Latest / Scripture Central / #47 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Nov 13 - Nov 19) James

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#47 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Nov 13 - Nov 19) James · Scripture Central

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Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Come
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Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler presented by Scripture
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Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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videos, so if you want to see the visuals, we invite you to
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find us on YouTube. Thanks for listening and enjoy.
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I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. This is Scripture.
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Central's come, follow me insights today.
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The general epistle of James. This is a gym in the in the
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scripture Canon. The Epistle of James is one of
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my favorites because it's so unique on so many levels.
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If you're ever needing to give a spiritual thought in a meeting,
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you can pretty much turn to the Epistle of James, randomly, put
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your finger down and start reading it.
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It's it's kind of the proverbs of the New Testament.
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It's just a whole bunch of really, really inspired sayings
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and in some cases one liners that are just they're power
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packed. And let's before we dive into to
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any of the actual verses, let's give some background here.
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Who is James? Tradition holds that this
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particular James who wrote this letter is not the brother of
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John the the two sons of Zebedee, some of the the
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original apostles of Jesus, James and John that worked with
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Peter, but rather this James Christian tradition holds is the
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half brother of Jesus. That's really makes it super
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exciting. We're talking about.
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We are listening to somebody who grew up with Jesus and would
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have known him intimately, intimately.
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When I look at this, I think, am I hearing more of a family?
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Gospel lesson that Jesus may have been teaching his own
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brothers, which is fascinating because we know from from the
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book of the Acts that none of Jesus's brothers believed in his
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divinity during his ministry during his lifetime.
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It's only after his resurrection that there are some powerful
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experiences had by James and probably Jude, one of the other
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half brothers that actually turn the corner for them as far as
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their conversion is concerned. And then James, this, this half
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brother after this conversion goes to Jerusalem and he very
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quickly becomes the leader of the the group of Christian
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Saints in Jerusalem, the capital city.
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He becomes kind of the head of what we've termed in in previous
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episodes as the Judaizers. James is kind of the leader of
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that group. So these are Jewish Christians
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living in Jerusalem who are being persecuted by the leaders
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of the Jewish faith at that time that the the chief priests, the
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Sanhedrin that also tried Jesus there, they're going to bring
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these Jewish Christians under intense persecution.
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Remember Stephen was stoned under the direction of the
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leaders of the Jews and all those persecutions going out
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with Saul who then became Paul. That's all directed by the
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leaders of the Jews against this group that they see as a break
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off. And now James, Incidentally,
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what is his name in Greek? Yeah, it's Yaakov or or Jacob.
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So now let's set the stage for for trying to to better
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understand the words. If we understand the context
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than the content in the the epistle of James will probably
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make a little more sense to you knowing that he is the leader of
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this group that we have termed the Judaizers which that keep in
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mind this is the group that would go out into the Diaspora,
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into the the Greco Roman world of the Mediterranean region and
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they would tell Gentile Christians that they needed to
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live the Law of Moses more fully and completely to be a true
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Christian. That they would, they would need
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to kind of be proselytes to the Jewish traditions first.
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And so Paul has been pushing against a lot of this influence.
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Well, now you come to this epistle and you're going to see
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that it, it pushes in a slightly different direction, a very
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predictable but different direction than what Paul has
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been pushing at first glance. But if you look at it in its, in
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its bigger context, you realize, oh, wait a minute, this isn't a
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competition between James and Paul.
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They're not teaching different Gospels.
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They're not, they're not fighting doctrinal, They're not
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having a Bible bash. You can see how in their
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context, they're both teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to
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slightly different audiences for slightly different reasons, to
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solve slightly different problems or address different
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concerns. So let's be careful that we
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don't say OK, now you have to pick either Paul or James.
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It's it's beautiful in the gospel when you can see how even
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though at first it may seem to be a mutually exclusive, true
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doctrines of the gospel are not mutually exclusive.
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It just means if they feel like that, it means we haven't paid
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the price yet to see how they are complementary doctrines
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because the more time we spend in the scriptures reading all of
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them and trying to understand them in their historical setting
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as well as their their modern day relevance, then you see how
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they come together, which is exactly the case here.
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Now keep in mind it was Martin Luther who was this great reform
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and we love what he did. But keep in mind he's the one
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who said anything associated with anything at all that I need
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to do. He would reject it out of hand.
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Consequently, when he comes to the Epistle of James, he calls
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it an epistle of straw. He says it's not scriptural, it
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doesn't belong in the Bible. He hated this book.
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Why? Because this book is filled with
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things that we need to be doing as disciples of Christ, and He
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was distinct, distancing himself from any doctrine associated
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with anything that that we do to to move along any kind of a
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covenant path. So we just want to put Martin
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Luther in context and understand that his emphasis, what mattered
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a lot to Martin was receiving God's grace.
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It seems that Paul also emphasized that gospel principle
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a lot. There's other gospel principles
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that shouldn't be forgotten, and James talks about them.
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We find them throughout the books of Proverbs and in other
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places. So if you had a keyboard in
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front of you and you decided I'm only going to stick to just two
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keys, those might be really. Beautiful notes, but it actually
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limits your ability to have a full performance.
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If Paul has a few notes and James has a few notes together,
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you have more of a complete story.
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And so as we read the scriptures, we want to read more
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holistically. Yes, we want to hear from
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James's perspective and from Paul, but not think that in the
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end I have to select which gospel is true.
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Jesus is the God of all truth. And not just portions of it.
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Love that. So as we jump in, Taylor already
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mentioned this, but but keep in mind one of the the lenses that
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you could put on as you're reading the General Epistle of
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James. As you could say, I wonder if
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this particular book of Scripture could give me a
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backstage pass into the The daily living of Jesus Christ.
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Possibly better than any other book because it's written by his
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half brother who was raised with him and saw what kind of a
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person he was day in, day out, over 3 decades.
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And when you read that way, it's fascinating because then all of
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these little principles that at first glance might seem to to
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you to be disjointed, proverbial wise sayings all of a sudden
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become repeat angles, different angles on what it truly means to
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live like Jesus Christ lived his life.
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So all of them are our new lenses through which we can view
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the Savior Jesus Christ and start working more and more with
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him on developing some of those same characteristics and and
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attributes in our own life. So I love doing that with the
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the epistle of James. That's why it's one of my
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favourites and. Another way of looking at this.
