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James 3:13-18 - Godly Wisdom vs Worldly Wisdom · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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  Good morning, Calvary Chapel. Amen.
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  It's a blessing to see everybody's smiling faces this
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  morning. Amen.
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  Please turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the second, third
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  chapter of James. And we're going to focus on
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  verses 13 to 18 this morning. I just want to welcome also
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  extend that same welcome that Kerry extended to those of you
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  who were here for the first time.
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  I want to thank you for coming and deciding to worship here at
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  Calvary Chapel this morning. And for those of you who have
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  come on a regular basis, we are so grateful for you.
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  We're grateful for you, the fact that you have decided to join us
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  in this Christian journey as we go through this life and we look
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  forward to the life to come. Amen.
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  But while we're here, we want to be about the work of the Lord.
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  And we're just here to lift up the name of the Lord today,
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  right? We're just here to lift up Jesus
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  this morning. So everything that we do, may it
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  bring him glory. Also, those of you who are
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  listening by way of radio or YouTube, Facebook, whatever
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  medium you're on, we want to welcome you as well.
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  We thank you for joining us and of course, all of you that are
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  behind prison walls. We pray that this ministry is a
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  blessing to you and that you are being enriched and your life is
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  beginning to look more and more like Jesus.
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  I think what I'm going to do this morning, if it's OK with
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  everybody, I'd like to read through these verses first.
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  And after I read through these verses, then I will come back
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  and we'll pray. I promise we'll pray, and then
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  we'll get into the study. Would that be OK?
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  OK, so we're looking at James chapter 3, verses 13 through 18.
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  Who is wise and understanding among you?
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  Let him show by good conduct that His works are done in the
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  meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and
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  self seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the
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  truth. This wisdom does not descend
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  from above, but it's earthly, sensual, demonic.
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  For where envy and self seeking exist, confusion and every evil
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  thing are there. But the wisdom that is from
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  above is first pure. First pure, that's very
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  important. Then peaceable, gentle, willing
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  to yield, full of mercy and good fruits.
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  It's without partiality and without hypocrisy.
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  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who
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  make peace. Let's pray.
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  Father, you give us your word so that we can see your face, so
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  that we know who You are. We know your heart about the
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  things that you teach us. You give us your Word, Lord, to
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  help sanctify us, to purify us. You give us Your word to mold us
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  into the image of Your dear Son, Jesus Christ.
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  And we're so grateful. We are privileged that we are
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  those who desire to hear Your Word.
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  And Father, we are here only to hear Your word this morning.
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  We don't want to hear anything from me.
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  We want to hear my ideas. We don't want to hear my
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  thoughts Lord, we just want to hear Your word.
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  Help me to rightly divide this word this morning, Lord, I pray
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  that You would take scales off our eyes that we will see Your
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  truth in this word and see us in this word, Lord, and then give
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  us the power to help us through Your Holy Spirit to change
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  anything in US, Lord, that You are calling to be changed.
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  Lord, use me now, use me as an instrument of righteousness for
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  your purpose and your purpose only.
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  Speak through my mouth, think with my mind, love through your
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  heart. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
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  In order to really appreciate what it is James is doing here
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  this morning and there's been so much that he has shared with us
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  so far as we are now in the 3rd chapter of this amazing book.
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  He sets this up so amazingly because he begins in first in
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  the first chapter with asking a question.
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  He said does anyone lack wisdom? And if so, let him ask of God
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  who gives it liberally and without reproach.
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  Then he comes in the chapter later in chapter 1 and he begins
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  to talk to us about being doers of the Word and not hearers
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  only. Then in chapter 2, he says that
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  we should walk in Jesus Christ without any partiality, without
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  any favoritism. And then he gets into later in
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  the chapter of two, and he talks about living faith versus dead
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  faith. He teaches us about controlling
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  our tongues and allowing the Holy Spirit to be the one that's
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  in control of our speech. And it's even in our speech that
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  we come to understand and we come to know who is of God and
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  who is not even in our speech. And now we're here in Chapter 3,
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  later in Chapter 3, and he's now talking to us about wisdom.
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  And he asked this question. He says, who is wise among you?
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  Who is wise? And I don't know about you, but
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  you know, back in the day when I was in high school and college,
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  I thought if anyone had a depth of knowledge about anything,
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  there must be a wise person. I thought my professors in
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  college were really wise because they could speak with clarity
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  and articulation on some of the most intricate and some of the
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  most complex things. I thought their knowledge I
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  understood. I misunderstood their knowledge
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  for wisdom. And I believe when James asked
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  that question, he's really looking back to what he said in
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  the beginning of Chapter 1 when he said, my brother, let not
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  many of you become teachers. You see, the whole idea of being
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  a teacher, the idea of the thought that a teacher is wise.
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  Oh, sure, The teachers, they stand up and they stand up in
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  front of everybody and they teach these things.
