Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / James 5:7-20 - Patience While Waiting

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James 5:7-20 - Patience While Waiting · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Please turn in your Bibles with me to the Book of James chapter
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5. Now I'm a little off this
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morning because I'm used to. I'm used to Carrie or Karen or
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Diane or somebody being able to come up here and do this, be
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while I'm sitting there praying and asking the Lord to please
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help me to do this. But I didn't get that this
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morning. So they're just throwing me
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right into the water this morning.
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Well, I do want to welcome everybody.
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And again, use the carrier or whoever does the announcements
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does this, but I do want to welcome everybody.
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Thank you so much for coming. New faces, love to see new
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faces, and I got a chance to see something this morning on the
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way in. Thank you so much for choosing
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the warship with us this morning here at Calvary Chapel
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Westmoreland. And of course, we always have
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some old friends who come as well.
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And we always thank God when you guys come back to see us here at
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Calvary Chapel. If you're listening on Facebook
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or YouTube or whatever platform that you chose to listen to us
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this morning, we want to welcome you as well.
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And of course, all of those who are listening behind prison
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walls who have chosen to tune into us this morning, we want to
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thank you as well. We're just praying that the Lord
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will move as He sees fit this morning.
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I do want to say that there's a lot.
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Of. Sickness right now going around
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a lot of people with flus and different bugs and, and even
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more serious conditions. This really has been a season
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of, of, of, of illness and medical challenges here at
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Calvary Chapel. And I just want to remind you to
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please continue to pray for each other during this time.
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We really need to pray with and for one another.
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Bible tells that we're going to be getting into that a little
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bit in James, this section of James, but the Bible tells us to
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to do that. But there's a need for us to
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pray for one another and to keep each other encouraged,
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particularly as we go into this new year to keep each other
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encouraged to continue to hold on to the plow.
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You know, don't, don't turn to the right or to the left as my
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brother prayed this morning. But let us continue to keep our
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eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith.
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So let's do that. So what I'm going to do, I'm
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going to go ahead and read what we're going to cover this
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morning, and then I'm going to go back, We're going to pray and
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then go back and make comment. OK, so we're in James Chapter 7.
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I'm sorry, chapter 5, verse 7. And also before I even start to
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read, I do want to mention that Pastor Clark, you might notice
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that Pastor Clark is not here this morning.
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He's not feeling well. And he and Cindy are both not
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feeling well with Cindy's in the hospital and we're we're praying
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for her. But Pastor Clark is, is, is
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under the weather a little bit this morning.
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So please keep him in our prayers as well.
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I want to remember to, to do that.
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Verse 7. Therefore be patient, brethren,
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until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the
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precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until
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it receives the early in the latter rain.
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You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the
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coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one
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another, brethren, lest you be condemned.
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Behold, the judge is standing at the door.
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My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the
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Lord, as an example of suffering impatience.
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Indeed, we count them blessed who endure.
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You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and seen
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the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very
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compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brethren, do
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not swear either by heaven or by earth, or with any other oath.
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But let your yes be yes and your no no, lest you fall into
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judgement. Is anyone among you suffering?
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Let them pray. Is anyone cheerful?
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Let them sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick?
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Let them call for the. Elders of the church.
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And let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the
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name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will
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save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has
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committed sins, he will be forgiven.
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Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another
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that. You may be healed.
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The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
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Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed
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earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the
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land for three years and six months.
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And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
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produced its fruit. Brethren, if anyone among you
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wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him
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know that he who turns a Sinner from the air of his way will
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save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
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Let's pray, Father, Your word is so precious to us because it's
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true, because it comes from the only source which is true.
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We thank you, Father, for you giving us your word.
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What a gift it is. What a wonder it is to be able
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to. Hold the Word of God.
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And as we said so many times, this Bible doesn't just contain
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God's Word. It is God's Word, everything in
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it. So, Father, we thank you for
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that. We thank you for the opportunity
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to gather, to have fellowship one with another, to worship, to
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praise and worship one with another.
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But Father, we're grateful to be able to sit under your Word with
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another. Lord, speak to us this morning.
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Open your mouth from heaven, Lord, and speak to us.
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Speak to our hearts directly to each and everyone of us, both
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corporately and individually. Lord, you know exactly what it
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is that we need to hear this morning.
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You know, oh God, what our needs are.
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You know where our hearts are. Father, speak to those things.
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Even to those darkest things that no one knows, we may not
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even realize that they're there ourselves.
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Lords unearth those things and speak to us concerning them.
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Lord, we pray for healing for one another.
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We pray for healing for those who are here and those who are
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not here. We pray that your healing hand,
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Lord, will come down from heaven, and that you will heal
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us from the very crowns of our heads to the very soles of.
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Our feet. So we ask you for these things
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Lord, in the name of our Savior and our Lord in Jesus name we we
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pray, Amen. Amen.
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What a blessed time it is to be able to look as we go on into
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the new season, going into a new year and we, we do with
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anticipation to everyone's wondering what is the new year
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going to bring? And, and, and we, and we
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celebrated Christmas. We just celebrated Christmas
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with each other. And, and I do thank God for
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every opportunity that we have to get with our families and to
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be able to, to, to eat and have fellowship and laugh and do all
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those things that we do over the Christmas season.
