The Sending of the Holy Spirit of Fire: God within You

What is the greatest need in the entire world? It’s something each human must discover, though to be honest most of us weren’t looking for it at first. But the pain of life, and the heaviness of something we couldn’t explain, led us toward a reality of this life, that few want to openly discuss. It’s the presence of God. He drew us toward it, himself, when we were far away, so we owe it all to Him.

One day, a man named Moses was grazing his father in law’s sheep, and he came near a mysterious mountain. He saw a burning flame in the night, he inched closer, and a voice spoke from the fire, the presence of God had came to Moses, a man who wasn’t even looking for God.

God appeared to him as flames of fire. Indeed the scriptures say, our God is a consuming fire.

Moses learned to walk with God, and to see God work in mighty ways. God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt.

And God led the people of Israel to Mount Sinai, by a pillar of fire at night, and a cloud by day.

The God of the flames that met Moses in the wilderness, now was the God of the flames leading Israel to the Mountain.

And on that Mountain the Israelites received a glorious and beautiful gift, the law, the ten commandments.

Flash forward to the time of Jesus. The Passover celebration had occurred, and on the same day of the Jewish Passover, Jesus was crucified. And then, fifty days later, the festival of weeks took place, a Jewish festival that celebrated God giving the law, on Mount Sinai.

After Jesus was crucified, the disciples began to have these strange experiences where they saw the risen Jesus alive. Numerous times this occurred, and they were told, at the ascension of Jesus, to wait for a gift to come from heaven.

Acts 1:4-5, “4 Once when he (Jesus) was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with[b] water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

They were told to wait for this gift, of baptism by the Holy Spirit. This is a precious gift. More precious than any of us realize.

Because of this gift, I can sit in a hotel room in Traverse City, pray, and expect the Holy Spirit to guide me in writing a beautiful sermon from the heart of God. Without that I wouldn’t be able to. I could string together some scriptures, but it wouldn’t be in God’s agenda and will for that moment. I think we pastors, we have to learn to hear from the Spirit, otherwise, we end missing the will of God. And that is what we’re going to focus in on this Pentecost Sunday, is what it means to have and be led by the Holy Spirit.

So the eleven disciples, led by Peter, and the other believers waited patiently, wondering what this might mean.

Finally, the day of the festival of weeks came, what we today call Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth.” Because it’s celebrated fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus.

It says in Acts 2:1-4: “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.”

The God of consuming fire, who appeared to Moses in flames of fire, the God whose fiery presence led the Israelites through the wilderness, the God whose fiery presence filled the temple of Solomon and made a home with the nation of Israel, had now sent His very presence, a burning fire, within human beings.

God’s temple was no longer near a man, or in the camp of men, or in the city of men, but now within the heart of each man or woman who believed.

First point today, the Holy Spirit is God. You are the temple of God, the scriptures say. God is living inside of you. The fire of God burns within you now. You are the temple.

Glory to God!

It’s interesting that the Jews were celebrating the festival of weeks, which celebrated the giving of the law of Moses. Today, we celebrate the giving of the Spirit of God to us. The Spirit writes the law of love on our hearts.

As the Holy Spirit landed on the disciples they began speaking in new languages. Jerusalem was filled with over a million people during this time due to the festival of weeks. The people heard the wind and gathered around the disciples as they began speaking the glories of God to the crowds in their own languages.

Some in the crowd were confused and thought they were drunk. Peter, the leader of the disciples stood before the crowd of thousands who had gathered, and Peter began to give an explanation for all that was taking place.

Peter quoted from the Old Testament prophet Joel 2:28-32, “

17 ‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.
19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below—
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will become dark,
and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.
21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The crowds in Jerusalem that day had witnessed something supernatural. They had experienced an intense wind, and heard Jewish men speaking in languages they didn’t otherwise know.

Peter points to the supernatural nature of the event. With the giving of the Holy Spirit, we should expect the supernatural to occur amongst us. We should expect divine healings, we should expect prophecies being spoken, we should expect people to have dreams from God, and experience visions. We should expect the presence of God at our meetings, in our homes, everywhere we go.

Do you have a supernatural view of God? That through the Holy Spirit you can experience these sort of experiences? Or are you closed off to the power of the Holy Spirit?

I want to challenge you today, to have an expectation in your life, that since the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, you should expect to experience the supernatural aspects of God.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.

The Holy Spirit is given yes, amazingly, so that we become the temple of God. And yes, so that the gospel can go across the face of the Earth. And yes, so that we can live a pure and holy life. But the Holy Spirit is also given for demonstrations of God’s power.