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  And, and it's the authority that we attach to teachers, this
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  perception that we have of teachers that if they're
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  teaching, they must be wise. And James is saying here, not so
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  in Proverbs 13 and 14, the Bible says that the law of the wise is
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  a fountain of life to turn 1 away from the snares of death.
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  It's the mouth of the wise, it's a fountain of life.
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  So here in verse 13, he asked the question, who then is wise?
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  An understanding among you. And maybe that's a question that
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  we can ask ourselves. Who is it among us who's wise
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  and understanding not only in this church population, but also
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  in the church as whole? Who is wise and understanding?
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  James, you know, as he, as he refers to this, he's getting us
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  to look at not worldly wisdom, but godly wisdom.
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  So we must understand that all wisdom is not equal.
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  There is a worldly wisdom and there's a godly wisdom.
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  So he says here that you will know that someone is wise not by
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  their ability to communicate difficult things, not because of
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  anyone's depth of knowledge, and also, even more important, not
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  because of worldly success. We tend to think that someone is
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  wise because there are millionaires or because they are
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  billionaires, so they must be wise if they can accumulate all
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  these things. And again, James says not So
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  that's the way the world may see wisdom, but that's not godly
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  wisdom. True, Miss, true wisdom is not
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  measured by how 1 teaches. It's not measured by what one
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  has. But true and godly wisdom is
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  measured by how one lives their life.
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  It's measured by how we demonstrate godliness in our
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  lives. Look at what he says here.
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  Who is wise and understanding among you?
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  Let him show not, let him tell it, not let him possess it, but
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  let him show by good conduct or godly conduct that his works are
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  done in the meekness of wisdom. Let him show, let us show that
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  we are wise not by what we say, but by what we do.
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  How do we live our life? Do we live wisely?
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  You know, it was King Saul who said that David behaved himself
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  wisely, because when Saul was attacking him and doing all
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  these things, David continued to abide in the law of the Lord,
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  and saw himself who was an enemy to David, said that David
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  behaved himself wisely. James over in 218.
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  He says I will show you my faith by my works.
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  I'll show you my faith by what I do.
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  So here he's saying that he who is wise is one who shows it by a
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  good conduct, shows that his works are done in meekness and
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  wisdom. Matthew 19 Now I'm sorry,
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  Matthew 1119, Jesus said this. He said wisdom is justified by
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  her children. So a person who was wise, they
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  are approved or they are shown to be wise by what their life
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  produces. So what is this meekness or this
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  gentleness of wisdom? It's having strength under
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  control. It's humility, patience, and a
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  desire to help others rather than assert dominance.
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  A wise person doesn't have to walk around and exert his
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  authority. Jesus was a wise man and he had
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  didn't have to exert his authority.
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  He was meek and he was lonely. The meek and the the meek only
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  seeks to glorify God, not the praise of men.
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  Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit and not of self will.
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  One can conjure up the fruit of being meek or the fruit of being
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  humble. That comes through the power of
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  the Holy Spirit. Jesus demonstrated to the
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  disciples when he said He who is greatest in the Kingdom is least
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  among all. He who is the greatest is a
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  servant of all. He demonstrated that by washing
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  the disciples feet and, and, and, and Peter didn't understand
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  that because Peter said, wait a minute, that's not the way it's
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  supposed to go. Peter was using worldly wisdom.
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  He was thinking and worldly wisdom.
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  He said that's not the way it's supposed to go.
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  Jesus, you got this thing wrong. You see you, you are the
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  Messiah, you're the one of all authority.
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  We are under you. We should be washing your feet,
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  we should be serving you. Jesus says if you don't
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  understand what I'm doing here, then you can't be a part of me
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  because that's not what the Kingdom of God is about.
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  If you came into this church and you only thing that you saw was
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  the leaders being served all the time and never serving anybody
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  or the leaders expecting to be served and never serving
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  anybody, that's not of God, that is not of God.
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  Jesus says that to teach that the the the servant is not
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  greater than the master. So if he serves, why shouldn't
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  we? That's worldly wisdom that says
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  that the the one that's on the in the position of authority
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  should be served. Jesus.
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  He disproved that by washing the disciples feet.
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  He was meek. You see, meekness is the right
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  use of power and wisdom is the right use of knowledge.
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  Not only was Jesus just walking in wisdom, not only was he meek,
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  but he the Bible says that He was gentle and lowly in heart.
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  This was in his heart to be lowly and to be meek.
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  Now we two were called to be meek and to be gentle before the
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  world. In Philippians four and five,
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  Paul said, let your gentleness be known to all men, for the
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  Lord is at hand. So walking in the spirit of the
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  Lord is, it can be shown, it can be observed, it can be
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  demonstrated to others that we're living a life of meekness
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  and humility. And please do not confuse
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  meekness and gentleness and humility with weakness.
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  It is not weak. It takes someone a lot more
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  strength to maintain meekness and humility under trying
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  situations then what it does to try to exert dominance and
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  power. Jesus is our wisdom.