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But most of all. I pray and I know that because
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you are the House of God, you are those who are in Christ
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Jesus, that it's more than just the gifts.
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It's more than just the the fellowship over food.
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It's more than just meeting and greeting and and sitting down
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with people. But you are the ones who
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understand and carry the message that this is about the birth of
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our Lord and Savior. It's about the birth of our Lord
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and Savior. And that has to be first and
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foremost as we celebrate this this season.
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And we can rejoice. Over that.
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We can rejoice over that one with another because without
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him, where would we be? Where would we be?
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And, and it's a matter. It's amazing because even as we
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go into this part of the Scripture, it's almost like
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James is even anticipating the the, the continuation of that
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birth. We we know that Jesus, when he
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came into this world, he came into a Dark World just like it
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is now. It's a very.
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Dark World and then it's a world that was contrary to
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righteousness and goodness and and all those things.
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He he, he came into a world that was full of sin.
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But when the time came. Or, as the Bible says in
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Galatians 4, that at the time, at the when the fullness of the
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time had come, or when God's perfect timing had come, he sent
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his Son into the world. It was his perfect.
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Timing. Good morning, brother.
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How are you? Good.
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Good to see you. He came.
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He came into the world, He sent his son into the world at the
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perfect time, at the perfect moment, and he came in with the
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purpose to redeem men, Pablo says.
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In the beginning was the word, and the word was with.
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God. The Word was God.
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He was in the beginning with God, and the Word was made
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flesh. Thank God that we had that
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birth. The word was made flesh.
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And so the people who sat in darkness had seen a great light.
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Just like you know when we got saved, we are set in darkness
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and we and we and we and we saw a great light.
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Those who were sitting in the in the regions and in the valley of
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death upon them light had dawned.
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So when this life, who was Jesus Christ?
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Because if you go back to John one, it literally says that in
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him was life, in him was life. And this life was the light of
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all men. And it was that light that came
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in and, and it shone upon those who were sitting in darkness.
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Just like the light that came into my life at one time when I
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was sitting in darkness and serving darkness and worshipping
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darkness and living in darkness. And then when the word of God
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was preached to me, the gospel was preached and the light came
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in and it shined upon and the darkness could not overcome it.
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We couldn't help but to see the light of Jesus Christ in our
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lives. And I thank God for what about
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you am I thank God for that moment that that the that the
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word of God came into our hearts and and shed light on the place
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where it was dark glory to God. So just the other day we
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celebrated that birthright. We celebrated that and Pastor
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Clark did a wonderful job, you know, presenting that birth with
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clarity as he went through those scriptures that we, you know,
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we, we, we commonly know that. In fact, it's my favorite story
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concerning the Christmas story. And that's in, in Luke 2.
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And he went through that with clarity and he began to speak
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about it. And I remember a statement that
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he made. He said, you know, the Bible
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doesn't put a whole lot of emphasis.
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It's not about a whole lot of emphasis on the birth, but the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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That that is fulfilling. That's the that's the thing that
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we, you know, that that that that gives us hope is the thing
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that we can count on. And one day we too will be
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resurrected like our Lord was resurrected.
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So now as we we we now Fast forward all the way to.
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James and James being the brother or the half brother of
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Jesus Christ. James being the the the son of
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Mary as well. And I'm sure he spoke to his
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mother and, and had and rehearsed those things over and
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over again. Mom, tell me about my Big
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Brother Jesus one more time. How is it that you, you, you
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found yourself with the birth of, you know, being pregnant
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with the by the Holy Spirit and, and when he was born, mom, what
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was that like when he was born? What was it like when, when all
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the shepherds came and, and what was it like when, you know, when
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they, when the, the, the, the, the, the, the moment that the
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angels sang and, and, and told the shepherds that your Lord,
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your Savior is born and they all came the same Lord.
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Mom, what was that like? What was that like?
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So I'm sure she rehearsed that with him.
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And now James, who now is in, like I said, we're in chapter 5
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now and we're going to look at verse 7.
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And he says therefore be patient, wait a minute,
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therefore be patient. Why?
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Why? Therefore, he said be patient.
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Because if you remember just a couple weeks ago, we just talked
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about how the, the, the, the rich were oppressing the, the,
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the poor, the rich were oppressing them and was
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mistreating them, was defrauding them.
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And it seemed like those who were wicked and those who were
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that were rich, they are the ones that were the privilege.
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They are the ones that had the advantage.
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And James says be patient, be patient.
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Same thing he's saying to us. If you're in a situation where
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you feel like the, you know, like those who are wicked have
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more privilege. Those who are wicked seem to
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have the best time. Those who are wicked have the
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best things. Those who are wicked seem to be
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able to get away with everything.
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Be patient, be patient, James said.
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Be patient, brother. Until when?
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How long until the coming of the Lord?
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Amen. One of the things that we should
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be thinking about in this year as we move forward going into
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26, we should be thinking about the fact that we are.
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Closer to the Lord's return than what we were in 25, right?