Prophesy, visions, dreams, healings, revival, are expressions of God’s power in the Earth. They are evidence that God is in fact at work in His people.

This is our second point today, Pentecost reminds us of the supernatural nature of our faith journey. Expect God to move in such ways in your midst.

I want to get into the main portion of our scripture for today, which is going to be Acts 2:32-41.

Peter has been giving a sermon, he’s started in the Old Testament, proving Jesus is the messiah, and showing in Joel how the Spirit’s coming was prophesied in the OT.

He talks about King David and the Psalms, all of it points toward Jesus.

Then in verses 32-33: 32 “God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. 33 Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.

Peter portrays the gospel in the clearest terms, Jesus died, Jesus was raised from the dead, and Peter says, we are witnesses of this.

We all have a testimony of how God has changed our lives. Whenever I’m talking with someone and I see an opportunity to discuss Jesus, I go to my testimony. Jesus changed my life through a radical shift in my thinking.

Peter explains that the Holy Spirit was given by Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead. It happened on Pentecost, it happens today as well. Whenever someone believes on the Lord Jesus, and they really repent and give themselves to Jesus, they are born again in that moment, and the Holy Spirit is poured into them.

Verses 34-35 says this: 34 David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
35 until I humble your enemies,
making them a footstool under your feet.”’[g]

Again, Peter quotes from the Old Testament, this passage is from Psalm 110, citing the deity of Jesus. Jesus is not merely a man, he is the Lord. Jesus Christ is seated in authority with God the Father now, in the throne room at this very moment. And the God the Father is working out His plan, to make all the enemies of the cross throughout all of history, to be a footstool under the feet of Jesus.

Next, verses 36-37: 36 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

37 Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

This message of Peter’s combined with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power through the disciples, those two things together, bring about a conviction in the hearts of the listeners, they are pierced.

The King James Version says they were "pricked in the heart." The Greek word here for pierced/pricked is katanyssomai (kat-an-oos'-so) which means…

I.to prick, pierce

II. metaph. to pain the mind sharply, agitate it vehemently

1. esp. of the emotion of sorrow (Source: Blue Letter Bible)

The people in the crowd are agitated, they are feeling sorrow, this is conviction, they are disturbed, they are pierced, pricked in the heart. Many of you know how many often unpleasant emotions accompany the journey toward the moment of salvation. We argue with God, we resist the idea of Jesus, we feel difficult emotions, we don’t want it to be true, we want our own way, we get angry, why would God allow this or that, we start to feel pressure in our hearts, pain, confusion, and then finally, as we walk through these emotions, we begin to come through the other side of wrestling with God, and we realize, it’s really true, Jesus really is God, and I really need him. And we ask the question, alright, what do I need to do?

Peter responds, verses 38-39: 38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away[h]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”

He outlines the message clearly, repent away from your past sins, turn toward God, be baptized. And your sins will be forgiven. Then comes the Holy Spirit to fill you. Who is this message for? For Israel, for the children of Israel, and to those far away, even people into the future.

Lastly, verses 40-41: 40 "Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

41 Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all."

Peter says save yourself from this crooked generation, the same is true for us today. We live in a crooked generation. We’re called to a radically different life, than the culture we live in. It was true then too.

Those that believed the message, they took it to heart, they embraced and believed in Jesus, they were added to the church, baptized into the body.

Third and final point for today. What does all this mean? How do we fit it all together? What really happened at Pentecost? And what happens today when a new believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, or when a believer walks in the power of the Holy Spirit and they do a mighty deed for God?

All of this, very simply points us to the presence of God. I was talking to a district superintendent, and he said what we need more than anything is the presence of God in our services.

Pentecost was the presence of God joining with His new body of Christ on Earth. We need the presence of God in our lives. If you’re a believer today, you have the Holy Spirit within you already, meaning the presence of God. But, do you act on it? Do you live in His presence? Do you invite Him in? Do you get in tune with the Holy Spirit within you, and let Him lead your day? That is the difference.

What if we really lived surrendered to the Spirit? Well, look at what happened on Pentecost.

Can you imagine 3,000 people getting saved in one day? That is an amazing moment in the history of the church.

Maybe this morning, like the crowd before Peter, you’re feeling cut to the heart, and you’re thinking, what can I do? How can I see the Holy Spirit work in mighty ways in my life? And more so, in the life of the church I'm part of? The answer is simple, if we want to see revival, if we want to see a new day, and a new season, we need to trust in God, repent of our sins, and cry out to God in prayer, and ask Him to move.