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Think about a short pithy. Meaningful statements that you
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see online, or perhaps you want to put in the fridge or on a
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wall that are inspiring or encouraging, or just a basic
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point of wisdom that helps you live a better life.
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Imagine you went and collected 100 or 150 of those and you put
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them all together into a short pamphlet we shared with your
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family. This is a bit of what we see
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with James now. James is more structured than
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that, but in some ways he's gathering all these great,
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pithy, encouraging statements. You have just very many case
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studies of how you can live more like Jesus Christ.
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So as you were reading through this, you can be asking
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yourself, what is one piece of wisdom I can find today to be
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more like Jesus Christ? And if you just took one verse a
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day, you'd have plenty of things for days to come to be working
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on. Amen.
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So let's jump in. We dive into verse one, James or
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Jacob, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12
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tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
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So notice his audience. It's a different audience than
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we've seen before. He very clearly states I'm
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writing to the scattered tribes of Israel, those who are
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scattered abroad. So it's to the House of Israel,
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the Jews, and the scattered tribes.
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I love that his name is Jacob. Jacob in the Old Testament had
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his name changed to Israel. So when we talk about the 12
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tribes of Israel, you'd actually call them the 12 tribes of
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Jacob. Now, I don't know, but I wonder
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if Jacob, the half brother of Jesus, really identified with
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Jacob, patriarch Jacob and felt the sense of ownership or
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stewardship over the 12 tribes of Jacob, 12 times the tribes of
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Israel. It was his job to help people
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understand. The whole point of all these
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cognitive relations is to be connected to Jesus and to God
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through Jesus. So in verse two he opens by
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saying, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
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diverse temptations. Now if you look at the footnote
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there, the Joe Smith translation shifts that from diverse
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temptations to many afflictions. We could see these as the
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trials, the tribulations. Just the realities of life,
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Yeah. Now, now, think about this from
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the perspective once again, putting on the lenses, looking
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for Christ. Do you think that his life from
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age 0 to 33 was one of just nothing but peace and
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prosperity? Or do you think that he and his
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family ran into many diverse afflictions and trials and
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tribulations? And then he says, knowing that
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the trying of your faith worketh patience, But let patience have
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her perfect work, work that you may be perfect and entire
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wanting nothing. Complete and bold, you fold this
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idea that if you're going through a major trial opposition
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difficulty in your life right now, instead of shaking our fist
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at heaven saying Why are you doing this to me?
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Perhaps we could look at heaven and say, what would thou have me
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learn from this? So that I don't just go through
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this trial, but that I can actually go through this, That I
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that I can become more like the Saviour and enduring that
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suffering and enduring well. Which now brings us to one of
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the most famous verses of Scripture for Latter day Seeds.
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And may also be the thesis statement for James that the
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gospel is about being wise. Those who follow Jesus and learn
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about him are the. Wise ones.
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And that's what he's encouraging here and I love that it kind of
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serves up the foundation for the restoration, isn't that?
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That's the point here is that here's this epistle that was
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written generally from a guy named Jacob, named after the the
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original father of the 12 tribes.
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And it's written to the 12 tribes.
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And it's the means whereby the great gathering effort of the
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latter day dispensation of the fullness of times.
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It is the launchpad for this gathering effort in the latter
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days. It's it's this verse that is
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going to send that young farm boy, Joseph Smith into a Grove
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that we now call sacred. If any of you lack wisdom, let
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him ask of God. They giveth to all men liberally
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and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.
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I love that that Joseph didn't just read this and run out the
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door into the Grove. He tells us in his own words
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that he reflected on this again and again sometimes in our
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scripture study. It's pretty easy, isn't it, to
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read a passage and then let it go.
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Move on. I love the fact that you find
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this pattern of prophets frequently in Scripture and in
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modern days as well, where they'll, the scripture will just
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kind of lodge itself in their mind and they'll Mull over it.
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They'll reflect on it, they'll think on it, and it sinks deeper
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and deeper into their soul, into their heart.
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And that opens the door for revelation, and in this case the
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greatest vision of our dispensation and first vision of
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the Father and Son coming to appear to him.
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Sometimes we get so excited hearing about Joseph Smith's
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experience. And we should be.
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That I wonder if we miss that we all have the same invitation,
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that we also consult at the table of the Lord, get wisdom
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directly from him, and we should have No Fear.
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It says here God will never treat poorly upgradeth not
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anybody who seeks wisdom from Him.
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And you have to go with faith, meaning I believe that God wants
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to share his wisdom with me and I.
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My guess is that all of us, if we could look carefully in our
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own lives, could identify times when we did seek after the
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Lord's wisdom and He delivered to us.
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That's a that's a really important reminder to to follow
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the Savior's example here when when he went out to be alone,
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was the Father. You can't picture him going out
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thinking, well, I'm going to be alone.
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I don't think God's going to answer me, but I'll just try it
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anyway. It no look at verse six.
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Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
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For he that Wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the
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woman tossed. So again, our focus isn't just
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on Joseph Smith. Our focus isn't isn't just on
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profits through the history of time.
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All of those people, all of those stories, should be
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funneling our vision and and directing our focus to the
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ultimate example of all, which is Jesus Christ.
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He is the ultimate fulfillment of verse five and six.
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And then hopefully it comes full circles.
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Taylor's been saying back to us, I'm trying to be like Jesus.
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Well, verse five and six gives me a beautiful pattern to start
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modeling my life more fully. After his.
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Now you'll notice, much like the proverbs, like we said it, it
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kind of feels disjointed. It feels kind of choppy.
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Like, like Taylor was saying, you you pull a whole bunch of
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white sayings together and and you kind of compile them.
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That's that's how kind of feels. But look so So he gives you, for
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instance, verse seven and eight, they kind of cluster together.
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And then verse 9 opens this new idea.
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Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted.
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And you're saying, wait a minute, James, did you mean what
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you said? Let the brother of low degree
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rejoice in that he is exalted. Wait a minute, if he's of low
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degree, how is he exalted? Think about Jesus upbringing a
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man who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, who was
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despised and rejected of men and how exalted he ultimately
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becomes. It's this, it's this pattern of
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even if you don't have all of the the riches that this world
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has to offer, whether it be in money or fame or possessions or
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clothing or opportunities or education, whatever it may be.
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So if you recognize who we really are and who God really
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is, the the world's measuring rods don't matter because we can
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be exalted in Christ regardless of what we get out of this
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world. Look at verse 10.