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And if, Lord willing, and we see the end of 26, we'll be even
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closer. To the Lord returning be
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patient, be patient and he gives an example here about that about
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those that that that patient he says look at the farmer, look at
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the farmer. Look at how he how he waits for
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the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it into it
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receives the early in the latter rain.
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And the farmer is a very good example of one who patiently
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waits. I mean, I don't know if patience
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is something I struggle with. I don't know about you, but
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patience is something I kind of struggle with.
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You know, I'm, I, I guess I'm like a microwave kind of
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generation guy, You know, I mean, I want things kind of
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quick. You.
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Know if I'm working on something because I'm not the most
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mechanical. You may not have known this, but
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I'm not the most mechanical person.
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If you didn't know, just act like you didn't know it.
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OK? So if I'm working on something
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and it doesn't come together quickly, I get impatient.
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I get impatient. So patience is something that I
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really, really need. But the farmer James said you
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want to see patience? Look.
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At the farmer. He has to be patient first of
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all. There's a planning process and
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then there's the soil prep and then there's the plowing and the
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tilling that goes into farming. And then there's the the the
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sowing of the seeds. So he cast the seeds and and
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then there's the ongoing crop management.
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That means taking care of the field and making sure that
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there's that the weeds are pulled and making sure that
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there's nothing in it that would be able to hinder the growth of
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the crops. Nothing that will stop the crops
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from growing. Then there's the establishing of
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the, of the, of the field and the irrigation process and the
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fertilizing and, and then you wait for the germ, you know, for
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the, the, the, the sea to germinate.
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You wait for the sea to germinate and, and, and then
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with time, there's the harvesting.
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Once the crop comes, there's the harvesting and they even talk
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about the latter rain with that latter the early rain and the
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latter rain, the early rain comes around late October, early
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November in the Palestine area. And it comes to soften up the
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ground so that they can dig into it until it and begin to and,
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and to begin to plan on it. And then there's the latter rain
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that comes somewhere around April and and, and May that
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begins to mature the crop or or helps the crop to come along so
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that when it when it's harvest, it'll be ready, it'll be good.
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So that's the latter and the early in the latter rain, it
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matures the crops. See, we too, as you hear about
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it right here in verse 8, it says you also be patient,
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establish your heart for the coming of the Lord.
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So we too have to be patient as we prepare for his return.
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We have to be patient, but in the process of waiting for him
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to come, we have to manage our hearts.
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We have to manage our lives through the help of the Holy
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Spirit. We can keep the weeds out of our
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heart and keep the, the, the, the, the things that are not
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necessary, the things that are not good that will hinder our
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spiritual growth. We get rid of those things.
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We manage our hearts, we cleanse our hearts, we cleanse our
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hands. We, we cease from doing the
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sinful things that will hinder our growth as we wait for the
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coming of the Lord. That is our hope.
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That is our hope to see the. Coming of the Lord and that hope
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is something that we talk about throughout Scripture.
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Titus 2 and 13 says, looking for the blessed hope and glorious
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appearing of your great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
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First Timothy 1 and 10 First, I'm sorry, 1st Thessalonians 1
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and 10, he says. And to wait for his Son from
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heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers
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us from the wrath to come. And then Hebrews 10/30/10 and
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35. He says therefore and and and
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and. The writer of Hebrews gives us
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an encouragement to continue to trust and not castaway.
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Don't throw away your confidence.
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Keep your confidence. Don't let nothing in this world
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prohibit you or hinder you from being confident in what the Word
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of God says. Don't let anything turn your
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heart away from the scriptures it says.
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Therefore, do not castaway your confidence which has great
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reward for you have need of endurance, you have need of
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patience, so that after you have done the will of God, you may
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receive the. Promise.
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And yet a little while and he who is coming.
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Will come, Amen. He will come and he will not
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tarry. That means he, he, he, he.
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He will not delay. He will not delay.
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He will come at the time. Of God's choosing at the time of
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God's choosing. And God is never late.
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He's always right on time. Always right on time, Even so,
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Lord Jesus come, come, Lord Jesus.
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But while he's coming, we got to be careful of some things.
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While we're waiting for him to come, we have to be careful of a
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few things. And one of the things that James
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says we have to be careful of is what he says here in verse 9.
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He says, do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you.
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Be condemned. Behold, the judges standing at
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the door, don't grumble against each other.
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When, when, when things get hard, when people experience
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hardships, when people experience adversity.
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Sometimes if we experience some persecution or oppression,
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people can begin to turn on one another, begin to turn on one
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another. And it's almost like what he was
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talking about back in Chapter 4 when he said do not speak evil
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of one another. But when we grumble, we start to
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grumble against each other. We start to murmur and start to
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complain, just like they did in the wilderness.
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When things got hard in the wilderness, the first thing they
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want to do was start grumbling and complaining and murmur, Ah,
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it's hot, ain't no water, you know, nothing's happening.
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Start to complain. But what we have to understand
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is that God says, look, they're not complaining about against
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you. They're complaining against me.
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The complaint is against me. I hear their complaints.
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So what? That's why James says here, you
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know, lest you be condemned. Because it's it's almost like
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when people start grumbling and complaining, they're actually
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complaining against God because sometimes God allows those
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things to happen so that we can be strengthened and be tested.
