oh I may ask what it meant and then later when I grew in my faith I was like oh get it it's hard to lose you got it okay and it's true it is hard to lose your footing on your knees it's hard to lose your footing on your knees seven chapter four seven through ten says submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and he will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be wretched and mourn and weep let your laughter be turning turned to mourning and your joy into gloom humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you you know one of the things that we have to do is Christ followers is we have to realize that this life that we are living is not our own if you've given your life to Jesus he has bought and paid for you at a great price and this life that you're living these jobs that you go to it's all for his glory and for his kingdom purpose not for your own and the minute that we start living that way I think our life radically looks different okay that's not about me it's about others it's about bringing honor and glory to God and it's about loving and pouring into other people and that's where that joy comes from and James readers didn't realize that so submitting look in verse 13 says come now you you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such town and spend a year there and trade and make profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring what is your life you for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then it vanishes instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we will live and do this and do that as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil James is reminding us and reminding reminding us that us as well as everything that we have belongs to him James is remind belongs to God that belongs to James but belongs to God our lives are not our own our property is not our own what we do should bring honor and glory to God so identifying the problems submitting to God number three warn that judgment is coming warn that judgment is coming let's get into chapter five this is a broad overview it's hard to you know James is not that long of a book but it has so much stuff in it that it's hard to talk about everything says come now you rich it's starting in verse one weep and how for the miseries that are coming upon you your riches have rotted in your garments or moth eaten your gold in your silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will you and will eat your flesh like fire you have laid up treasure in the last days behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you have kept by fraud are crying out against you and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the lord of host you have lived on the earth and luxury and in self-indulgence you have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter you have condemned and murdered the righteous person he does not resist you so one of the things that we have to do and this is a huge reminder that it's not good for the people at the end times and we talked about this a few weeks ago land and talked about this as we wrapped up luke but someday the end is going to happen and when that happens it's all over there's no more chances and it's our job as we submit to God it's also our job to warn people of that it's our it's our job to tell people about that we will have to give an account for how we live our lives someday you've given your life to jesus we know that i get to go to heaven it's all good but someday you will have to stand before the father and you will have to give an account for everything that you've done every word that you've spoke every thought that you've thunked right you will have to do all of those things you will have to give and i know thunk isn't a word i just had to throw that out there but we have to give an account for the way that we lived our lives for the things that we did and as we've talked about biblical faith is forward-looking this is not our home and we have to keep our eyes focused on heaven as we live our lives here today because it will change how we live our lives it will change what we spend our money on it will change how we have conversations with people it will help us to love deeper it will help us to have mercy and kindness to others in a way that wouldn't if our minds were not focused on heavenly things so as we think about those things james is warning us to live our lives in a manner that is worthy to the calling in which we are here so five eight the lord's coming is near it's what it says and and of course like landon said when that happens when that day comes your chance to repent is over so make the most of every opportunity that jesus gives you today let's look at number four love peace it's a popular thing we like peace everybody wants peace right we want peace in our world we want peace let's flip back to chapter three unless i'm wrong this if this is in chapter five i'm sorry but i have three seventeen in here so let's look says but the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle open to reason full of mercy and good fruits and partial and sincere and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace so you do this by in james chapter five if you look in james chapter five we're not going to read these but treating each other with tender concern by praying for the sick by confessing sins to one another by valuing the prayers of the righteous by bringing back those who wonder james knows that so much of our relationship with god will be shown in our relationship with other people let me say that again james wants us to know that how you treat other people how you relate to other people how you communicate with others how you love others how you show mercy how you forgive is all a an express it's all a overflowing of your relationship with the lord it's all overflowing from your relationship with the lord so i want you to think about how you treat other people i want you to think about how you treat complete strangers okay is it the attitude that christ would want you to have and that's what james is pointing us to faith in action as a christian our primary obligation in this life is not to yourself it's not to you you know in vbs back in the day we all know that vbs is fun and we've all been to vbs right um vacation bible school i was taught this and it's always stuck with me and i've always taught this but uh if you want to talk about how to have joy right we all know where you're going with this right but how do you have joy right you put jesus first other second and yourself last and that's an easy way to remember if you want to have joy you put jesus first other second yourself last so understanding that trials are not bad understanding that trials are meant for our good how to live out our life in faith how to seek peace with god and peace with others and to warn people that the end is coming you know james when we think about james uh jesus's brother it took him a while for him to understand who jesus really was it took him a while to get it it took him a while to understand how he needed to live his life you know one of the things about james that you understand and you can see it throughout the book of james is that he quotes a ton from the old testament he was very deep in the torah and he quotes a lot from obviously he's throwing Moses in there he's throwing Abraham and he's throwing Rahab in there he knew those stories and he knew about the messiah that was to come and little did he know that it was his brother and he didn't believe it at first but he came around and some of you in here today i just want to encourage you if you have heard this tonight and you're saying faith in action you know i'm terrible at that i do listen to sermons i'm like man that's so awesome but i don't really do anything with it let me just encourage you it's okay okay because great thing about our god is he's a god that loves us and cares for us no matter what but he does want our faith to reflect into action he wants it to go further into action so that's the book of james and i hope you enjoyed it we're going to have a time of prayer and here i want to ask for a specific prayer request tonight and of course you are more than welcome to pray for other things but i'm taking a seminary class right now and one of the students that i'm a classmate with he is on staff in a church in Louisiana his name is Matthew and they had a staff member this week they're custodian that he was very close friends with and he they don't know what happened but they found him and he was dead he didn't come to work for two days they couldn't get ahold of him and they finally went and broke into his apartment and they found him dead they think that he maybe had a heart attack but he was very close friends with him i know this has been very hard on him so uh we're gonna pray for Matthew we're gonna pray for his friends family i didn't i didn't get a name i didn't ask but i want to pray for him tonight specifically and of course i know we have many in our church who are unemployed or their hours are being cut drastically and we just need to lift that up in prayer because i know that that can bring trials and stresses in in life and i just want us to be mindful of our family that are going through trials right now and we just need to be remembered to lift them up in our prayers and those things so let's take about five minutes and we're going to pray for that and then maybe Tony will come up and do another song all right let's pray for the book of James and how it reminds us that our faith without works is dead and that the faith that you've given us lord is to be lived out in such a way that it shines to be a brightening example to the world around us it's an example of your love and your kindness to the world that you displayed for us on the cross whether i pray that we uh not be selfish with our faith or we would take every opportunity that you place in our path or i pray that we would be mindful to to look at the world around us to be able to stop and just look and see where you're at work and more to pray that you would just help us to join in with that work Father with those in our family and our church family who are dealing with illnesses what they're dealing with stresses that are going through trials Father I pray that you would help us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them to remember them in our prayers to remember them as we have conversations to remember them with phone calls to remember them with visits maybe even remember them with gifts Father for Matthew I specifically lift up him and his church to you lift up their family of the one that was lost Father we ask that you bring them comfort we thank you that he knew you that he had a relationship with you and uh Father that he's walking with you today so Father we ask that you would help us to put our faith into action for your glory for your kingdom's purpose it's in the powerful name of Jesus we pray all these things amen