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But the rich in that he is made low because as the flower of the
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grass he shall pass away. So it's this proverbial
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statement of whoever loses his life or gives away his life
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shall gain the eternities. But who finds his life and holds
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onto it selfishly is going to lose it all at death.
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And he's he's making that very clear.
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And you, you change the theme a bit.
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When I get to verses 12/13/14 and 15, it's about that we all
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deal with trials and challenges. The word is temptation in
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English, but it's really testing or even affliction.
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If you look at the wisdom here that James is sharing is that
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don't think that somehow your life has gone astray if you are
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dealing with difficulty and. It's OK, we all struggle, but
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don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed.
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Let's just read a couple of these verse 13.
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Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God.
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For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any
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man. But every man is tempted when he
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is drawn away with his own lust being enticed.
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Meaning we can work in advance to protect ourselves from evil
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that we may experience, that we can't forestall everything bad
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that could happen in life. But we can choose in advance to
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not go into locations or situations that are going to
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create temptation. And I think this is one of the
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wise sayings that James is trying to help us with, that we
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can use our agency in advance to find wisdom by avoiding
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temptation. And now we shift into a
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different topic. Verse 17.
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Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
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cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
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variableness, neither shadow of turning.
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It's that this concept is picked up beautifully in the Book of
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Mormon, in Maronite Chapter 7, when he talks about I'll show
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you the way to judge, and if if something invites you and
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entices you to do good and to believe in God, then you can
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judge it's it's of heaven. It's of good, and if it entices
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you, or invites you to turn away from God or to do evil, you can
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know perfectly that it's of the devil.
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So once we are blessed with the spirit of discernment, to know
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whether something is from above or below, notice verse 21
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Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
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naughtiness. Receive with meekness the
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engrafted word which is able to save your souls.
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Such beautiful wisdom literature here that he shared and.
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Then he builds on it with what we can actively be doing,
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specifically verse 22. Very short and pithy.
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Listen to what he says, but be doers of the word and not
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hearers. Only Now can you see why
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somebody in in Martin Luther's perspective would not like this.
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But keep in mind, even if you were to say, well, I'm going to
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just go with what Paul said, well, most of Paul is focused on
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things that we need to be doing as disciples of Christ to become
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more like him, to strive to to emulate his example in our life.
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Most of Paul's writings were focused on the doing and then a
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little bit on the grace aspects, which are incredibly important.
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Again, we are not forced to make a decision between two false
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dichotomies here. All of these doctrines fit
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beautifully together. Not in competition, In fact, the
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Lord Jesus Christ himself tells us in the Sermon on the Mount
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the wise men build his house up on the rock.
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And how do we know he's a wise man?
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Because he heard, and he did the things he heard, and the foolish
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man simply heard and didn't do the things.
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So it ties in beautifully with something that I wonder if James
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heard Jesus use phrases like we're seeing in his book here
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that aren't recorded in the gospel accounts or in Acts.
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But James grew up hearing them. And so we're getting again, a
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backstage pass or behind the scenes look at the way Jesus
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approached his life and his family.
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Be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving their own
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selves. For if any be a hearer of the
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Word and not a doer, he's like unto a man be holding his
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natural face in the glass. So he's looking in the mirror
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and he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway
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forget us what manner of man he was, It isn't that beautiful.
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He's bringing in identity here. It's who is that person looking
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at you in the mirror? It's not just flesh and bone.
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It's not just a mortal natural man or natural woman.
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It's a child of God with divine identity, which means we can't
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rely on things of the flesh and blood to tell us how to live our
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life. We have to rely on the things
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from heaven from above to teach us who we are and how to act and
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what to say and where to go and how to live our life.
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And furthermore, if you look in the mirror, the mirror actually
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does not fully define who you are.
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If you get to the pearly gates and you showed Peter your image
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in a mirror, that probably is not what's going to get you into
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the Kingdom of God. But rather, have you been a doer
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by receiving and accepting what God has to offer, right, His
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image in our countenance? So there's kind of some
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playfulness going on here, I think, with this image, this,
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this imagery that he uses about images.
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I I love him. Have you received his image in
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your countenance? Increasingly, as you look in the
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mirror, as you walk that covenant path, the more you will
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see reflected there the light of Christ in your own eyes.
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Your words will become more like His words.
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Your your view of life will be more in line with His
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perspective. Which now brings us down to the
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closing chapter one, where he introduces this idea that's
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going to be picked up again in chapter three of The Tongue.
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In verse 26 he says, if any man among you seem to be religious,
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and he bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart,
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this man's religion is vain. Or empty or useless.
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And if you look at that, the the the word religion is
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fascinating. Yeah, I remember once looking at
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this in the Greek, and the underlying meaning of this word
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has something to do with the the public expression of devotion.
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Now we do know in other parts of the gospel we're told you
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shouldn't be trying to show off when you're being religious.
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But at the same time, religion or expressions of religion are
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not simply meant to be things that are only done in a closet.
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And this seems to be a case where God is asking people, I
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invite you to do public displays of religion, not so that you can
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be seen of men, but because there are things that are public
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acts. They might be for private
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individuals. Like, for example, visiting the
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fatherless and the widows. Now you might go visit somebody
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in those circumstances and nobody else knows about it
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except God and the people you've visited.
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But this is more than just sitting at home reading your
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scriptures. Being at home, listening to an
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audio book of scripture is a good thing.
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But James says be a doer. Let's get up and be about
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embracing and living the gospel in our lives.
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So his his definition here in verse 27 is so beautiful and
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it's so simple, pure religion and undefiled before God and the
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Father is this to visit the Father and widows in their
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affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
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So it becomes it literally becomes this connecting point
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between heaven and earth and and technically if you break this
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word up re religion to to reconnect if you look at its
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roots you're reconnecting with God.
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That's and if religion isn't connecting you with God then we
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need to rethink how we're approaching that religion.
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We need to rethink the the way we're worshipping because it
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should be a connecting with God and as Taylor mentioned, also a
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public ability to connect with our neighbor and love our
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neighbor as our self. Which is a big part of what the
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letter the general Pistol James is about is.
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He's actually quite a pragmatist.