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So we complain against God. But he says, and you know, but
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in this suffering, we don't turn against each other.
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That's when we should get closer as a church.
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The more challenges we have is, you know, we should get closer,
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become closer, to hear each other, to encourage each other,
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to pray with each other, to pray for each other as we talked.
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About when we first. Started bearing each other's
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burdens. Let's be real, true brothers and
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sisters and not turn into enemies because the things get
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difficult. Let's be there for each other.
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Come on, brother, let's pray. I see you having a tough time.
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Let's pray, sister. I see you struggling.
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I see the stress. Let's pray, let's pray.
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Let's cry together if we need to, let's cry together.
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And when is the time we'll laugh together?
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But whatever we do, we're church, we're family, let's do
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it together, let's do it together.
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We have to be aware of this because this is what the enemy
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would use to try to weaken or to defy, divide the church.
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But we're not ignorant of his devices, not at all.
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And then in verse 10, then in verse 10, he says, my brother,
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take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an
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example of suffering in patience. 11 Indeed, we count
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them blessed who endure. You have heard of the
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perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord.
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Yeah, the the, the, the, the, the prophets.
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He now goes to them as an example.
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First he used the farmers and now he's using the Old Testament
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prophets. James is basically saying, look,
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go back and do a history lesson. Go back to the Old Testament and
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read, read what they did, you know, when they were in
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adversity and, and, and we know that the prophets went through a
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lot. When you think about the, the,
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the, the, the. Task the call that they have,
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which is to literally speak the word of God, to share the word
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of God and to and to and to talk about that to people who really
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didn't want to hear it sometimes oftentimes really didn't want to
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hear it. In fact, they didn't want to
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hear it so much that they wanted to, and this is where the term
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comes from. They wanted to kill the
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messenger wanted to kill the messenger.
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So when you think about Old Testament prophets like
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Zechariah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, these men spoke strong words
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that came from the mouth of God. And he and he spoke it to the
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people about their sin, about their rebellion, about their
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adultery, their spiritual adultery.
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And they would, and they would give the word of judgment.
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They would have to give the word of judgment.
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What could have meant their life?
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And oftentimes it did. I mean it.
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You know, it's said that Zechariah was stoned to death.
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Isaiah doesn't say it in the Bible, but and other teach
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another writings of the Church of the church history.
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They said that Isaiah was actually sawed in half.
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Jeremiah was thrown in a dungeon.
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I mean, there's been hardships that these men had to go through
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being faithful to the things of God.
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And we too, we're going to go through some hardships sometimes
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when we're doing the will of God.
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You know, you would think that if I'm walking in the
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righteousness of God and if I'm doing what God tells me to do,
27:11
things would be OK. No, through much tribulation,
27:17
you can enter the Kingdom of heaven.
27:21
Anyone who want to live godly, if you're going to live godly,
27:26
you will suffer persecution. So we too, we're going to go
27:31
through adversity, but be patient.
27:35
Going through this adversity. Be patient, because trouble
27:40
won't last. All ways.
27:43
Weeping man. Do it for a night.
27:46
But in the morning it's going to be all right.
27:51
It's going to be all right. Joy comes in the morning.
27:56
Joy so we wait on the coming of the Lord 1 encourage you the way
28:02
James is encouraging us to be patient as we wait on the Lord
28:06
and then in verse 12 I'm. Sorry, let's go to let's let's
28:10
go to the bottom of verse 11, because I really like this whole
28:13
issue about Job. You know, you know, a lot of
28:18
people think or and have said and maybe someone's even said to
28:21
you when you're going through a hard time.
28:22
I hope not, but sometime these things happen.
28:25
When you're going through a hard time, people say, well, there
28:28
must be some sin or something in your life, man, what kind of
28:30
what kind of sin you dealing with?
28:32
You know what you're hiding, You know what kind of sin you're
28:34
hiding in your life. And, and this is what Job's
28:37
issue was. Now the Bible itself said that
28:40
Job was a righteous man. The Bible itself said that he
28:43
was a righteous man. But yet what Job didn't know
28:47
that we have access to the knowledge we have access to, is
28:51
that Satan wanted to test Job, Satan wanted to to attack Job
28:57
and and because of God's control and his sovereignty.
29:02
He knew just how much leverage he would allow Satan to have.
29:09
Yeah, OK, I'll let you go ahead and try him if you want to.
29:13
You guys know the story of Job. Job was a rich man.
29:15
He was wealthy. He was a man who feared God.
29:18
He was a man that was righteous before God.
29:21
And then Satan came to, to, to, to, to God and said, look, I
29:25
want, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're serving job.
29:28
You know, how about him? You know what, what you know, I,
29:30
I, I want to test him. I want to see what he's about.
29:32
I think I can make him curse you to your face.
29:35
I think I can make him that miserable.
29:38
So the Lord said, OK, you can, you know, try, but he's a
29:41
righteous man. But you can't take his life.
29:44
You can't take his life. And eventually, Long story
29:47
short, job end up losing his his family.
29:51
He end up losing a lot of his wealth, which is in the form of
29:56
of of animals, domestic animals and, and food and things of that
29:59
nature. He end up.