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  The Bible tells us that in First Corinthians one in 30.
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  Jesus Christ is our wisdom, and He is our righteousness, and
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  He's our sanctification, and He's our redemption.
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  Now then in verse 14 he now moves and he begins to talk
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  about what worldly wisdom is and what it produces.
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  So in verse 14 he says, But if you have bitter envy and self
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  seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
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  James warns his listeners here to be careful not to see this
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  worldly wisdom as something to boast about.
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  And if you have these issues of bitter envy and self seeking,
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  don't think that that's something that you should be
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  proud of or boast about it, because then you're just lying
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  against the truth. That is not godly wisdom.
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  That's wisdom of this world. Yeah, he says.
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  Don't deceive yourselves about this.
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  The world promotes envy. You know, it's, it's amazing,
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  but the world actually promotes envy and covetousness.
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  It promotes those who have material gain, the people who
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  have the most material gain, the people who have the most
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  possessions, the most toys, the most wealth.
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  Those are the people that the world promotes.
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  You never see me on the cover of Time magazine.
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  I ain't got no money, so nobody's going to buy that
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  edition of it anyway. But the world promotes that.
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  The more material gained, the higher and the more visible
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  people become the people with the most gain.
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  The world says that successful people decide.
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  They give you a pattern, they give you a prescription for this
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  thing. Successful people decide what
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  they want for themselves and they set a goal and make a plan
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  to achieve it. It's selfish ambition because
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  that plan is all about me. It's all about me.
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  And the thing that we have to understand is with this selfish
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  ambition, The selfish ambition means I'm going to achieve this
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  goal no matter what, no matter what I have to do, no matter who
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  I have to step on, no matter who I have to slander, no matter who
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  I have to displace, I'm going to achieve my goal.
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  I believe the the reason why we have layoffs in this country is
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  because of the selfish ambition of corporate leaders who don't
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  want to make less money. So they get rid of my position,
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  they can make more. They get rid of your position,
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  they can make more because that's selfish ambition.
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  Now the world says and corporate says that's wise, that's wise,
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  but not in the economy of the Kingdom.
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  This encourages people to be lovers of self and not lovers of
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  God and others. So when the world promotes those
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  who who have bitter envy and selfish ambition in their hearts
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  and promotes those who achieve wealth and have a lot of money
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  and material gain, the message is that self ambition play pays
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  off. It pays off to be selfish.
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  It pays off to have this envy. Let's talk a little bit, just
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  for a couple minutes, about this whole issue of bitter envy.
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  Bitter envy is a hostile or resentful and very selfish form
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  of jealousy. It's hostile.
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  It's a greedy and a prideful longing for something that
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  belongs to somebody else. Possession.
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  It could be a position, it could be a skill, or even someone's
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  favor or praise. They get jealous, they get
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  resentful of somebody who has these things and they become
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  envious. You know, I've told you several
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  times that I like skill. I'm attracted to skill.
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  When I see somebody that has skill, I just can't take my eyes
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  off of what they're doing and the way that they're doing it.
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  And it doesn't have to be one thing.
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  I mean, anybody who just have skill, you could be a plumber
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  with skill. I want to see what you're doing.
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  I want to watch you. You know, I'm amazed that, you
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  know, when I used to, you know, when I used to work at Schmel
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  Rich over here used to be like one of the master technicians
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  over there. He has skill.
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  He has skill. There were people who would go
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  and ask, find him to ask him how to do certain things, his skill,
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  knowledge of these things when I was younger.
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  And this may be something you didn't know about me.
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  So trivia question, what didn't you know about Louis?
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  You're going to find something out today.
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  I used to love the bass. Well, I still do.
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  I love the bass guitar. I love the bass guitar.
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  I actually tried to play that one time when I was younger.
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  Now, I wasn't good. I'm not saying I was good, but I
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  did try to play it. And when I listen to songs, my
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  ear goes right to the bass line. It goes straight to the bass
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  line. I'm going to hear what the bass
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  player is doing. So when I see Daniel up here
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  playing, I'm amazed and how gifted he is.
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  I'm amazed and and I like singing.
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  I Can't Sing, but I love those who can.
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  My sisters used to always say, boy, if you could sing, you'd be
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  dangerous because I used to sing all the time when I was younger,
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  but I couldn't. But when I hear Gina and all the
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  other singers up here, Carolina and, and Jacob and all these
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  other singers that come up here and sing, Laura and all, and
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  just hear how their voices blend, how beautiful that is.
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  Now, if I was a resentful person, then I would feel like,
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  well, how come I can't be up there doing that?
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  Why can't I be on that base? Why can't I be over here in
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  front of that Mike singing? So if I get resentful, then I
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  start to do things to sabotage what they're doing because I
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  feel like I should be there. I get selfish ambition.
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  And and so I'm going to do whatever is going to promote me.
