Latest / Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services / James 5:1-6 - Trust in God, Not in Riches!

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James 5:1-6 - Trust in God, Not in Riches! · Living Waters of Grace / Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland Sunday Services

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Good morning Calvary Chapel. Good morning, please.
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Good morning. Hey man, an exuberant brother
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over there. Hey man, God bless you, man.
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Please turn in your Bibles with us to James Chapter 4 and we
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actually going to, I'm sorry, James Chapter 5.
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Actually, we're going to start James chapter 5 today.
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We're we're, we're cutting right through it.
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I just want to thank everybody for coming this morning as my
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sister is already so eloquently and graciously have already
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given that that welcome. We thank God that you chose to
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worship with us this morning. And we also thank God for those
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who are watching on Facebook and those who are behind prison
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walls who have chosen to listen to us this morning.
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We thank you. We thank you.
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It's always so good to see you guys to come in.
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I look so forward to Wednesday nights and on Sundays when I get
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a chance to just fellowship with you all.
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It's such a blessing. You know, I, I, I thank God that
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he calls me to be a part of a family, a, a family of believers
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who truly, truly love one another.
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And if there's one thing I can say, if you're here for the
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first time, if there's one thing I can say, when you walk into
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Calvary Chapel Westmoreland, the one thing you will experience
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would be genuine love. You will experience that.
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And I thank God for that. I thank God for that.
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So we're going to go ahead and just pray and get into the Word
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this morning. OK, Father, every day that we
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have an opportunity to wake up and to give you praise and
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worship, it's a blessing. David said that I will bless the
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Lord at all times. That means we bless you when
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we're suffering. We bless you when we're
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abounding. We bless you in our mountaintop
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experiences, Lord, and we bless you in our valleys.
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We thank you for your faithfulness.
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Great is your faithfulness to us.
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And Father, as usual this morning as we come, we come and
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gather, not just for fellowship, not just for the worship, but we
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also come for the ultimate worship, which is to sit under
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Your word and have an opportunity to obey you, to walk
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in your truths. We thank You, Lord, that You
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have given us of Your Word, and not only do you give us Your
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Word, Lord, but through the power of Your Holy Spirit You
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give us understanding of Your word, Cause us to be able to
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rightly divide Your word, and we can only do that through the
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power of Your Holy Spirit. So this morning we asked for a
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manifestation of Your Holy Spirit upon each and every one
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of us. To those of us who were
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listening, I pray God that you would open our hearts and our
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ears. Allow the Word to be a seed that
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goes in to our hearts and that it takes up root there, and
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cause it to bring forth fruit in our life that the world would be
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able to see. And Father, for me, your
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servant, I pray God that you would speak through me, that it
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would be your voice that people hear.
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It would be your words, your truth.
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Lord, it's not mine, it's yours. So be with us this morning,
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Lord, be with us. May we feel your presence.
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In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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Amen. I could come and sit over there
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and you can come up and take care of this if you Amen.
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Amen. What is a blessing?
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It's a blessing. I I was just thinking Pastor
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Clark and myself and Brother Ted, as we were sitting out in
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the what we call our prayer owl back there and we're lifting up
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prayers to the Lord. I was just thinking about a song
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this morning that was just really heavy on my heart, and
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the song is great. Is your faithfulness.
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And I think there's times that I kind of take a.
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For. Granted, God's faithfulness in
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my life, I think there's times that I just kind of expect his
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faithfulness in my life. But the truth is, is that He's
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faithful even when we're not, as his word clearly says.
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And every day, regardless of whether we are having things go
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so easy in our life or whether we're having things go hard, we
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experience God's faithfulness. The fact that we're here today
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is an example of God's faithfulness, fact that we woke
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up this morning, the things that He provides for us.
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We all have roofs over our head and we have food on our table
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and we have clothes on our back. It's an example of God's
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faithfulness, especially when you find that there's others who
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don't have those things. But God has blessed us and have
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given us above all things, the salvation that he's given us,
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which is more important than anything that we can wear,
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spend, or eat is the salvation of the Lord.
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And we have that. We have that.
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So thank you for taking that little ride with me this
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morning. So just thinking about his
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faithfulness in our lives. So let's go into James chapter 5
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and I'm going to read this and we're going to go back and we're
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going to look at it and we'll see what the Lord has to say.
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He says here in the in the first verse, he says, come now you
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rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon
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you. Your riches are corrupted and
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your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and your silver are
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corroded, and their their corrosion will be a witness
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against you, and will eat your flesh like fire, if you have
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heaped up treasure in the last days, indeed the wages of the
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laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back.