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He says the gospel is fundamentally love God, love
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your neighbor. And he gives lots of many case
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studies of wise scenes of how we can demonstrate love to God and
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love to our neighbor, including loving yourself because you
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should also be a good neighbor to yourself, which I I hope you
27:35
don't get tired of hearing this, but I wonder why James wrote
27:39
verse 27. I wonder if he observed things
27:43
in the Savior Jesus Christ's life.
27:48
I wonder how many times James watched Jesus growing up, going
27:53
around visiting the Fatherless and the widows in their
27:56
afflictions and keeping himself unspotted from the world.
28:00
So let's jump into chapter 2, verse one.
28:02
It says my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus
28:05
Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons.
28:09
And if you look at the footnote here, verse one a, the Greek
28:13
note says not with partiality have the faith of our Lord.
28:17
And Joe Smith changed it to say you cannot have the faith of our
28:21
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory and yet have respect to
28:24
persons, which is much clearer here.
28:27
So really quickly some people have wondered what in the world
28:32
is insane respect of persons or respecter of persons.
28:36
It's a phrase we don't usually use in in modern culture.
28:41
It's a very powerful scriptural context, which is easiest to
28:45
describe This way. If somebody came up to you this
28:49
week and said, hey, your ministering brothers are going
28:54
to come to your house on Thursday at at 5:00 PM, what
29:00
would your response be? You say, OK, great, they can
29:03
come over. And what would you do in your
29:05
house versus this example? Somebody comes up to you and
29:10
says, hey, the prophet of the church and one of the 12
29:14
apostles is going to come to your house this Thursday at 5:00
29:18
PM, What would you do or the leader of your government,
29:22
wherever you live, they're going to come to your house at 5:00 PM
29:25
on Thursday. What would you do?
29:28
The reality is, is we're pretty much respecters of persons or
29:32
titles. We pay attention to worldly
29:38
prowess and position and titles, and we would treat very
29:42
differently our perhaps our neighbor coming to our house
29:47
versus a dignitary coming to our house.
29:50
And James is teaching this doctrine that with God he is not
29:57
a respecter of persons, which is such a refreshing doctrine which
30:02
gives me hope that when I kneel down to say my prayers, I don't
30:07
have to feel like I'm competing with prophets and apostles to
30:11
get the Lord's attention, or with presidents of countries or
30:16
sports stars or movie stars or famous people.
30:20
Or anybody else who might be suffering and struggling, that
30:23
we are all alike unto God. And if we want to be more like
30:29
the Lord, then James is inviting us to now start practicing being
30:36
less of respecter of persons. And an easy way to do that.
30:39
He just got through telling you the fatherless, the widows in
30:43
their affliction, people who can probably do nothing to repay
30:47
you, give you nothing in return for any service or charity that
30:51
you bestow upon them. That's a good way to start
30:54
practicing Being not quite so much a respecter of persons is
31:01
treat all with kindness, love, respect and and charity to the
31:06
best of our ability. So take that concept now and
31:11
read on your own chapter 2, verse one through 13, looking
31:18
for that principle and how you might find ways to apply it.
31:22
That's a powerful little segment of scripture there on on not
31:26
being a respecter of persons. And our next segment will be
31:30
Chapter 2, verses 14 to 26. And it's all about what faith
31:35
looks like when we're not just sitting around this this is one
31:40
of the most powerful sections in all of Scripture to show the
31:44
beautiful relationship, the the cooperative nature between faith
31:50
and works. Because often again we live in a
31:54
in a culture, in a society that almost breeds false dichotomies
32:00
and and creates extreme positions and then says now you
32:04
have to pick your side. You're either in camp, faith and
32:08
grace, or you're in camp works and they created as if one is
32:13
bad and the other is good. And there's no no cooperative
32:17
work going on between the two of them.
32:19
It's like cutting Jesus in half and saying which side do you
32:22
want and which side will you abandon?
32:24
I want all of them. It would be like saying, OK,
32:27
which side of the scissors is the most important, which blade?
32:33
And the reality is, is we're not going to be able to do anything
32:38
if we isolate one of these attributes of the gospel at the
32:43
expense of the other. They have to come together.
32:48
So look at verse 14. What does it profit, my
32:51
brethren, Though a man may say he hath faith, and have not
32:54
works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked
32:59
and destitute of daily food? And one of you say unto them,
33:01
depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled.
33:04
Notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are
33:06
needful to the body, What does it profit?
33:10
It'd be like saying I'll pray for you, but I have the means to
33:14
help you. But I'm not going to help you
33:15
all. I'm going to pray for you.
33:16
I have faith that things are going to work out for you.
33:18
Or perhaps more mundane, I go to a church activity and I bring
33:23
sugary treats and then I pray that they will bless my body
33:27
that that does take a lot of faith.
33:29
Indeed. Now here's the the the two verse
33:35
proverbial statement. To sum this idea up, Even so,
33:39
faith, if it hath not works, is dead.
33:42
Being alone, yeah a man may say, thou hast faith and I have
33:46
works. Show me thy faith without thy
33:48
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
33:53
Now pause, Time out, take a step back from this.
33:57
But now put this in the context of the the bigger 1st century
34:01
Christian world. Keep in mind, Paul was
34:05
traditionally writing to Jewish Christians and Gentile
34:11
Christians all in different bodies of the church, different
34:16
branches or wards of the church, in different locations in the
34:20
Greco, Roman or Pagan world. And so a lot of the themes he's
34:26
picking up and sharing with them are to push against some of the
34:28
Judaizer influences in some of those areas because they're
34:32
they're trying to get those Gentile Christians to become
34:35
more Jewish. And the Pagan world.
34:38
Had a lot of works about all sorts of sacrificial systems you
34:41
had to do to call down the powers of whatever God you're
34:44
worshiping. And you can think about Paul,
34:47
he's like, hey, let's just get first fundamentally correct that
34:51
you have to be good with Jesus. You're walking through a whole
34:55
bunch of ritual actions on its own.
34:57
Won't save you. In that regard, Paul was quite
35:00
inspired to encourage people to focus on faith in Jesus Christ
35:05
instead of. I got to run down to the local
35:07
temple and make sure I sacrifice the right thing to Jupiter so I
35:10
can have a good deal in my business dealings.
35:13
And so now in contrast to that, you get James writing his letter
35:17
to Jewish Christians who maybe are getting caught up in this
35:24
idea of, oh wait, maybe I can completely abandoned all works
35:29
because the idea of none of my works are going to save me is
35:34
taking root. And he's saying be careful.