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  So I'm going to, you know, I'm going to request to sing a solo.
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  I'm going to request to take, you know, to, to play that bass
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  one Sunday. No one I can play but out of out
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  of envy, out of jealousy. If it gets in my heart, then I
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  begin to do things that would cause a problem for the body and
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  that would be a problem for the body because you don't want to
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  hear me up here singing. That would be a problem for the
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  body. So that, but that's what it
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  does. It's a greedy, prideful longing.
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  How can't I be in the line? How come I can't play like he
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  plays, sing like they sing. I can do it.
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  You know, it's that envy that throughout the Bible people
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  became victims of envy and give me because people were overtaken
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  by envy. And this, this, this bitter
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  envy. It started way back in Genesis.
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  What Cain he killed Abel because he was envious, because Cain
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  Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Abel and Cain's wasn't.
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  He became envious and he killed his brother.
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  Yes, envy can't even resort in murder.
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  Jacob's sons, they were envious and jealous of Joseph.
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  They wanted to kill him but ended up putting him in a a pit
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  and selling them into slavery. Now we look at that and we said,
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  boy, how terrible that was. I mean, I certainly wouldn't
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  want my brothers to be that. So brothers, if you guys get
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  upset with me, come and talk to me about it, OK?
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  Don't throw me in a pit somewhere.
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  But envy, that's what it did. And and then of course you had
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  Saul, who became envious of David.
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  And because he was so envious of David, he wanted to kill him.
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  Why? Because the people gave him
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  praise and they gave him accolades that Saul felt should
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  be his. So he almost upset.
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  He upset the whole nation because he wanted what David
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  had. That's envy, bitter envy, and
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  selfish ambition. It's all about me.
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  Envy makes makes one critical of other people.
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  It breeds contention and destroys unity and brings
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  disorder to the church. I pray that we never have to
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  deal with envy. I pray that envy never enters my
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  heart and I begin to do things out of envy instead of do things
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  out of love because it will upset a church, it will destroy
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  a church, it will separate a church.
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  It does the same thing in families.
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  It does the same thing in family.
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  It is Satan's, one of Satan's plans or one of the seeds that
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  he sows into the heart to cause chaos.
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  And we have to be mine for that. So now let's look at selfish
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  ambition for a couple minutes. Selfish ambition, another word
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  that was used for that is strife.
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  And that's like a party spirit. And actually it's like an old
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  Greek term that was used for politicians who was always
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  canvassing for, for votes. You know, the, the, the person
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  who was selfish, ambitious, he's the person that wanted
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  everything for themselves. So they would canvas from votes,
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  so they would go to people and they would try to get people on
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  their side to see their side and be against the other side.
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  It's a power move. It's a power move.
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  And it cause, of course, it causes division in the church.
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  It causes division and rivalry when people try to politic
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  almost to try to get people on their side.
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  They have a position that they want to take and they want
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  everybody else to be on that side.
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  This is not wisdom from above. This is worldly wisdom to do
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  that. So it convinces people for their
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  support, to support, to support their position.
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  They see people As for themselves or either either for
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  them or against them, self seeking and self-serving, and it
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  creates this rival and division in the church as well.
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  Philippians 2 and three says, let nothing be done through
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  selfish ambition. Nothing, nothing, but in
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  lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
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  themselves or more important than themselves.
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  In verse 15. Verse 15 says the wisdom.
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  This wisdom does not descend from above, but it is earthly,
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  it's sensual, and it's demonic. It's kind of important that we
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  kind of deal with that a little slower as well.
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  It is demonic wisdom that comes from the heart of envy and
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  selfish ambition is not of the Lord.
• 28:08
  It's not of the Lord, but it's earthly meaning that it's only
• 28:13
  concern with the things of this life.
• 28:17
  It doesn't look at things beyond this life.
• 28:19
  It doesn't doesn't even consider the things beyond this life.
• 28:23
  It's just all about this thing. When you hear somebody say I'm
• 28:25
  living my best life now, that's because they're only looking at
• 28:30
  their life here. No real trust or faith in what's
• 28:35
  the what's to come afterwards. We are to live here like this is
• 28:43
  not our home. We're soul joiners.
• 28:48
  We're pilgrims. We're just coming through.
• 28:52
  Our home is heaven. Our home is with Jesus Christ.
• 28:58
  Our home is in glory. That's our home.
• 29:04
  But while we're here, we do the work of the Lord.
• 29:08
  While we're here, the other one is sensual or unspiritual, which
• 29:14
  means that's like being like an animal.
• 29:16
  It's being animal like, and it's concerned only with the
• 29:19
  gratifications and passions of the flesh.
• 29:23
  This, this influence causes me to always look at what I can do
• 29:27
  to please my flesh, whether physical, emotional, or whatever
• 29:33
  it may be. Always looking to please me and
• 29:38
  always says demonic. Demonic is means that it's
• 29:42
  influenced by demonic activity or control.