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By fraud, cry out. And the cries of the reapers
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have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabeaf.
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Verse 5 says you have. Lived on the earth and pleasure
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and luxury. You have fattened your hearts as
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in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have
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murdered the just. He does not resist you.
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What a sobering section of scripture.
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What's really amazing about this is that after.
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He gives us this section on we do not know.
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When you look back at the end of chapter 4, he talks about we
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don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next,
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so we shouldn't do it presumptuously.
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We should not live our lives absent from the dependence on
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God and recognizing His will in our lives every day.
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And then he comes down to Chapter 5.
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Which is the first time in this scripture that he literally
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speaks to the unbelievers. This is a message he's speaking
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to the unbelievers throughout this entire.
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Book So far it's been my brother and my brother and and it's been
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about believers. But now he's taken a moment to
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speak to the unbelievers. Now, these may be the
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unbelievers who came and visited the church and he knew that
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these unbelievers were abusing the poor, particularly those who
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he's writing this book to, you know, the, the, the, the poor
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believers, they're, they're abusing them.
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And and he's going to talk about how they're abusing him.
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And he takes this moment to not talk to the believers, but to
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speak to these non believers. And he does it in the form of a
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warning. And it's, I mean it, it, it's
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almost, it almost cost chills when you think about this
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warning that he's giving to these unbelievers.
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I don't know if whether or not they, they, they truly heed this
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warning, but this is indeed a very serious thing that he is
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giving and saying to these unbelievers.
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Now, one thing I do want to make clear, that the Bible doesn't
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necessarily condemn being rich. It is not necessarily.
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It's not condemning being rich. This is not an indictment
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against people being rich, but it does warn, it warns US
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against making wealth an idol in our lives.
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It warns US against trusting in it or letting it corrupt our
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hearts as it can so often. But instead, James, James is
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urging us, and as we go through this, we're going to hear him in
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many ways. Let us know that it is those
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that to those who are rich, that you should have a posture of
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generosity and a reliance on God.
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Regardless of whether we're rich or poor, our reliance should be
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on God, trusting in Him and not in anything that we have.
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God has no problem with the rich in general because it's God who
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made riches. He created riches, He created
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wealth, and not only that, but He also gives us the power to
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get wealth, but he is against trusting in those riches.
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It almost goes right back to what's often been said, and
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what's been said many times is that we should never, ever trust
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love or or or or depend on the creation more than the Creator.
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In First Timothy 6 and 17, he says command those who were rich
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in this present age not to be haughty.
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Don't be prideful or trust in uncertain riches.
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There's nothing certain about riches.
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You can have riches today, and tomorrow you don't have
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anything. What's valuable today may not be
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a value tomorrow. So he says don't trust in
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uncertain riches. The only thing that's truly
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certain is Jesus Christ, and it's only what we do for him
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that will last, he says. So don't trust in uncertain
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riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things
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to enjoy. So he gives, he's not a, he's
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not against riches. He gives us riches.
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He gives us all things to enjoy. Now I know some of you may be
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thinking, when women, I ain't rich, I'm not rich.
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When do I get my riches to enjoy?
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And when you really think about riches, it's really relative
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because if you leave the United States and going to another
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country, you will see poverty on a level that you've never seen
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it here in the United States. The worst poverty I've ever seen
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was in Compton, CA. There's some places there that
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are really, really poverty stricken, but then you go to
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other places, other countries and Compton looks like Beverly
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Hills compared to some of these places.
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So it really is relative. It really is relative and and
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quite honestly, God, you know, Jesus said, look, if you have
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food and you have clothing, you really have what you need.
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We're. Rich.
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That's rich. So in Proverbs 11/28, he says he
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who trusts in his riches will fall.
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It's a it's such a snare. It's such a trap to trust in
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riches. It gets you to feel like
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everything's OK now because I can afford to get what I want.
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But if you think about it, it's the rich who has more sorrows
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than anybody, more sorrow than anybody.
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If that's what they're trusting in, they have more sorrows than
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anybody. But he says, but the righteous
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will flourish like a foliage. Wealth with integrity allows us
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to have peace. Bible says that he who walks in
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integrity walks securely. Don't have to worry about the
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don't have to worry about the results of walking in a way
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that's not of integrity, which brings on consequences.
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Don't have to worry about that when you're blessing is in with
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integrity. Proverbs 10 and 22 says the
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blessing of the Lord makes 1 rich and he adds no sorrow with
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it. Now I also want to take a look.
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I'm going to go back to the Old Testament a little bit and take
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a look as we talk about these riches and Deuteronomy 8 and 18.