30:00
Losing a lot of those things. So he lost and then of course
30:04
his health was attacked. We had boils all over his body
30:09
and and and was in pain, suffering, suffering because
30:15
Satan wanted him to curse God to his face.
30:20
And you know, the Bible says sometimes you know, your enemy
30:24
is in your household. It was Job's wife.
30:30
Job's wife was the one that was a constituent.
30:34
For this, for Satan, why don't you just curse God and die?
30:41
Wow, Job then never called her, never called her evil woman or a
30:47
wicked woman or a foolish one. But he said you sound like 1, he
30:52
said you sound like 1. And of course Job never did,
30:58
even though he questions his own existence at one point it was
31:02
getting so bad. But he never ever, ever cursed
31:06
God, never gave up his faith. In God and the Bible says here
31:15
that Job saw. The intended in we all know that
31:20
the end of the story, Joe re recovered the wealth.
31:23
In fact he was he received double the wealth that he had
31:27
before he got family back again. He did keep his wife though he
31:34
did keep his wife because he's a righteous man, but it shows
31:40
God's compassion and mercy. So Joe was that example of
31:46
someone. He wasn't suffering because of
31:50
any sin in his life. He was suffering because he was
31:54
being tested, but because of his patience and suffering, his
31:59
endurance and suffering, which is what we are.
32:02
Being encouraged to do is to be patient and to endure.
32:08
Persevere, persevere. When you're going through
32:13
suffering, hold on. Call on the Holy Spirit for
32:17
strength because we need them. We need them.
32:23
Some of the things that we're going through, you look at
32:24
society and this and, and, and unfortunately, it's probably
32:27
just going to get worse. We need the Holy Spirit for
32:33
strength. We can't do this in our own
32:35
power. And we need each other.
32:41
Brother, I need you. Brother, I need you.
32:47
Brother, I need you. Brother, I need you.
32:54
I need you. So when you call me sometimes or
32:58
we're in a meeting and you pray with me or pray for me, I need
33:02
that. I need that.
33:08
When you give me a word of encouragement, sometimes I need
33:13
that. You never know what someone is
33:16
dealing with outside of this building, but we can persevere.
33:24
We can persevere through the power of the Holy Spirit.
33:29
As we as a family love on one another.
33:33
And then in verse verse 12, it's almost like verse 12 is like,
33:37
you know, when, when I read it the first time, it's like, where
33:39
did that come from you? Know where?
33:41
Where was he going with that one?
33:43
He says. But above all, my brother, do
33:45
not swear either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but
33:50
let your yes be yes and your your no no less.
33:54
You fall into judgment. Well, what's really interesting
33:58
is that when you start thinking about how people can get kind of
34:04
desperate when they're going through hard times and they're
34:06
going through adversity and they start to make.
34:08
Deals with God. Lord, if you Get Me Out of this,
34:11
I promise you I won't ever do this again, or I promise you I
34:16
won't make that mistake again, or I promise you I won't.
34:21
Making these vows and oaths with God.
34:25
And sometimes we do it with each other.
34:27
We make oaths with each other. And when we're talking about an
34:31
oath, he's not talking. He's not when he talks about not
34:34
swearing, he's not talking about not using foul language.
34:37
He's not talking about profanity.
34:39
He's talking about adding extra words for to strengthen whatever
34:44
it is that you're saying to try to convince someone that you're
34:47
really going to do it. You borrow, you know, you borrow
34:52
money from somebody and you promise to pay it back.
34:55
Oh, I swear on a stack of Bibles.
34:57
I'll pay you back by this date or by that date.
35:03
Fact that you got to swear on a stack of Bibles means you might
35:05
not be that confident about doing it yourself.
35:09
Takes away from the character of the person.
35:13
But he said let your yes be yes and your no no.
35:17
If you say you're. Going to pay them back.
35:18
Just do you don't have to swear about it.
35:20
See in the Old Testament Jewish, Jewish tradition, you know when,
35:25
when, when someone made an oath in an Old Testament, if that
35:31
oath or that vow, if it included the name of God, then it was
35:35
binding. If someone made an oath and it
35:39
did not include the name of God, it was not binding.
35:43
So they called them binding oaths and non binding oaths in
35:46
the Jewish tradition. But what James is saying here is
35:52
that there does not need to be something considered a binding
35:56
or a non binding oath. Your word as a Christian, as a
35:58
man of God, as a woman of God, your word should be true.
36:05
If you, you know when someone says I'm going to pay this or
36:09
you can trust me to go and do this, a task or something that
36:13
someone is challenged to do, we should be able to trust that
36:19
that will be done. If I say I'm going to come to
36:22
your house and I'm going to do this for you, or I'm going to
36:25
come and pick you up at a certain time and do that for
36:27
you, you should be able to trust that I'm going to do that.
36:30
Then I'm going to be a man of my word and me trust that you would
36:35
be a man of your word and what and what James is saying here is
36:39
that you you don't need to add these extra words to give
36:42
strength to what you are saying you're going to do that's making
36:49
about he said don't swear by anybody.
36:51
Don't swear by God. Don't say I swear to.
36:53
God, I'm going to be there or or or swearing by something else on
36:57
earth. That you're going to be there.