• 29:46
  It's not possession. Those who are saved cannot be
• 29:50
  possessed by the devil. Let's clear that up.
• 29:54
  If you are saved, you cannot be possessed by the devil, but you
• 29:59
  can be influenced by demonic activity.
• 30:05
  You cannot be possessed, but you can be oppressed by demonic
• 30:10
  activity. If you allow your heart to be
• 30:13
  open to that. He will come in.
• 30:17
  He will try to come in and influence you to do demonic type
• 30:22
  things. This the apostle John says this.
• 30:26
  He says all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
• 30:30
  the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
• 30:33
  This is not of the Father, but it's of the world.
• 30:36
  So this selfish ambition and this bitter envy is not of the
• 30:42
  Lord, it's of the world. But the next verse, verse 1617
• 30:48
  on that is probably even the most important.
• 30:51
  He says the world is passing away in the lust of it the
• 30:55
  world. That means the world and, and,
• 30:58
  and the worldly ways, the worldly principles, the worldly
• 31:03
  way of thinking, all that is passing away.
• 31:07
  The Bible says, do not, you know, do not be envious of evil
• 31:11
  doers because they will soon be cut off like the grass.
• 31:16
  All that's passing away. Oh, it seems like it's so great
• 31:19
  when we're here experiencing it, when somebody has so much
• 31:23
  success or so much money and they have this way of thinking
• 31:26
  that just looks like they're always having a good time,
• 31:28
  they're always having pleasure. They look like they're just
• 31:30
  having the time of their life. Young people, I specifically
• 31:34
  want to talk to you about this. Kids your age will sound like
• 31:38
  they're having the time of their life, living reckless lives,
• 31:45
  sinful lives. And we'll talk about you and
• 31:48
  we'll make you feel set apart, will make you feel isolated
• 31:53
  because you're not like them. Young people, hold on, hold on,
• 31:59
  Don't fall for that. That life is temporary.
• 32:03
  The life you live of obedience to the word of God, that is
• 32:07
  eternal, that is eternal. I wish somebody would have said
• 32:14
  that to me. So he says in that that that
• 32:19
  verse. He says that the world and the
• 32:22
  worldly things are passing away. But he who does the will of God,
• 32:28
  not the will, not his own will, or not the will of envy, not
• 32:34
  those who you know, not the will of those who achieves his own
• 32:37
  selfish ambition, but those who do the will of God abides
• 32:42
  forever. Colossians 3.
• 32:44
  One and two says, if, if then you are raised with Christ, seek
• 32:48
  those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the
• 32:51
  right hand of God. Set your mind on things above,
• 32:54
  on heavenly wisdom, and not the things that are on the earth
• 32:57
  which is earthly wisdom. Verse 16, Verse 16 says this.
• 33:05
  For where envy and self seeking exists, confusion and every evil
• 33:13
  thing are there. Now just to recap, previously
• 33:17
  James taught us that there is a saving faith and a dead faith.
• 33:22
  There is a pure and undefiled religion and there is a useless
• 33:28
  religion. And now he's teaching us.
• 33:31
  He's saying there is a heavenly wisdom in a worldly or false
• 33:36
  wisdom, and that wisdom is earthly, essential and it's
• 33:40
  demonic. And they are marked and rooted
• 33:46
  in envy, in self ambition. It's rooted in that.
• 33:56
  So James, and we have to remember, James is writing to
• 33:59
  believers. It's not like he's writing to a
• 34:00
  bunch of unbelievers. He's writing to believers.
• 34:03
  So these are people in the church that he's writing to it.
• 34:06
  It can be, it's us. It's us.
• 34:09
  Because to be honest with you, there's times that I know I have
• 34:13
  been envious and there's times I've experienced selfish
• 34:16
  ambition. I think we all have.
• 34:19
  We were if, if we're honest, we could probably admit that we
• 34:24
  were raised that way. We were raised with you.
• 34:28
  Look, you got to take care of you.
• 34:32
  So you go to school, you go to college and you get a good
• 34:36
  education and you get you a good job that pays you a lot of money
• 34:43
  so you can take care of you. No one ever said, look, when you
• 34:48
  go to college, I want you to pray about what it is that the
• 34:51
  Lord wants you to do. What is the Lord want you to be?
• 34:56
  No one ever said that to me ever.
• 35:01
  It was all about, hey, go get yours, man.
• 35:03
  If you do this, you'll get yours.
• 35:04
  You'll get money. You have a fat bank account.
• 35:06
  You better drive this kind of car, that kind of car.
• 35:08
  It was all about selfish ambition, achieving my goals and
• 35:12
  doing what I want, James said. That's the wisdom of the world.
• 35:19
  That's the wisdom of the world. So he's writing to believers
• 35:23
  about that and he says so. He's warning us right here in
• 35:26
  the Church, the operating under the influence of earthly,
• 35:29
  central and demonic wisdom and not operating under the Holy
• 35:34
  Spirit nor heavenly wisdom. Now, what is the results?