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God says this. He says, and you shall remember
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the Lord your God. This is Moses speaking.
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You should remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives
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you the. Power.
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To get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he
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swore to your father's as it is this day.
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And the Bible actually gives us both Old and New Testament
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examples of people who trusted in him and he has blessed with
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great wealth and we look at the Old Testament.
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Abraham was a man of great wealth, but he was also a man
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that followed closely with good effect.
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God said that he is his friend. Job.
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Lord said, you know, the Bible says he was righteous above all
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man in that at that particular time he had great wealth.
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He also suffered more than most of them, more than probably any
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of us will ever have. Hopefully it'll be more than any
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of us ever have to, but yet he was a man that had great wealth.
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And of course, Joseph, man of great wealth.
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And there's others that we could mention as well.
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Isaac, Jacob had wealth. And these are people who love
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the Lord. And also in the New Testament
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there are examples of those who have great wealth.
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Joseph of Arimathea, by the way, who's a very tomb that Jesus was
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laid in. And while I mention him, I might
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as well go ahead and mention Nicodemus, because Nicodemus
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also a man of great wealth and believed.
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In fact, he helped Joseph of Arimathea to wrap.
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Jesus for his. Burial.
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Then there's Philemon who was a man of God who was also rich.
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So money itself is neutral, honestly speaking and and and
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and just having it is not a sin. But when we love it and pursue
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it more than we love or pursue God, that's when it becomes an
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issue. That's when it becomes an issue.
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It corrupts the heart. And to be honest with you, there
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is very few things that people who really love money, there's
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very few things that they won't do to to get it.
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It's just like that selfish ambition that we talked about.
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This is what I want and I'll do anything I have to do to get it.
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That's the love of money. So yes, it becomes a problem,
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but money itself is neutral and it's not money that's the
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problem, but it's the love of money that is the problem.
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And unfortunately for those who have money, and Jesus made this
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statement himself, that those who are rich if they're not
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trusting in the Lord. And if they're not committing
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what they have to the will of the Lord, it's very, very
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difficult for them to get into the Kingdom of heaven.
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How difficult If you look at a the eye of a pen need I'm and I
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bring that up because when I was young, I mean it says in the
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scripture too, but when I was young, my grandmother and when I
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would spend time with her and she would put her glasses on and
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try to. You guys have any thoughts of
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that? Your grandmother's, you know,
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try to get that thread to get through that little eye, that
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needle, and then eventually, eventually, she just looks at
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you and say, look, your eyes is better than mine, you know,
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here, come and do this. Now it's us who are saying to
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younger people, your eyes are better than mine.
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But yeah, I remember my grandmother doing that.
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And then Jesus is saying it's easier.
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For a camel to go through the eye of that needle than it is
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for a rich man to get into heaven.
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And again, this is not an indictment on people being rich.
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This is talking about those who are trusting in their riches,
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those who have decided that they were going to be selfish with
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their riches. In First Timothy 6 and 10, James
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says and and a lot of people quote this and they.
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For some reason, they kind of misquote it.
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They'll say, look, money is the root of all evil.
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You hear that a lot. Money is the root of all evil.
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But that is the misquote of that scripture.
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It is not money that's the root of all evil.
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Actually, what it says is that the love of money, and it's not
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the root, but it is a root of all evil.
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There are many, many roots of evil.
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Money is one of them. Money is one of them.
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So as we go through this now, James looks at two things in
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this section concerning the wicked unsaved who are rich.
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And the first thing he looks, he looks at how they acquired their
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wealth. And then he's going to take a
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look at how they use their wealth.
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So let's go here to verse one. And it says here, come now.
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In other words, listen, take heed.
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Listen to what I'm about to say. I'm about to say something that
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you really need to hear. And again, remember, he's
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talking to unsaved people who are wealthy and he knows that
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these people have used their wealth to abuse the poor and
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oppress the poor. He says, come you who you rich,
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speaking directly to them. And then he says this, weep and
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how for your miseries that are coming upon you now, when you
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would listen to most rich people who are really trusting in their
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wealth and thinking that because I'm I'm rich, I don't have to
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depend on anybody but me. The last thing that they would
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think that they would have to listen to is somebody say,
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you're going to be miserable. How can I be miserable?
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I got everything I want. Oh, miseries coming.
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So this is almost written in in the in the flavor of an Old
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Testament prophet who was saying judgment has been declared and
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it's coming upon you. This is what you have to look
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forward to. You think you have to look
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forward to enjoying the rest of your riches, But that's on this
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side. When you are judged, when you
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when judgment hits, you got another problem.