35:37
And now you can see how it's not a false dichotomy because Paul
35:40
isn't pushing against the works that Jesus has asked them to do
35:45
in the Gospels, that what we've called the law of the Gospels.
35:49
Paul is not pushing back against that.
35:52
In fact, he's, he's promoting it over and over again.
35:55
And now James here is reminding these Jewish Christians, be
36:01
careful that you don't sit back now and say, oh, well, I guess I
36:06
don't need to do anything. He's saying, If a man say, thou
36:11
hast hast faith, and I have works, show me thy faith without
36:16
thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
36:21
And then he gives one of the most incredible statements on
36:26
this topic that I know of verse 19.
36:30
Thou believest that there is one God.
36:33
Thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble.
36:40
This is one of those those moments of of power and clarity
36:46
where he's making it so crystal clear that if you believe in
36:52
God, even if you know that God is there, Well, guess what?
36:58
Even the devils believe that. Even the devils know that and
37:03
they tremble at that. The difference is the devil's
37:08
believe they don't do anything about.
37:12
And this to me is a powerful reminder that if I want to
37:17
become more like the Savior of Jesus Christ then I need to
37:20
follow his teachings, not the philosophies or the
37:24
interpretations of the world. So now you look at examples from
37:28
the life of the Savior and the and the teachings of the Savior
37:32
where he says things like if you love me, keep my commandments.
37:38
He didn't say if you love me, just believe in me.
37:42
Or if you love me, just gain a testimony of me and that's it.
37:47
Stop there. To know about God or to have a
37:51
testimony of God is absolutely necessary, but it's not
37:56
sufficient. The devil isn't even to have
37:59
that knowledge, but it's not rooted in real faith.
38:03
Because if it were, that assurance level of faith that
38:07
Elder Bednar has talked about would then lead to the action
38:11
level of faith. We then do the things that the
38:15
Savior has asked us to do, and then he gives an example of
38:19
Abraham sacrificing Isaac. And it was that faith that was
38:24
manifest in the works that helped him to become known as a
38:30
friend of God. Verse 23.
38:33
It's a really powerful phrase. A friend of God is actually a
38:36
covenantal phrase, meaning that God has embraced you at the
38:40
level of not a subordinate that has an equal.
38:44
It's really quite significant and God wants all that phrase.
38:48
That's why as children of Abraham, we have all have the
38:51
same opportunity, same gift, same blessing that we can become
38:56
friends of God. In this word, Abraham believed
38:59
God. You could also say Abraham
39:01
trusted God. You might remember during the
39:04
Old Testament year we really spoke a lot about this, that God
39:07
was, among other things, attempting through the ancient
39:10
scriptures to demonstrate he is a trustworthy God.
39:14
You can trust him. So if you can trust that God is
39:17
who he says he is, you can act in faith and know that things
39:23
will turn out. So that is how faith informs
39:26
action. Now again, we all found the war
39:29
in heaven, so we could get down here and act.
39:33
We are now here to show that we trust God through our actions.
39:38
Now isn't that amazing that you have, you have these two things,
39:43
these two principles, or could we even call them aspects of
39:49
deity, aspects of God. You have the laws of God and you
39:54
have the love of God. And the world that we live in
39:58
today is increasingly. Beating the drum of pick your
40:03
side. Either you take God's love or
40:07
you take God's laws, but not both.
40:11
As if you have to pick this is a what you'd call a foolish
40:14
choice. It's a false dichotomy because
40:17
God's love is not separate and distinct or individual,
40:22
individually isolated from his laws.
40:26
The fact that God loves us means that he gives us laws, because
40:32
without that, all we're left with is the person staring at us
40:34
in the mirror trying to decide how to live our life.
40:36
And that's not going to go very well.
40:38
So we get God's laws as a side of his love and realize, oh, it
40:43
actually fits together. They're not separate.
40:46
President Dalani Chokes has talked extensively about the
40:50
love of God and the laws of God being together, not isolated.
40:55
So this idea of faith and works, same thing.
41:01
So some of you may have loved ones who are struggling with
41:04
different aspects of more life, different challenges that
41:09
they're facing. And if we're not careful, it
41:13
will start to feel like you have to.
41:14
Then pick between loving your child and loving God, or loving
41:20
your child and staying as a faithful member of the Church.
41:24
Other than sisters, this is this is not a decision you have to
41:27
make. The trick is to figure out how
41:32
do you love God and love your child and still uphold the laws
41:37
of God. When Lehigh was eating the the
41:41
fruit of the Tree of life, he saw the two of his sons wouldn't
41:45
come and partake. He didn't leave the fruit of the
41:48
tree of life to try to help his sons.
41:52
He stayed at the tree and he kept beckoning and he kept
41:55
loving his sons. So it's this, it's this
41:58
beautiful pattern that I see coming out of the epistle of
42:02
James, of trying to find how all of the attributes of the gospel
42:08
fit together rather than putting them into competition with each
42:11
other. Chapter 3 is a a sweet little
42:16
gem in the midst of a bigger gem.
42:18
This book of James, he he gives you this intro by saying,
42:24
behold, we put bits in the horse's mouths that they may
42:29
obey us and we turn about their whole body.
42:31
So I don't know what most horses weigh somewhere between 1000 and
42:35
2000 pounds, depending on their size.
42:37
And he's saying you can take this little teeny tiny bit, put
42:42
it in their mouth, and with the bridle you can move this entire
42:48
horse whatever direction you wanted to move with that little
42:52
teeny bit. Verse 4 ships, they're they're
42:57
turned about with a very small helm.
42:59
See these huge ships And with a very small rudder or helm you
43:05
can determine the direction. Oh, and by the way, that only
43:09
works if the ships moving the bridle the bit it only steers
43:15
you and takes you on a path. If the horse is moving, if it's
43:18
acting, if it's moving forward. The trick here is to make sure
43:25
that the Lord has the reins or the helm of the ship and
43:30
steering the ship that is our life.
43:32
So then James gives the insight here connected to our own lives.
43:37
Verse 5. Even so, the tongue is a little
43:40
member and boasts great things. Behold, how great a matter a
43:46
little fire Kindeth, and in my own life.
43:50
I think I struggle a lot with this one.
43:52
I think I should spend more time listening to James and putting a
43:55
bridle in my mouth. It's fascinating that you this
44:00
is one of those lessons that some of us, speaking for myself,
44:04
have to learn over and over and over again.