• 35:39
  What are the results of operating under this worldly
• 35:42
  wisdom, the results of this bitter envy?
• 35:46
  What are the results of this self seeking and or self
• 35:50
  ambition in our hearts? What's the result of that?
• 35:53
  He tells us that here in verse 16.
• 35:56
  He said it brings nothing but confusion in every evil thing.
• 36:01
  Confusion, and that's exactly what it is, bought being
• 36:05
  selfish. Selfish ambition and being
• 36:09
  envious has done nothing in this world but brought confusion,
• 36:13
  chaos, and it has brought every evil thing.
• 36:18
  The world right now is a ball of confusion.
• 36:23
  Am I remember that song by the Temptations?
• 36:26
  The ball of confusion. Remember that song for us?
• 36:31
  A brief minute last night when I was looking at this, I thought
• 36:36
  about singing one verse, but that was my selfish ambition
• 36:42
  that kicked in and the Lord said, boy, you know better than
• 36:47
  that. That's worldly wisdom for you to
• 36:53
  stand up there and try to sing. So I'm going to just read you a
• 36:57
  section of the lyric now. You have no, no, no, no, no, no,
• 37:06
  no, no. Now you have to remember the
• 37:11
  temptations had steps when they did everything right.
• 37:14
  I'm not doing that either. But I I just want you to think
• 37:18
  about that as we think, as we look through these verses, OK,
• 37:24
  he says. Think about the song now.
• 37:27
  People moving out, people moving in.
• 37:29
  Why? Because of the color of their
• 37:31
  skin. Run, run, run.
• 37:33
  But you sure can't hide an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
• 37:38
  Vote for me and I'll set you free.
• 37:40
  Rap on, brother, rap on. Well, the only person talking
• 37:45
  about love thy brother is the preacher.
• 37:48
  And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacher.
• 37:55
  Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration,
• 37:58
  aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation.
• 38:02
  Ball of confusion, You guys remember that?
• 38:07
  And you know what? We still have a ball of
• 38:08
  confusion today. Now that was written back in
• 38:12
  1970, believe it or not. I know it made me feel old. 1970
• 38:20
  and we still have this ball of confusion.
• 38:23
  Where are we confused? Well, we have confusion now with
• 38:26
  sexual preferences. We have men who want to be with
• 38:30
  men and we have women that want to be with women.
• 38:33
  Confused. We have gender confusion.
• 38:37
  We have boys that want to be girls and girls that now want to
• 38:40
  be boys. We have identity confusion.
• 38:44
  We have humans that want to be animals, and that's the truth.
• 38:50
  And if you ever met my dog, you will see an animal that want to
• 38:54
  be human. It's moral confusion.
• 39:01
  We're in the time now where the culture says that what's good
• 39:04
  meaning the word of God and the morals of the Bible, those
• 39:08
  things are bad. And the things that are bad, the
• 39:13
  way of this world, you know, sexual immorality and and
• 39:17
  liberalism and all these other things that are contrary to the
• 39:22
  word of God, those things are considered good.
• 39:29
  Wow. And it doesn't even stop there.
• 39:34
  I wish the list did, but it doesn't.
• 39:36
  But we also have churches that are even confused about who
• 39:39
  Jesus is, confused about who He is and what he came to do.
• 39:48
  We got churches that are confused about who should be
• 39:51
  pastors and who shouldn't be pastors.
• 39:58
  There's some churches you could probably go to and a person
• 40:00
  stands up in the pulpit who you think is a woman and is actually
• 40:03
  a man and vice versa. We're living in a ball of
• 40:10
  confusion. So it says also every evil
• 40:16
  things you see, selfish ambition, bitter envy, all those
• 40:21
  kind of things is about what satisfies me.
• 40:24
  And that's how we got here. That's how we got here.
• 40:28
  Somebody just wanted to do what satisfied them so.
• 40:32
  And he says also every evil thing are there.
• 40:36
  Eventually the sins of bitter envy and selfish ambition will
• 40:39
  begin to keep company with other sins like deceit, wrath,
• 40:43
  slander, lying, idolatry, hatred, adultery, even
• 40:50
  self-serving, self satisfying. Me.
• 40:53
  I'm not just satisfied with my wife or with my husband.
• 40:57
  I want their husband or their wife.
• 41:01
  And even murder, yes, even murder.
• 41:03
  Not only just the physical killing of somebody, because
• 41:06
  people can be moved by envy to kill someone out of envy, but
• 41:12
  also the killing of 1's reputation, the killing of 1's
• 41:15
  character, the killing of 1's integrity.
• 41:19
  And I'm sad to say, but it's true.
• 41:22
  Also the killing of our children's innocence.