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I was listening to Phil the the guy from Duck Dynasty.
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He was speaking one time and he said something and, and, and I
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remember who remembers Duck Dynasty by the way.
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OK, OK. I just want to make sure.
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He said something very injured. He said, you know, we have 3
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problems. He caught my attention.
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I'm listening. He said the one problem we have
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is sin. All have sinned and come sure to
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the glory of God. That's the one problem we have.
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The second problem we have is death, because it's appointed to
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every man wants to die and then after this the judgement.
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But then he said the third problem is judgement.
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That's the third problem we have.
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And that's why it was important for Jesus Christ to come,
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because He delivered us from the sin.
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He took on our sin. He became sin for us.
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Jesus is the answer to that problem.
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But Jesus is also the answer to the problem of the second issue,
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which is death. Because Jesus says that if you
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believe on me, though you be dead, yet shall you live.
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And those who believe in me that are that are alive, you shall
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never die. So Jesus is the answer to that,
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but he's also the answer to judgment because he took on the
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death of the judgment the penalty for death for us.
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He handled that. That's why it's important to be
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in Jesus Christ because without him those are still going to be
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a problem for everyone of us who don't trust in Him.
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So this is about this unbelieving non Christian rich,
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rich folks who was oppressing the poor believers, some of whom
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James is writing to, like these people that James are writing
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to. These people are being oppressed
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by the poor. This is a warning to the wicked
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who trust in their riches. He said you better in
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anticipation of what's coming. You can just start weeping and
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howling now. Just start weeping and howling
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now because judgment is coming. It's already been, it's already
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been pronounced. And then in verses 2 and 3, he
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says your riches are corrupted. So these are the things that
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they trusted in. And here when he talks about
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your riches, they're actually talking about their food, their
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grain, their wheat. He says it's corrupted.
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In other words, it's molded. It's as good as molded.
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It's not going to do you any good.
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And then he said in your garments are moth eating.
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You walk around in these expensive clothes and you and
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you're thinking that hey, I'm looking good and you know I'm
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going to always look good like this.
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But but but but James said no, they are moth eating.
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Those garments will be eaten with moth.
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Who remembers the mothballs? All right, I got a lot of folk
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about you generation here today, mothballs with you young folks
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who wondering what are they talking about years ago, you
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walk in your closet and you'll be overwhelmed with the smaller
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mothballs. I'm going to go to my
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grandmother's house. I knew exactly when I walked
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past her closet because the mothball smell would just bounce
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out of there like crazy. But the reason why they use
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mothballs is because, yes, garments would be eaten by moth
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that would get in your closet and they will start eating like
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your sweaters and things of that nature.
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So the older folks used to use the moth balls and put them in
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there because it was like a pest.
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It worked like a pesticide and would keep the moth away.
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And I'm wondering if it really worked, but they used it.
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I know it worked against me because I didn't want to go in
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the closet that that smell was so that smell was so powerful,
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you know, and even like, you know, when when they were, you
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know, my grandmother would come over to the house sometimes I
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could smell it on her clothes, you know, say, wow, grandma got
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that sweater out of the closet, that muff.
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But that's what they believe. But James is saying won't be no
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mothballs here, bro. You know the the the moth is
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going to eat. Your garments that you think you
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are so great and you think you're looking so majestic,
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what's going to be eaten up? And then he goes on in verse
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three, he says in your gold and your silver is corroded.
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Wow, gold and silver corroded. And we're always told that gold
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don't corrode, but he's saying it's going to be corroded.
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In other words, it's going to be rendered invaluable.
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You see, when you die, regardless of how much money you
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have, how much gold and silver you have, it means nothing Once
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you die. You don't take it with you.
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I said, you know, he said you, James, I mean Paul said you
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bring nothing into this world and you will carry nothing out
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of it. You will carry nothing out of
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it. So your gold and your silver is
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corroded and their corrosion. Now this is really interesting.
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He's saying in your corrosion will be a witness against you
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and will eat your flesh like fire.
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It's almost a picture of being in a courtroom where you as the
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person that may be the defendant and you want someone to come and
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testify on your behalf. So you choose the person that
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you trust in the most to come and testify on your behalf.
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The to, you know, hopefully give a testimony that would get you
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out of trouble. So you try to bring the most
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reliable person that you can think of the the one that you
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trust in the most. And you put them in front of the
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courtroom and you and they give their testimony.
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But the testimony that they give actually is the very one that
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indicts you, the one that actually renders you guilty.