44:07
Probably never once in in my life has there been a time when
44:13
I've said something in anger or or in frustration or pent up,
44:18
you know, you feel getting getting hot under the collar.
44:21
There's probably never been once that 10 minutes.
44:25
One day, five days later, I've said to myself, oh, good job.
44:29
I'm glad I said that. That was perfect.
44:31
That was exactly what needed to be said.
44:33
And I believe every single case I have felt the need to go and
44:39
apologize and to repent and say I'm so sorry.
44:43
There's always a better way to say things than the heat of the
44:46
moment and but for me, the essence of this is in embodied
44:52
in President Russell and Lawson's talk from April 2022
44:56
German conference Peacemakers, the way he he talks about the
45:02
way we we communicate with people.
45:04
The other wonderful talk for you to consider is The Tongue of
45:10
Angels given by Vergil Freierholm many years ago in
45:13
General Conference, where he addresses James Chapter 3 in
45:16
incredible detail and beautiful principles forced to follow.
45:22
So you can look then at verses one through 12 and it really
45:26
focuses on the wisdom of how to manage your tongue.
45:32
So now if you want a little contrast, here he gives you
45:37
verse 1415 and 16 as the bad exempt of what happens when you
45:43
just you just say what you want to say, do what you want to do,
45:47
live your life cut off from God's laws, pretty much just
45:51
doing whatever the natural man or natural woman dictates.
45:55
And he says verse 16. For where envying and strife is
46:00
there is confusion and every evil work.
46:03
I think about our modern day today.
46:05
Have you ever seen confusion in the media, social media, in your
46:09
personal interactions with people?
46:11
And is it? Because many of us are talking
46:15
before we know what we're talking about now?
46:18
As good humans, we feel strongly and passionately about things,
46:21
and the invitation here is to make sure we're grounded in
46:25
what's true, Real, lovely, godly before we speak.
46:31
And like Tyler, the times in my life where I've had regrets,
46:33
I've had to go back to people and say I actually, I approached
46:37
that wrong. I communicated unfairly or
46:40
inappropriately. It's because I speak without
46:43
having full knowledge, and I think the invitation we hear is
46:48
let's make sure we really know what the truth is before we let
46:51
our mouths go on what we think is going on in the world so that
46:54
we don't contribute to the confusion and the mayhem and the
46:59
evil speaking that's going on in the world.
47:01
It's just most of it's unnecessary, actually.
47:03
All of it. All of it.
47:05
And and if you look he, he gives you the ideal in verse 1719.
47:10
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then
47:14
peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and
47:19
good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
47:23
And the fruit of righteousness has sown the peace of them that
47:26
make peace once again. President of this talk
47:30
Peacemakers needed on our world desperately needs them today.
47:37
She now brings us to Chapter 4. From whence come wars and
47:40
fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your
47:43
lusts, but war in your members. He he is saying that all of the
47:49
bad things you are seeing out here externally, they all start
47:54
internally with individuals allowing that internal war to be
47:59
lost to the lusts of the flesh or the the natural man natural
48:03
and instincts in us that then get translated into harsh words,
48:08
harsh deeds and and violence and evil then can spread into the
48:14
world. Look at verse 3YE ask and
48:20
receive not because he ask a miss that you may consume it
48:25
upon your lusts. I love the fact that we worship
48:28
the God of the universe, who he knows everything and he knows
48:34
how to give the best gifts to his children and when and how to
48:39
give those gifts. So it doesn't mean that every
48:42
unanswered prayer means we were asking for the wrong thing.
48:46
It just means that if we are asking and miss, we're asking
48:49
for something to consume it on our own lusts.
48:51
Those usually aren't prayers that God is going to answer.
48:54
So what a difference it makes. I have found, following the
48:58
example of of our prophets, to spend more time seeking to
49:02
counsel with the Lord rather than seeking to counsel the
49:07
Lord. Rather than telling him what to
49:09
do for me, asking him Heavenly Father, this is the situation
49:14
I'm in. Guide me.
49:16
What would thou have me do? What should I even be asking
49:20
for? What is the direction that would
49:22
have me go? He's more likely to answer those
49:27
kinds of questions as I then get up and move forward like a ship
49:32
or a horse, giving him the reins or the helm of the ship.
49:36
We haven't mentioned this yet, but James uses a lot of
49:39
exhortation or the command form of verbs, like telling people
49:45
what they should do or giving them strong encouragement to
49:47
take action. If you look through chapter 4,
49:50
it goes on and on with all these really powerful invitations.
49:54
Things like verse 7 submit yourselves, therefore to God,
49:59
resist the devil. Verse 8 Draw nigh to God.
50:02
He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands.
50:05
Purify your hearts. 1st 9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep
50:09
verse 10. Humble yourselves inside of the
50:11
Lord. So again, James is just not
50:14
trying to speak in flowery parables, which are a powerful
50:17
way of teaching, but to be clear, direct, and unmistakable.
50:22
So if if you're ever looking for immediate encouragement for
50:25
something you can do to be more like Jesus Christ, you can turn
50:28
right here in the book of James, any chapter, and find a command
50:31
form of here's one invitation we can work on today and to take
50:36
that into the these next two verses.
50:39
Notice verse 11, Speak Not Evil, one of another brethren.
50:43
Have you noticed how easy it is to point out character flaws or
50:47
perceived imperfections in other people?
50:51
Anyone can do that. It's a it's a very godly and
50:56
Christ like thing to be able to see the good and to speak
51:02
positively wherever possible about our family members, our
51:07
colleagues, our associates, and after all, there's nothing,
51:13
there's nothing virtuous, there's nothing redemptive that
51:18
will help us by pointing out what's wrong with everybody
51:22
else. It doesn't make us better.
51:25
It doesn't. It doesn't help us become a
51:27
better person. He that speaketh evil of his
51:31
brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law, and
51:35
judges the law. But if thou judge the law, thou
51:37
art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
51:40
And then, he clarifies, there is one lawgiver who is able to save
51:43
him, to destroy. Who art thou that judgest
51:47
another? He's saying, look, the lawgiver
51:50
happens to also be the only one who's authorized to do the
51:53
judging. So we who are imperfect at
51:56
keeping the law, we're pointing out what's wrong with everybody
51:58
else and how they're breaking the law.