• 41:27
  When you have kids in elementary school that are going to school
• 41:30
  and they're already being introduced to this gender ISM
• 41:35
  this, this this. Girls that want to be boys and
• 41:38
  boys that want to be girls, and girls saying that my girlfriend
• 41:44
  was over my house last night and boys are saying my boyfriend was
• 41:49
  over my house. And teachers that are enforcing
• 41:52
  this freedom of expressing yourself.
• 41:57
  And you don't have to let your parents know about it.
• 42:01
  Just do it. Yeah, we're in a ball of
• 42:05
  confusion. That's every evil thing, and it
• 42:08
  breeds those things. Envy and selfishness and self
• 42:12
  ambition breeds those things. So this worldly wisdom is only
• 42:20
  for the here and now. It only serves to fulfill our
• 42:24
  selfish ambitions and our appetites here on earth.
• 42:27
  But this kind of wisdom is from the evil 1 and it does no good
• 42:33
  for those who are seeking eternal life.
• 42:37
  Doesn't do any good for that at all.
• 42:39
  But then in 17, he tells us and we're about to come in for a
• 42:41
  closing. In verse 17 it says, but the
• 42:45
  wisdom that is from above is first pure.
• 42:49
  And I just want to say that the contrast to this worldly wisdom
• 42:54
  is godly or heavenly wisdom. And this wisdom is from above.
• 42:58
  It's living in obedience to God's will, to His Word and to
• 43:03
  His ways. This wisdom is about trusting
• 43:08
  God for our provision and not trying to manipulate things and
• 43:12
  people to get what we want. Those with godly wisdom submit
• 43:18
  themselves to God and not their own selfish desires.
• 43:21
  They're others oriented and not self oriented.
• 43:25
  Jesus is our example of one who was others oriented.
• 43:30
  If you look at Mark 10 and 45, Jesus said for even the Son of
• 43:35
  man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his
• 43:39
  life a ransom for many. So we look quickly at the
• 43:44
  characteristics of godly or the characteristics of, of, of, of
• 43:50
  heavenly wisdom, He said it's first pure.
• 43:55
  It's first pure. The pure heart is the foundation
• 44:00
  of everything else that he's going to mention after this.
• 44:03
  But it starts with having a pure heart.
• 44:06
  And a pure heart is 1 of holiness.
• 44:10
  It's undivided. It's undefiled.
• 44:13
  It's a chaste heart. To be pure of heart means that
• 44:18
  my motives and attitude are free from sin.
• 44:23
  My motives are not to do something against somebody else,
• 44:30
  but it's pure. It's to glorify God.
• 44:33
  It's to love that person. I'm doing it out of love for
• 44:36
  this person. I'm not doing it out of anger or
• 44:39
  resentment. Now, man's wisdom leads to a
• 44:43
  sinful life, while God's wisdom leads to a pure life.
• 44:48
  See, the closer our fellowship is with the Lord, the closer our
• 44:53
  fellowship is with the Holy Spirit, the more pure our lives
• 44:56
  become. The more pure our lives become.
• 45:01
  The voice of the Holy Spirit is so much louder to us.
• 45:05
  We feel so close to Him because we're walking in obedience to
• 45:09
  Him. So we feel a fellowship.
• 45:13
  That's wisdom that comes from above.
• 45:17
  Matthew 5 and eight said, Blessed are the pure in heart,
• 45:20
  for they shall see God who sees God, those who have a pure
• 45:26
  heart. And Psalms 24, three and four
• 45:29
  says, Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who may
• 45:33
  stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a
• 45:38
  pure heart, he has who has not lifted up his soul to an idol.
• 45:44
  The idols of money or the idols of, of, of, of self, or the
• 45:49
  idols of, of lust, have not lifted up his soul to those
• 45:54
  things. He is not sworn deceitfully.
• 46:00
  And then there's the peaceable, then peaceable.
• 46:02
  So first it has to be pure. We have to have that
• 46:05
  characteristic first and then peaceable or peace loving.
• 46:11
  And that's one. One cannot truly have peace or
• 46:17
  be peace loving with an impure heart.
• 46:21
  You got to do it with a pure heart.
• 46:22
  And that peace loving is one who has a desire to ease conflict,
• 46:28
  not create it. They seek peace and pursue it.
• 46:33
  Man's wisdom leads to rivalry and division in the church, but
• 46:39
  godly wisdom leads to peace that passes all understanding.
• 46:44
  But this peace is not at any cost.
• 46:46
  This isn't saying peace you know for, you know at any cost or it
• 46:52
  for or by any means. That's not what this is about.
• 46:56
  Because if you have peace by covering up sin or you thinking
• 47:00
  you're keeping peace by overlooking sin, you don't
• 47:04
  really have peace just sitting on a on a powder keg that
• 47:07
  eventually will blow. But it's more important to have
• 47:11
  purity and holiness in the church than it is to have this
• 47:14
  fake peace in the church. We can always go to the Prince
• 47:25
  of Peace to restore our peace. And when we walk in God's
• 47:29
  obedience, He will take care of our peace.