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So instead of testifying for you, it's testifying against
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you. They're trusting in all these
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gold and the silver and the clothes and all these things,
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but it's going to corrode, and that corrosion is going to be
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like a witness against you. And in judgement your flesh will
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be eaten like fire. Just like that gold and those
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precious stones were going to corrode, so will you in
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judgment. James is not being gentle here.
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He is really being as direct as he possibly can with this
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warning. And then he goes and he looks at
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the next, the next portion of that same verse, right here in
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verse three, he says you heaped up treasure in the last days.
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You heaped up treasure. That means you stored up
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treasure. You, you didn't use your
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treasure to help anybody. You didn't use it to bless
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anybody. You used it.
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You stored it up. Just wanted to keep it for your
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own selfishness. You knew what you wanted to do
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with it. You want your easement to come
29:40
as a result of what you have heaped up.
29:45
And over in over in Luke, Jesus gives a, an example of this
29:55
person who decides that they are going to heap up their treasures
30:01
and just hold on to it. They're not going to use it to
30:04
bless anybody with. They're just going to hoard it
30:07
for themselves. And it's over in Luke chapter
30:10
12. And I'm going to go there real
30:11
quick because I it speaks to this particular section of the
30:14
Scripture, Luke chapter 12. And he says this.
30:22
Let's look at verse 16. Actually, what I'm going to do,
30:37
I'm going to go back to 14 and then I'm going to read it
30:40
through to 21. He says this, he says, but he
30:44
said to him, man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?
30:49
This was someone who was crying out and wanted their brothers to
30:53
divide up the inheritance, the financial inheritance that they
30:57
received. And, and Jesus said, look who
31:01
made you know, who made me an arbitrator or a judge over you?
31:05
And then in 15 he said, he said to them, take heed and beware of
31:09
covetousness. Exactly covetousness that you
31:13
know that, that, that, that strong desire for something that
31:17
somebody else has for wealth or money or whatever it is that
31:21
someone else has. He says for one's life does not
31:24
consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.
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One's life doesn't consist in the things that we possess.
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It does not identify us. The things that we have, whether
31:34
it's money or whether it's it's food or clothing or whatever it
31:38
is, those things don't identify us.
31:40
Your car, regardless of how nice it is, doesn't identify who you
31:45
are. Your house does not just say who
31:48
you are. My life, your life does not
31:51
consist of the things you possess because those are
31:54
uncertain riches. They don't last, they don't
31:59
last. And then in verse 16 he says
32:03
then he spoke a parable saying the ground of a certain rich man
32:08
yielded plentiful. He had a bump in his in his
32:12
harvest. He had a bump and it yielded
32:14
much and overnight this man just became rich, became wealthy.
32:20
And you thought and he thought within himself saying what shall
32:25
I do since I have no room to store my crops?
32:29
Now listen to his question to himself, what should I do
32:32
because I don't have enough room to store my crops?
32:34
Well, how about giving some away?
32:36
I know some people here who have gardens and you get crops out of
32:44
your gardens rather it's zucchini.
32:47
It might be Peppers or I know for us sometimes we get cabbage
32:54
and things of that nature that you have.
32:56
And when you have an abundance of those things, you give them
33:01
out to your neighbors, you give them to people, you bless other
33:06
people. But this, but this guy is saying
33:09
what should I do with them? And I know that that happens
33:13
because even comes happens here. People give away eggs.
33:19
I've seen people give away zucchinis.
33:21
I mean, they've brought it to church and say here who who
33:24
needs it and other produce they say who needs it, who wants it.
33:28
But that's the heart of you here in at Calvary Chapel.
33:32
You guys give. Do you have a heart to give?
33:35
You love to give. And this is what this is and
33:39
what this is what this is saying.
33:40
This guy is saying, look, what am I going to do with it?
33:42
I'll tell you what I'll do with it.
33:44
Look at what he says here. So he said, I will do this, I
33:47
will pull down my small barns and I'll build greater barns,
33:53
and there I will store all my crops in my goods, and I will
33:56
say to my soul, so you have many goods.
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He said it to himself, He's pumping himself up.
34:06
So you have many goods, you have a lot, you have an abundance,
34:14
you got it laid up for for a long time.
34:16
And I will say to myself, so you have many goods laid up for many
34:20
years. Take your ease, eat, drink and
34:24
be merry. But God said to him, you fool,
34:29
this night your soul will be required of you.
34:32
This man had no idea that he would not be able to enjoy any
34:37
of those things beyond that very night, that very night.
34:43
So he may have been blessed to receive the riches, but he
34:47
didn't have control over how long he would live to enjoy him.
34:51
Only God has that, only God has that.
34:56
Then whose will those things be which you have provided?