52:01
So we're judging the law when it's only the Lawgiver who knows
52:06
everything and connect those judgments.
52:09
So there's two thoughts here. One, first of all, we should
52:12
always be asking Lord, is it I? Where am I falling short?
52:15
And then second, President Folk some years ago gave a great talk
52:19
about judgment, what it means to give righteous judgment that we
52:23
are not in charge of putting final judgment on anybody, but
52:27
as children of God, we do have to.
52:31
We do have to choose about who we spend time with or who we
52:34
don't. We we can't simply ignore the
52:38
fact that people might be doing evil things, but we have to be
52:41
careful not to label people as evil who might be conducting
52:46
evil actions. So there's a bit of a nuance
52:49
there. And finally, the invitation is
52:51
we first have to check ourselves.
52:55
Am I in line with God before I start trying to require anybody
52:58
else? To use their agency the way I
53:00
think they should. It's beautiful.
53:02
The difference President Ox's article and the difference
53:06
between intermediate judgments and final judgments.
53:09
It's a powerful, powerful concept.
53:12
Which brings us to our final chapter of James And he opens by
53:18
saying, go to now E Richmond, weep in hell for your miseries
53:23
that shall come upon you now. Again, keep in mind this is
53:28
James who's leading the church in Jerusalem.
53:32
He's taking those Christian Saints, those Jewish Christians,
53:38
through intense adversity and persecution from the Jews as
53:43
well as a famine. They they've got a lot of poor
53:47
people and they've send out requests for donations to the
53:53
poor and they've gotten mixed, mixed responses.
53:56
Paul remember in the book of Acts, in one of his missionary
53:59
journeys, he's going to bring some money from from Ephesus and
54:04
Corinth and some of those Saints out in the the Greco Roman
54:10
Diaspora region. But you can picture the
54:13
frustration of James when he sees such a huge need and he
54:18
knows that God has given resources out there, but they're
54:22
not coming in, so he's not condemning everybody who happens
54:28
to be rich. Or have some form of wealth.
54:30
He's condemning people who are holding on selfishly to those
54:35
riches, and even perhaps getting to the point where they're
54:38
treating those riches as their God.
54:41
What gets worse than that? It's clear that some of these
54:44
people, again, he's speaking to a limited group of people and he
54:48
says in verse six, I'm jumping ahead, ye rich people.
54:53
Have gotten yourselves into power because of your wealth,
54:56
which has allowed you in positions of judgement to
54:58
condemn and kill the righteous or the just.
55:02
So imagine some poor people who don't have all the power and
55:05
wealth, but they're living good lives and perhaps they get taken
55:09
advantage of by those who have the means to take advantage.
55:13
Jacob talks about this. A brother of Nephi.
55:15
Same name, another Jacob. Had thought about that before he
55:19
says something. Similarly he talks about.
55:21
How God wants to enrich any one of us with the wealth of
55:25
material resources, of education or learning or relationships.
55:29
There's many ways to be enriched, but all those are
55:32
meant to serve people. If God's going to serve you with
55:35
those things, then it is our job to also serve others instead of
55:40
using the means of salvation to persecute or hurt people with
55:45
the wealth that we've received. That is a serious form of
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injustice. To take the resources, wealth,
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whatever God has given you and to hurt others or to make life
55:56
hard for them because they don't have what you have.
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Yeah some of the some of the most Christ like people I have
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interacted with have been on both extremes of the of what you
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would call the the monetary scale.
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Some of the poorest people that I worked among in in my mission
56:15
down in Brazil. Some of them is Christ, like
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people I've ever seen fit into that category.
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And some of the richest people in the world that I've
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interacted with, and I've seen how God has given them such an
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overabundance of wealth and how they're using it to build the
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Kingdom of God on the earth. In these latter days, it's
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inspiring to see it across the spectrum.
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So again, back to Jacob, Chapter 2.
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Before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the Kingdom of God.
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That's the trick. So I work, I teach in a Business
56:52
School, and I hope students learn a process where they can
56:57
build the Kingdom of God, meaning they can help deliver
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solutions to people's problems. And when people have solutions
57:05
that they want, they will pay people to get those solutions.
57:08
And if you solve enough problems for enough people, you might
57:11
actually make quite a bit of money and resources.
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And like Tyler, I've been able to interact with lots of really
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incredibly. I would say dedicated people
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who've been dedicated to making the world better place.
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Every ounce of goodness they bring into the world is building
57:28
the Kingdom of God. And then it's like they've
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magnified the world. They have grown hundredfold.
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They know what they do. They take that hundredfold and
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they replant it. They grow it even more and they
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help more people. So it's helpful when we look at
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James, he's not just saying anybody who's ever had any
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wealth is just a bad person. He is just reminded all of us.
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We all have wealth of some form or another.
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Are we using it to build and expand God's Kingdom?
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Remember, any ounce of goodness that you bring into the world,
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any inch of progress you bring of goodness in the world, is
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building the Kingdom of God. Now in these middle verses of
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chapter five, he starts addressing the second coming of
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the Lord, and kind of along the same line of an imminent coming
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that Paul had kind of talked about back in first
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Thessalonians. You remember.
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Look at his wording here, verse 7.
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Be patient therefore brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
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Now jump down to verse 8. But ye also be also patient,
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Stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord.
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Draweth nigh. If I were reading this book in
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the 1st century, kind of like reading first list loans, I was
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saying, oh, well, the Lord's going to come any day now, any
58:46
week now. So what do we do when, instead
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of focusing so much on the timing of the Lord's coming,
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what should I then focus on verse 11?
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But we count them as being rich endure.
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And how long do we endure? The gospel phrases endure to the
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end. I'm.
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Going to blow on, just really briefly, I have the privilege of
59:08
being in. In Israel back in April of 2023
59:14
and unbeknownst to me, Elder Gukdorf came and spoke in church
59:19
the day that I was there. I didn't know he was going to be
59:21
there. And among many amazing things
59:24
that he taught those of us who were there, there was a district
59:27
conference for those members of the church live in Israel.
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One of the things he taught was he talked about the last days in
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the coming of Jesus Christ and he said I don't know when it's
59:37
going to happen and. I do hope that whenever it
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happens, or if I die before it happens, I am Fallon living the
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gospel of Jesus Christ, enduring well.