• 47:34
  He will make sure that we have peace.
• 47:37
  We can't create it on our own. Isaiah 32 and 17 says the work
• 47:42
  of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness
• 47:45
  quietness and assurance forever. Praise and worship team, please
• 47:50
  come forth. The next one is gentle.
• 47:55
  That means meek but not weak, sweet, reasonableness considered
• 48:01
  of others, not looking to fight, but neither will he compromise
• 48:06
  truth to avoid 1. The gentle person is looking to
• 48:10
  serve and not looking to cause problems.
• 48:13
  Matthew 5 and five says blessed all the meek, for they shall
• 48:17
  inherit the earth. And I'm going to stop here
• 48:27
  because I know we have our agape meal today, so please put a a
• 48:32
  marker there and we'll pick that up and we come back next week,
• 48:35
  Amen. Y'all come back with me next
• 48:38
  week, OK? Thank you, Amen.
• 48:42
  God is so good. God is so good.
• 48:44
  You know, as I was going through this and I think about how Jesus
• 48:48
  Christ walked along the earth, I think about how he blessed so
• 48:53
  many, how he was, how everything he did was about somebody else.
• 48:58
  Even when he ran into people who were involved in sin, he wanted
• 49:02
  to make it clear that yes, you know, I'm not condemning you.
• 49:06
  I'm not putting you down. I'm not going to reject you, but
• 49:08
  I want you to be clear and you got to go and sin no more.
• 49:12
  It is yet a sin. I'm not overlooking this sin
• 49:16
  because I want I don't want you to just get along with me
• 49:18
  because you think I'm overlooking your sin.
• 49:19
  I am not. But I want your life to be even
• 49:22
  more enriched. I want your life to be fuller.
• 49:24
  I want your life to be more pure and you'll enjoy it more.
• 49:28
  So please go and send no more. But I'm not going to condemn
• 49:31
  you, and nor is this about condemning anybody.
• 49:35
  We all are growing in Christ Jesus, every one of us, and
• 49:39
  we're growing every day. As we go into His Word, He shows
• 49:44
  us areas of our lives which we need to grow and become more and
• 49:49
  more like His Son Jesus Christ. And that's the beauty of this
• 49:53
  walk, and that's why. And that's the beauty of having
• 49:56
  a church that you can join. If you're new and you're
• 49:59
  thinking about a church that you want to join, consider a church
• 50:04
  who understands that we have weaknesses.
• 50:07
  None of us are perfect. None of us can sit in a seat of
• 50:11
  judgment because we're too busy laying on the seat of mercy.
• 50:17
  We have to acknowledge that we all need God's mercy.
• 50:20
  And that's what we're doing here every week.
• 50:23
  We're not here judging anybody, but this purifies us, this
• 50:28
  thanks to this sanctifies us, and it causes us to be more like
• 50:33
  Jesus Christ. So as we go into a communion,
• 50:38
  let us consider that Jesus did sacrifice himself so that we
• 50:45
  could have this eternal life and that we can live a life of godly
• 50:49
  wisdom. Godly wisdom, not wisdom that
• 50:54
  will cause confusion. Jesus never brought confusion
• 50:58
  everywhere. He when he brought peace.
• 51:02
  Now if there were those who were contrary to the word of God,
• 51:06
  they had their own confusion. But Jesus, he came with peace,
• 51:13
  he came lowly, he came meek even to the point when he went to the
• 51:19
  cross, the Bible says he said not a word.
• 51:22
  He was like a a sheep going to the slaughter, never said
• 51:26
  anything. He just went in obedience to his
• 51:29
  father. And I'm so grateful to him for
• 51:35
  that. When he hung on that cross, he
• 51:39
  could have come down, He could have freed himself from that
• 51:44
  cross and destroyed everybody around him.
• 51:45
  But he didn't. He stayed there and I'm so glad
• 51:48
  he did because my sins were covered under that blood, my
• 51:52
  sins were washed clean under that blood.
• 51:56
  His body was broken for my sins. So on the night in which Jesus
• 52:03
  was betrayed, he took the bread and after he gave thanks, he
• 52:09
  broken. And he said that he said, eat
• 52:14
  this is my body which is broken for you.
• 52:18
  So take it and eat it. And as often as you eat it, eat
• 52:21
  it in remembrance of me. And he also took the blood, the
• 52:29
  the cup, which is symbolic of his blood.
• 52:35
  And he said, this is a new covenant in my blood.
• 52:44
  And he shed a lot of blood, but his blood washed away the stain
• 52:50
  of our sins. So he said, drink this, and as
• 52:57
  often as you drink it, drinking and remembrance of me.
• 53:04
  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do
• 53:07
  show the Lord's death till he come.
• 53:11
  The Lord bless you. The author is open for anyone
• 53:13
  who would like to come up. God bless you.
• 53:20
  Let's stand together one more time, if you can.