35:00
And this is the, and this is the whole moral to this story in
35:04
verse 21. So is he who lays up treasure
35:08
for himself or stores up treasure for himself and is not
35:13
rich toward God. That's what this guy was dealing
35:17
with. You know, they, they, they had,
35:20
James said. You guys have treasured up, you
35:22
have, you have heaped up treasures, you have stored up
35:25
treasure in the last days. And when the Lord's about to
35:30
come back and you're storing up treasure instead of using that
35:34
treasure to bless other people, verse 4, indeed, the wages of
35:39
the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by
35:44
fraud. Now we're going to get into
35:47
verse 4. Now we're going to get in to
35:50
what or how they acquired the wealth, how they acquired it.
35:56
You know, what did they do with it?
35:58
You know what? You know, how did they acquire?
36:00
How did they get this? Well, how did they accumulate
36:03
all this wealth? Listen, how they did it.
36:05
It was ungodly, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields,
36:10
which you kept back by fraud. They cry out.
36:15
And also the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of
36:19
the Lord of Sabolas. Now James is saying here, you
36:25
didn't just get the money because you earned it.
36:28
You're not acknowledging what God did to give you this wealth.
36:33
You're not acknowledging the power of the Lord in your life,
36:36
the gift of Lord in your life, the blessing of the Lord in your
36:40
life. You're not acknowledging him at
36:41
all. All you're thinking about is
36:43
what you have and what you did. So he said they secured this
36:49
wealth by basically stealing because they defrauded the
36:55
people who worked for them. That's a sad thing because the
37:01
Bible constantly talks about, particularly in the Old
37:03
Testament, the Bible constantly talks about in several places,
37:08
that when someone works for you, when someone goes in the field
37:12
for you, you don't wait to pay them the wage.
37:15
Now we work and you know, we might get paid every other every
37:18
other week, maybe twice a month. We have those kind of schedules.
37:22
But back in this particular time, they didn't.
37:25
At the end of the day, they were paid their wages because they
37:28
needed them. They needed them just like
37:32
today. A lot of people, they can't go.
37:35
I mean, they're going from paycheck to paycheck.
37:38
If they miss a paycheck, if somebody they went to go pick up
37:41
their check one day and someone said I'm sorry, you're not
37:43
getting paid today, that could mean them being homeless.
37:47
That could mean them not having wheat food again until the next
37:51
payday. It could mean a lot of things,
37:55
but back in the days when they were, when they were doing,
37:59
having people come in their fields and work, these people
38:02
could not wait for a week or two weeks to get paid.
38:05
They needed their wages right then and there.
38:07
And that was the law that God gave.
38:09
Listen to what it says here in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 13,
38:14
it said you shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him.
38:19
The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you until
38:25
morning. And then I want to look at
38:27
Deuteronomy. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 24,
38:31
verse 14, he says you shall not oppress A hired servant who is
38:36
poor and needy, rather one of your brethren or one of the
38:41
aliens who is in your land, within your gates.
38:44
Regardless of whether it's somebody that is a Jew or
38:47
somebody that you have acquired to be a servant of you in your
38:52
house, you should not deprive them of their wages each day.
38:57
Verse 15 Each day you shall give him his wages and not let the
39:02
sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on
39:07
it. They are depending on those
39:10
wages. He can't go home and tell his
39:13
wife he didn't get no money that day.
39:17
How the kids going to eat? How are we going to keep this
39:21
place up? So then it says, you know, lest
39:27
he cry, lest he cry out against you in the Lord and it be sin to
39:34
you. So I mean, so it was a law back
39:37
then that you paid. And they knew this because he
39:40
was writing to Jews and they knew this.
39:44
So that's how. So he was basically emphasizing
39:47
how corrupt and how selfish these unbelieving wealthy people
39:54
were. So you kept them back and and
39:57
and and and and the The sad thing is this.
40:02
It was the fraud. It was the the actual wages that
40:07
they didn't pay that cried out. The wages that didn't pay cried
40:13
out. The reapers who were in the
40:15
fields doing the work, they cried out.
40:18
So how did they handle it? Did they go out and protest?
40:23
Did they loot this man's property?
40:26
Did they try to avenge themselves with it?
40:28
No, they prayed. They cried out to God, they
40:33
cried out to God. And God is going to be the
40:36
avenger. He's going to be the one to take
40:38
care of it says avenge not yourself, but give room to
40:45
wrath. Give room to godly wrath.
40:48
Let him take care of it. They didn't.