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And so Elder Gurkdorf in Israel, right there near the Mount of
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Olives, where we're all waiting for Jesus to come back, Prophet
59:56
of the Lord, echoes what Jesus's half brother echoed 2000 years
1:00:00
ago in the same city. Let us endure well, and whether
1:00:05
Jesus shows up now or later, let us be found.
1:00:09
Ready for him in any state in which he he comes.
1:00:13
And isn't the ending of verse 11 beautiful tied into what you
1:00:16
just said? The Lord?
1:00:18
Just remember this. The Lord is very pitiful and of
1:00:22
tender mercy. He's filled with pity for us, He
1:00:26
and and this mercy, compassion, empathy, and filled with tender
1:00:30
mercy. In other words, we don't need to
1:00:33
endure anything in isolation or or feeling cut off.
1:00:38
Because we never are cut off or isolate from the word, is a Lord
1:00:44
of great pity, and Tim and mercy.
1:00:47
So what do we do when we are struggling?
1:00:49
Verse 13 Is any among you afflicted?
1:00:51
Let him pray. Is any merry?
1:00:54
Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you?
1:00:58
Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray
1:01:01
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
1:01:06
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
1:01:08
shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall
1:01:12
be forgiven him. I wonder if collectively, as a
1:01:17
group, we're living beneath our privileges when it comes to
1:01:20
seeking asking for in faith for priesthood blessings, that
1:01:27
perhaps there are more. More opportunities to receive
1:01:33
not only God's healing and His mercy, but also His grace and
1:01:39
forgiveness of sins through this process.
1:01:41
Tyler This makes me think of a verse my friend Kent Brown,
1:01:46
former professor of religion at BYU and a great, thoughtful
1:01:50
scholar of the scripture, shared with me just recently.
1:01:53
He talked about Matthew 26, verse 28, Passover meal, the
1:01:57
last meal for Jesus, and he says to his disciples when he's
1:02:01
giving them the cup of Passover to symbolize how God saved the
1:02:05
people from bondage. Verse 28.
1:02:07
For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for
1:02:10
many for the remission of sins. And my friend Kent Brown pointed
1:02:16
out, might it be that whenever we partake of that sacred
1:02:21
covenant of partaking of his blood, symbolically that that is
1:02:25
a moment of remission of sins, we get baptized with your
1:02:28
mission of sins. Can we get it every week as we
1:02:32
partake of his blood? I find that a very, very
1:02:35
powerful message that perhaps I haven't fully thought about,
1:02:39
even though I try to be thoughtful every software
1:02:41
meeting. And we do that collectively,
1:02:45
with all of us reconnecting with God in a combination.
1:02:49
That's beautiful. Verse 16 Confess your faults 1
1:02:54
to another and pray one for another.
1:02:57
That ye may be healed. The effectual fur and prayer of
1:03:00
a righteous man avails much, and I think we would say today the
1:03:05
the effectual fur and prayer of a righteous person avails much.
1:03:10
That power that comes. I've seen it over and over again
1:03:15
in my extended family, and there's a need and people join
1:03:19
together. I've seen it in wards and
1:03:21
stakes. We've seen it collectively as a
1:03:23
church. Back when COVID was was raging
1:03:28
we we've seen the power of these effectual firm prayers coming
1:03:33
together. And then he gives the example
1:03:36
here to finish off of Elias was a man subject to like passions
1:03:41
as we are and he prayed earnestly and he caused a famine
1:03:44
for 3 1/2 years to come down and he prayed again and the heaven
1:03:48
gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.
1:03:51
He's using that as a little example.
1:03:53
Keeping in mind his audience is Jewish Christians, they know
1:03:57
this Old Testament story very well and he's now bringing that
1:04:01
to bear in this faith and works coming together as an example of
1:04:07
what happens when somebody prays in real faith and then moves
1:04:11
forward doing their works in faith.
1:04:15
What the Lord is able to do through them and with them.
1:04:18
And then it concludes these two more verses and it's a bit of an
1:04:23
odd ending because there's no like formal conclusion in this
1:04:25
letter. Again, it seems like James is
1:04:27
trying to bring together all this really great, easy to
1:04:31
digest wisdom that anybody could pick up at any point, grab any
1:04:35
verse and say I have inspiration for today for how I can be more
1:04:39
like Jesus Christ. And we we concluded some really
1:04:42
powerful points but without formal following conclusion
1:04:46
after verse 2. Well, verse 1920, Brethren, if
1:04:50
any of you do error from the truth and one convert him, let
1:04:54
him know that he which converts the Sinner from the error of his
1:04:57
ways, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide A
1:05:02
multitude of sins. That's pretty good motivation to
1:05:06
get involved in in missionary work.
1:05:08
Yoga verse 19 and 20. But perhaps way more important
1:05:13
than that is to see once again. The Lord Jesus Christ.
1:05:18
Through the lenses that James is providing for us here as his
1:05:21
half brother, there is nobody who did know to save souls from
1:05:28
death then did Jesus, and there is nobody who hides multitudes,
1:05:35
infinite multitudes of sins more than Jesus.
1:05:40
And at the end of the day we love the Lord.
1:05:44
We desperately want to become like him.
1:05:47
And so it's not just in in this concept of verse 19 and 20, but
1:05:51
it's and it's not even just these five chapters from James's
1:05:54
general epistle to the scattered tribes of Israel.
1:05:58
It's all of the scriptures in one.
1:06:01
They're not in competition. They're in cooperation.
1:06:04
And the thing that they're all cooperating in is inviting us
1:06:08
and encouraging us to come from to Christ and be perfected in
1:06:12
Him. I am so grateful the scriptures
1:06:15
have been preserved over all these centuries and that we have
1:06:18
these various voices that help us understand different aspects
1:06:22
of the gospel. I love the encouragement we get
1:06:24
from the brother of Jesus Christ, from Jacob, otherwise
1:06:27
known as James. And wherever you are in your
1:06:30
life, if you're feeling discouraged or uplifted, you can
1:06:33
turn to James and find something today that you can apply to your
1:06:36
life and find yourself even closer to Jesus Christ.
1:06:40
So let's finish by going back to a concept very early on in this
1:06:45
in this epistle, if any of you black wisdom, let us ask of God
1:06:53
forgiveth only him that worthy and upbraith in it, and it shall
1:06:57
be given to him, we know that he lives, and we leave that with
1:07:02
you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
1:07:05
Know that you're loved and spread light and goodness.
1:07:10
The.