37:00
I swear on my on, on my mother's grave.
37:02
You hear people saying all kind of crazy things sometimes when
37:05
they when they swear, they make these oaths.
37:09
I swear on my life, James said. No, don't do that.
37:13
And maybe. Because of what they were going
37:16
through, they began to do some of that, make these oaths that
37:20
they weren't able to keep. And James says don't do that.
37:25
But yet you're let, let you yes be yes, and you're no be no as
37:31
we wait for the Lord to come. Verse 13 Is anyone among you
37:34
suffering? Let them pray.
37:38
Is anyone cheerful? Let them sing psalms.
37:42
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call for the elders of
37:45
the church and let them pray over him, anointing them with
37:50
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
37:55
Really interesting when you talk about this suffering to hear,
37:57
you know, this suffering is not necessarily just someone who was
38:01
sick, but they could be suffering from being spiritually
38:04
weak, being spiritually weak, being weary.
38:11
Bible tell us we should not be weary and well doing.
38:14
But sometimes people get weak and they start to suffer.
38:17
They they, they just don't feel like they have the that the
38:20
strength to continue to go on. And James says, well, let him
38:26
pray, Let him pray. Don't start complaining.
38:31
Don't start murmuring, you know, don't start speaking evil with
38:35
somebody else. Pray if you're suffering, if
38:40
you're suffering from some some oppression, or if you're
38:43
suffering from somebody misusing, for example, what he
38:45
talked about earlier, part of chapter of chapter 5 when he
38:49
talked about the rich oppressing the poor.
38:53
And you feel yourself suffering because of the at the adversity,
38:56
he said. No, pray about those things.
39:01
Pray about it. He says if anyone cheerful, then
39:07
let them sing psalms. In other words, if you're
39:10
suffering, pray if you're if you're, if you're cheerful and
39:17
you're in a good mood, you having a mountaintop experience
39:21
think he prays and worship to the Lord.
39:24
But in everything, whether you're in a mountaintop
39:26
experience or rather you're in the valley, we should
39:29
acknowledge the Lord. We should acknowledge the Lord.
39:32
It's what James is saying here. When I'm on top of my game, I
39:36
want to acknowledge him. When I'm under everything and I
39:40
feel like the whole world is on my shoulders or something and
39:43
I'm just suffering mentally, emotionally I'm suffering.
39:47
Then I need to pray and acknowledge the.
39:49
Lord. Our first response should be to
39:52
the Lord is what James is saying here.
39:56
Then he says is any among you sick and again he's talking
39:59
about either physically sick, but he's also you can also mean
40:05
that you are spiritually sick, but in either way is any among
40:11
you sick. He gives us a process here.
40:14
He says let them call for the elders of the church and let
40:19
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
40:25
Lord. Now some of you we pray for, and
40:27
I'm sure you've seen us pray with oil.
40:34
I'm sure you've seen us pray with oil.
40:36
We're anointed soil when we and we pray over it and we pray over
40:41
the person. Now we don't do the way that
40:43
they did in the Old Testament. They just they would just drop
40:45
dead to. Pour this whole thing on you,
40:48
oil dripping everywhere. We don't do that.
40:51
We dab. Put it on your forehead usually,
40:58
and we pray over you. The elders of the church, we
41:01
call the elders of the church to come together, come up to the
41:03
front and we pray. That's what the word God tells
41:07
us to do. Now, olive oil, first of all, it
41:14
is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, but it also has medicinal
41:22
healing properties. So a lot of people have
41:26
experienced. In fact, some people actually
41:28
get up in the morning and they take a Swiss or two or swallow
41:33
of two of oil, of olive oil. I don't do that, but some people
41:37
do. Some people do because they feel
41:40
that it's a healing, it's an internal healing.
41:45
But we also know that the olive, that the olive oil is used to
41:51
anoint people. For healing rather someone is
41:55
sick or someone is going through issues.
42:00
What it says here in Mark chapter 6, verse 13 says, and
42:05
they cast out many demons and anointed with oil, many who were
42:10
sick and healed them and healed them.
42:15
So we knew we do know that it's it's biblical to anoint.
42:19
Now I came when I was younger, much younger, probably about
42:23
these young men's ages over here about 9:00 or 10:11 or so.
42:27
My mother was going to a Pentecostal church, and I mean,
42:31
every Sunday I left drenched in oil.
42:34
I guess they thought I really needed a whole lot of prayer,
42:36
but I was drenched in oil every Sunday, walking out on me, all
42:41
over my, my head, my forehead, my hands, everything was
42:46
drenched. We ain't going to drench you
42:47
with oil, but we will use oil to pray over you because the Bible
42:50
tells us that we do that. Amen.
42:54
And then in verse over here in verse 15.
42:59
It says, and the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord
43:03
will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he will be
43:08
forgiven. The prayer of faith, the prayer
43:12
of faith will raise up the sick. Now, first of all, when we go
43:18
before God in prayer, we go with the faith that He is able.
43:25
To do it. First of all, the Bible says
43:30
when you come to God, you must believe that he is.