40:52
They didn't. They didn't decide to go out and
40:54
and COO and loot and all these illegal things against them
40:58
because they didn't get paid. They feel like they have a right
41:01
to do it, but they didn't do it. But instead they trusted in the
41:05
Lord. They trusted in the Lord.
41:13
That's also an example of Jesus Christ in the way that he deals
41:17
with being threatened, the way that he deals with being
41:20
reviled. He said over in first Peter, he
41:22
says, you know, when he was reviled, he did not revile
41:26
again. And when he was persecuted, he
41:30
didn't threaten, but he committed himself to the one who
41:35
judges righteously. The Lord will take care of it
41:40
and that's who he trusted in. So this guy, so he, he is James
41:44
is saying basically. You know the the wages cried out
41:48
to the Lord, and so did the reapers.
41:51
Who did they cry out to? Now, when you first read through
41:54
this, it looks like it said the Lord of Sabbath, but it doesn't.
41:57
It's the Lord of Sabeath. Sabeath Sabeath means the Lord
42:04
of armies. It means the Lord of hosts.
42:10
He cried out to the one who is the captain of the host.
42:14
That means God can make an army out of anything.
42:17
This is a, this is a, this is the God of the host of heaven,
42:22
the host of heaven. Remember the plagues back in
42:29
Egypt and the host that he was in charge, that he cried out,
42:35
that he sent as an attack. He didn't send people.
42:41
What did he send? He sent frogs.
42:48
He said, you know, he said locusts.
42:52
He is the God of hosts. He's in charge of.
42:55
He is command over everything. And this is the person.
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This is the one who their cries came out to.
43:07
And then this is what they did with it.
43:08
And we're coming in for clothes. You have lived on the earth in
43:16
pleasure and in luxury. You have fattened your hearts as
43:21
in a day of slaughter. Think about that.
43:23
Picture what he's saying The whole time you lived here with
43:27
all your money, not trusting in the Lord, not allowing, not not
43:33
doing the will of the Lord with it, not serving the Lord with
43:37
it. But instead, you lived in luxury
43:41
the whole time you were here on the earth, you lived in luxury.
43:44
It's almost like the the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
43:48
Lazarus and the rich man, right? You know, it was the rich man
43:51
that lived in, in, in, in luxury.
43:54
He lived in luxury all the time. The Bible said he, you know, he
43:57
fared sumptuously. He had the best of everything
44:01
every day. But meanwhile, right at his
44:03
gate, there was a poor man who was ill, and he did nothing to
44:10
help, nothing to aid this person, nothing.
44:16
And when he passed, when he died, he woke up in he woke up
44:21
in a place that wasn't the same place that Lazarus woke up in.
44:24
Lazarus woke up in the in the bosom of Abraham.
44:29
But this other person woke up in Hades tortured.
44:35
And this is what? And this is the picture that
44:37
James is drawing here. Yeah.
44:39
While you're here on Earth. Yeah.
44:40
You lived in luxury. In fact, you you even fatten
44:44
your hearts in the day of slaughter.
44:47
And that's a picture of the, that's a picture of the, the
44:51
calf, the, the, you know, the, the fatty calf, you know who
44:55
they prepared for the day of slaughter.
44:58
That's a picture of him. So they go out and they, and
45:01
they slaughter this calf. Praise and worship team can come
45:03
forward. They, they, they, they slaughter
45:05
this calf, you know, after they fatten him up, treat him good.
45:10
And you can imagine the other calf, say, how come he gets all
45:12
the extra food? You know, no.
45:15
Why is he getting all the good stuff?
45:18
Meanwhile, he doesn't realize that he's being fattened up for
45:22
a day of slaughter. And this is the picture that
45:25
he's painting with this guy, you know?
45:28
Yeah. While you're here, you're
45:30
looking like you're, you know, you're, you're you're you're
45:32
you're you're doing good. You know, everything is better
45:35
than everybody else. You have the best of everything,
45:38
luxury. But meanwhile, you're just
45:41
fattening yourself up for the day of slaughter.
45:43
When the day of judgement comes, that's what you're preparing
45:48
for. And then in verse 6, and we
45:51
close here, he says you have condemned, you have murdered the
45:55
just, and he does not resist you.
45:59
You have redeemed, you have murdered the just and he does
46:01
not resist you. There's so many loves that we
46:06
have that can cause us to want to do those things.
46:08
The love of self, the love of money, and the love lovers of
46:12
pleasure, other than the lovers of God, which we read about back
46:16
in the perilous times of Second Timothy chapter 3.