43:34
And that he. Is the reward of them who
43:36
diligently seek him. So we come to God when we pray,
43:42
we put this oil on you and pray or anytime we pray, we pray
43:47
believing that God is able to do it.
43:52
He's able to do it, but we also submit to the will of God.
43:58
We submit to the will of God. I know when Paul prayed those
44:04
three times that the thorn would be moved from his flesh.
44:07
I'm sure he prayed knowing that God is able to do it.
44:13
But he also submitted to the will of God.
44:15
If he did not do it, he submitted to the will of God.
44:23
And God told him. He said Look, my grace.
44:27
Is sufficient for you? We always want the grace of God.
44:33
We want the grace of God to be upon your life, regardless of
44:37
whether He chooses to heal you right then and there.
44:40
Make somebody get up and walk right then and there.
44:42
Regardless of that, we want the grace of God, however God
44:45
chooses to use. That grace in your life to be
44:49
upon you. We want His grace and His will
44:53
to be upon you. So then he goes on here, he
44:56
says, and if he's, if he committed sins, he will be
45:01
forgiven. It's interesting because there
45:03
was at least two situations in the word of God, one in Mark 2
45:07
and the other one in John 5, where it it was intended.
45:11
They, they, they brought this paralytic man to Jesus.
45:14
Actually even loading through the.
45:16
Through the roof. The paralytic man, they load him
45:19
to the roof and they wanted Jesus to heal, Amen.
45:22
And, and Jesus said your sins are forgiven you.
45:25
And I'm sure the people that brought him said, wait a minute,
45:27
we, we want this guy healed. We want him to get up and walk.
45:31
But Jesus, he healed the most important need, which is what it
45:36
is for us, the most important need that we have is for our
45:39
sins to be forgiven us. That's the most important need.
45:44
And on 2 occasions he healed with and he it began with the
45:48
forgiveness of sins. When he healed the man at the
45:52
poor Bethesda, He said your sins have forgiven you, but go back
45:57
and sin no more because the next time it may be something worse
46:02
that may come upon you. So don't sin no more.
46:05
But he also healed the physical condition as well.
46:09
Because God knows what we need, just like we prayed it earlier.
46:12
God knows what our needs are. He knows the strongest need that
46:17
we have. And then here and the bottom he
46:23
says that the bottom of this verse 16, he said that the
46:26
effective fervent. Prayer of the.
46:27
Righteous man avails much. And then he said Elijah was a
46:32
man with a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that it
46:37
would not rain. And it did not rain on the land
46:40
for three years and six months. So 3 1/2 years it didn't rain.
46:44
And he prayed again, and it rained, and the earth produced
46:48
it's it's fruit. So Elijah being this example,
46:51
here goes another example of a man who's not perfect.
46:56
He's not perfect. In fact, he said he had like
46:58
passions, just, you know, like nature, just like ours.
47:01
So he had a, a tendency that he could send as well.
47:05
But yet he prayed because his heart and his faith that he had
47:10
in the Lord Jesus Christ or that he had in God that he could do
47:13
it. He prayed it, and the Lord
47:17
granted. It didn't rain for three and a
47:20
half, 3 1/2 years. Then he prayed again and it
47:24
rained. So we are invited to pray and
47:29
ask God for the things that we need.
47:32
The things. That will help us to.
47:37
Serve him more to serve him better.
47:42
We can pray for those things and then here in 19 and 20 and we're
47:46
going to end here. Praise and worship team, you can
47:48
come forth. No, actually, praise and worship
47:52
team, you can, you can, you can stay for a minute because I want
47:56
to do a, a prayer at the end of this before we bring on the last
48:00
song. 19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the
48:08
truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who
48:16
turns back a Sinner from the. Air of his way will save a soul
48:20
from. Death and cover a multitude of
48:25
sins. Really interesting here, verse
48:27
19 and 20, we're now talking about someone who is saved and
48:33
they walk away for whatever reason.
48:35
They walk away from Christ, they walk away from the truth, they
48:40
walk away from good theology, or they walk away from the true
48:45
doctrine of the apostles. They walk away for it from
48:49
whatever reason. And he's saying to us, the
48:53
church, that we don't just ignore that when someone walks
48:59
away from the truth. Now, I'm not talking about
49:00
someone who just leaves one church and go to another church.
49:05
That person still saved as long as they're going to a church
49:09
that preaches the Word. As long as we're going to a
49:11
church that believe that Jesus Christ is, you know, you know
49:15
that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God and that he is God in
49:18
the flesh. As long as they believe all
49:19
those things and they're. They're OK, but if someone
49:23
walks? Away from the faith.
49:26
No longer wants to serve him, no longer wants to, no longer wants
49:32
to hear this doctrine that he's encouraging us.
49:38
To go and get that person. And to try to bring that person
49:43
back to the truth, to bring that person back to love that person
49:50
enough to not leave them out there in the wilderness, To not
49:54
leave them out there in the deep waters.
49:56
To not leave them out there for the enemy to be able to devour,
50:01
to love them enough to go get them.
50:04
That's what this whole thing is about and we should know that he
50:09
who turns 1 and brings them back, they save a soul from
50:16
death. Rather be spiritual death,
50:18
physical death, or premature death that could result that
50:24
could result. From someone sin, bring that
50:32
person back because this covers it will cover a multitude of
50:41
sins. We know that the Scriptures tell
50:44
us that if a man is overtaken in a trespass, that you who are
50:48
spiritual, you who are spiritual, not you who are
50:51
prideful, not you who are self-righteous, but you who are
50:57
spiritual. You.
51:00
Are the one that you restore such a one in the spirit of
51:05
gentleness, considering yourself, unless you be tempted,
51:11
There's nothing that we can say, there's no sin out there that we
51:13
can say that we would never do because we really don't know.
51:21
Save the power of the Holy Spirit, but the will of God,
51:27
God's love and mercy who keeps us.
51:31
We don't know what we would do if it were not for him.
51:35
I don't know where I would be today if it were not for him.
51:40
And I need him every single day, not just some days.
51:46
I need them every day. I need them even for the baby
51:54
steps, even for the small things, the small decisions.
51:58
I need them. They're so quick.
52:02
So quick that the enemy can come in and distract us, get us off
52:06
course. That can happen so fast.
52:11
So I need him every day. The enemy will even bring
52:16
something back from your past to distract you.
52:20
Someone from your past to distract you.
52:26
The enemy knows your flavor. I need the power of the Holy
52:33
Spirit working in my heart every day.
52:37
Every day and we. All.
52:43
Need to live our lives looking for the return of Jesus Christ
52:50
every day. Looking for his return.
52:57
I'm going to ask if we can do something.
52:59
I typically don't do this. I'm going to ask if we could all
53:03
stand if you can. And whoever is in your owl,
53:17
whoever's next to you, would you please just take their hand?
53:22
Whoever is next to you, thank you Jesus.
53:32
And I'm going. To ask that you just pray for
53:34
that person that's next to you. Just for a couple minutes until
53:40
we close this out. Let's pray.
53:43
Let's start off praying for one another.
53:50
There's somebody's telephone, so I'm going to ask you to bow and
53:55
pray for the person that's next to you.
53:58
Whoever's hand you're holding, please pray for that person.
54:15
We need in here someone is sick, bless them
54:54
healing. Lord, someone may be sick in
54:55
here today, We ask for healing. Someone may be confused or lost
55:03
in here today. We ask that you withdraw them.
55:08
Draw them to your truth. Someone may have children who
55:13
are wayward today. We ask God that we that you
55:19
would draw their children, Lord, if it be Thy will, draw their
55:21
children to you, Lord. Bring them out of the darkness.
55:24
Bring them out of the wilderness.
55:29
Someone may be backslidden today, Lord.
55:34
We ask that you would reveal truth to them again.
55:38
Bring them back to you Lord, someone may be caught up in a
55:43
sin that they just can't seem to get rid of.
55:50
Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit will come and give
55:53
strength and power to overcome that sin.
55:56
Lord we come with 1 accord this morning in Jesus name we pray.
56:10
Hey, man, you may be seated, Praise and worship team, you can
56:13
come forth and we are going to have our communion, going to
56:22
have our communion this morning. All these things that we read
56:28
about in James, in the book of James, and all these things that
56:32
we hear James talking about, we have to realize that these
56:37
things reveal the character of Jesus Christ.
56:42
These things reveal the character of Jesus Christ.
56:45
It reveals His goodness, His kindness, His mercy.
56:48
It reveals His truth. It reveals his perseverance.
56:53
As we talked about with the Old Testament probably reveals his
56:56
perseverance and through suffering his patience.
57:02
It reveals one who walked out what the father told him.
57:09
He said only do what the father tells me.
57:11
I only say what the Father gives me to say.
57:16
All of these. Things in the Word of God reveal
57:19
the character and the person of Jesus Christ.
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So as we take our communion this morning, let us remember Him.
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As we go into this new year, let us remember the sacrifice that
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he made. For you and for me.
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He became sin for us. If you can wrap your mind around
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that. He became sin for us, that we
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may become the righteousness of God in Him.
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And we have the record of the great exchange.
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He gave us His righteousness, and He took all of our sin.
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He took it all the way to the cross.
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He bore the cross for us. He was our propitiation.
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And even now in His resurrection, He's our advocate.
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He's everything for us. He's our peace.
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He's our righteousness. He's our redemption.
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He's our sanctification. He's everything for us.
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Someone asks you, Who is Jesus to you?
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He's everything. He's everything to me.
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So on the night in which he was betrayed, he took bread, and
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when he had given thanks, he broke it.
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And he said, take and eat. This is my body broken for you,
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broken for you, not for one sin that I committed.
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It's broken for you. And eat this as often as you eat
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this in remembrance of me. In the same manner he also took
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the cup, and after supper he said, This cup is the new
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covenant in my blood, my blood which was shed for the
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forgiveness of sins of many. Drink this.
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And as often as you drink it, drinking and remembrance of Me,
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drinking and remembrance of my sacrifice, drinking and
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remembrance of My word, drinking and remembrance of My promises,
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drinking and. Remembrance that I'm coming back
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as often as you drink it. Drinking and remembrance of me.
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For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do
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show the Lord's death until we come.
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Amen. The altar is open in case anyone
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wants to come up and have some alone time with the Lord.