46:21
And he's saying that you know you've murdered, even to the
46:24
point when he means murder, that means that you have abused this
46:28
person so much. You've even dragged him into
46:31
court and have taken their land and taken things because you
46:35
rigged it because of your money to be able to pay for bribes and
46:40
things like that. You can bribe all the officials
46:43
and all the judges because of the money you have and your
46:46
reputation. So you drag these poor people
46:49
who have nothing into court and you take what little bit that
46:54
they have and eventually they either die of starvation, they
46:58
die of starvation, or they're executed for a crime they didn't
47:02
even commit just so. You could get.
47:06
Their land. It almost brings back the story
47:10
of of of Ahab and Jezebel and Nabeth, how they took neighbors
47:15
land because oh, Ahab just had to have his land.
47:19
Like he didn't have enough king of Israel.
47:23
But no, I want that land. So his wife being Jezebel, don't
47:28
name your kids Jezebel. It's not a good name.
47:31
Don't name your daughters Jezebel.
47:33
So Jezebel said I'll go get that land for you.
47:36
Had this guy killed so he can take his land.
47:41
It's almost in that same vein. We take advantage of somebody
47:45
because we can. So he murdered.
47:49
They murdered him and the and the biggest thing here is that
47:54
it cries out to the Lord when that happens because he does not
47:57
resist, just like Jesus did not resist.
48:02
Jesus didn't resist when he was threatened, when he was reviled,
48:06
he didn't resist. He was like a lamb led to the
48:10
slaughter, never opened his mouth.
48:13
When he was being persecuted for our sins, when he was being
48:17
judged for our sins, when he was being executed for our sins, He
48:21
never opened his mouth. He didn't resist.
48:25
And this is what James is saying.
48:27
They don't resist you. They don't come against you.
48:31
They don't put up any kind of fight against you, but instead
48:34
they cry out to the Lord. The big question here is this,
48:40
that I want to leave you with. David says that I are, that I
48:46
put always. I put the Lord before me always,
48:53
even though because he's on my right hand, I shall not be
48:55
moved. The question is, what are we
48:57
putting before us? What is our love that we're
49:01
putting before us today? Is it the love of money?
49:07
Is it the love of worldly pleasures?
49:10
Is it the love of our own personal desires?
49:13
What am I putting before us that's a head of God?
49:18
Is he on our right hand? Or is it something worldly that
49:22
we want that we're putting before us?
49:28
So as we pray and as we think on that, let that come through our
49:32
hearts so as we can prepare for communion now we, we go to the
49:38
Father. Lord, I, I thank you so much for
49:44
your word. It, it does several things as it
49:49
goes forth. It's like a fire and it
49:53
cleanses. It's like a purifying fire.
49:59
It exhorts us, it warns us, as it did with these wealthy
50:06
unbelievers. What a warning.
50:10
Because Lord, even in this time, those who woke up the next day
50:16
can come before you. Repent.
50:20
Turn from their wicked ways, Turn from their wicked ways and
50:29
walk after you. Let their hearts be transformed
50:33
to become givers instead of defrauding people, to care about
50:39
people and to truly love others and to use their wealth for good
50:44
and not for selfish reasons. They can repent, ask for
50:49
forgiveness. But Father, we thank You for
50:54
Your example of how we are to walk even if we are being
50:59
oppressed, if we are being abused, how should we respond?
51:05
You give us an example in Your word.
51:08
We cry out to You. We put it before you, Lord,
51:13
because you are the one who judge righteously.
51:18
So thank you for your example in Jesus Christ.
51:24
I pray, Father, that there's someone here and that word, the
51:28
message has touched their hearts, Lord, and we want to
51:33
come to a point of surrender where we give our lives to you,
51:36
Trust in you. I pray that today that they'll
51:40
do that, Lord. And the day in which Jesus was
51:45
betrayed, the night in which Jesus was betrayed, rather he
51:48
took the bread and after he gave thanks, he broke it.
51:53
And he said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken
51:58
for you. Eat this in remembrance of me.
52:05
Same manner he also took the cup and after supper he said this
52:11
cup is a new covenant in my blood, the blood that was shed
52:18
for the forgiveness of sins for many.
52:23
Jesus shed blood for everybody, those who are righteous, and he
52:30
shed it for those who are not righteous, because he said that
52:36
it's not His will that any should perish, but that all will
52:40
come to repentance. Thank you, Lord, for the
52:45
opportunity of repentance through your grace.
52:51
Drink this, and as often as you drink it, drink it in
52:55
remembrance of me. As often as you eat this bread
53:02
and drink this cup, we show the Lord's death till he come.
53:06
Amen. Anybody who would like to come
53:09
off to the altar for that spiritual cleansing to go before
53:13
the Lord. Authors open.