Pray for your church. Pray for the future. Cry out to God, and we believe God will move in mighty ways. Its time to repent, and ask God to move again in our midst in mighty ways. God can do anything! Do you believe?

Gaining Victory Over out of Control Desires

Have you ever see the movie Scarface? It’s a fictional portrayal of Tony Montana a Cuban immigrant who came to the USA and ruthlessly fought his way to the top, with the famous slogan, the world is yours. Drugs, crime, money, all of which led to his inevitable downfall.

Now, few of us have the ruthless drive and vicious immorality of a Tony Montana, but to a lesser sense, all of us here have struggled and do struggle at times with the big three battles in this world, the battles with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, mentioned in scripture.

And many of us have felt very driven toward money, pride, power, a pride of life similar in some ways to a Tony Montana. Today we’re talking about this battle with something called coveting.

And I want to suggest to you today a different mindset for our journey through this world, (next slide) that of Etienne de Grellet, a Quaker missionary who said:

“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
-Etienne de Grellet, Quaker missionary

Most of us are not either Tony Montana or Etienne de Grellet, but somewhere in between. So today we will examine this struggle, of being on the fence, and how to find our place with both feet in the kingdom of God. We may never be to the level of a Quaker missionary, but, we can be firmly planted in God.

Starting in James Chapter 4, verses 1-2: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.”

What causes us to be upset within ourselves? What causes us to then get into fights and cause drama with others? Ultimately, James tells us that it’s from our desires within us that have gotten out of control. And yes, this is talking to Christians. So for Christians, we can struggle with desires that get out of control.

This makes sense, this world offers many allurements, things that we want. Our desires get so out of control that we even kill to satiate them. This is an extreme example. But here in Gary we hear about it sometimes, someone killed someone else. And it’s sad. It all has it’s source in coveting.

What is coveting? It’s a desire that has gotten out of whack. It’s become abnormal, too powerful. Or, it’s desiring something God doesn’t want us to have.

We’ve all experienced this as well. Whether it’s with drinking, or gambling, or lust, or love for money, or anger or hatred, or just cutting ourselves off from the world. A desire within us, has gotten us too big, and is messing with our ability to live right.

It continues, verses 2-3: “ You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

As our desires get out of whack, we naturally become less and less spiritual. We aren’t asking God, we’re just chasing what feels good. We don’t receive, because we don’t ask. But, even if we do ask, we’re asking for the wrong things, we’re asking God for more money, or to send us pleasure, but, it never is enough, and God doesn’t answer prayers centered on our selfish pleasures.

Next: 4 You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

The idea of being adulterous here, points back to the Old Testament, when Israel was supposed to be devoted to the one God Yahweh, but instead, they kept worshipping other gods along with Yahweh, which is obviously adulterous.

This scripture we all need to remember, if you choose to be a friend of the world, you become an enemy of God.

What does this mean? It’s been much debated. But in general, to be a friend of the world, which is something we want to avoid at all costs, is to be in love with the things of this world. It goes back to verses 1-3, allowing all of our desires to get out of control, where we are coveting everything in this world around us.

Instead, we should be heavenly minded. We should hold things of this life loosely in our hands. And this will make it easy to let them go when we must.

As Billy Graham said, “My home is in heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.”

This life is temporary. The New Jerusalem is eternal.

Verses 5-6 expand on this: 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.’”

I think verse 5 is better translated, His spirit within us jealously longs for our affection.” You’ll see in the margin of your Bible that it gives several alternative translations for that phrase because it’s somewhat unclear in the original Greek.

God is jealous for our affections, is the key here. Which is stated in the Old Testament. God is jealous for our hearts and God will not accept divided affections within us. He’s jealous for our entire heart, as He should be, He made us, and He wants our affections. It’s a holy attribute of God, His desire for our heart. Just like a husband or wife should jealously desire the affection of their own wife or husband. The romantic love belongs to only them. Our heart passion belongs to God not the world.

Yet we also see in verse 6, Yet God gives more grace. God is patient and forgiving of us in this process.

There is a solution to all these uncontrolled coveting desires within us. And it starts with the end of verse 6:

"God opposes the proud, but shows favor the humble.”

This is the key. If we are struggling with uncontrolled desires, we need to humble ourselves before God.

Next, verses 7-10 expand on how to humble yourself, if you find within yourself out of control desires:

“7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

Let’s walk through this process...

First, we want to submit to God. Get quiet, and go into prayer with God. Father, I admit I’ve allowed my desires to control me. That’s idolatry, and I want to ask your forgiveness. I humble myself before you God, Lord, have mercy on me. I turn these desires over to you, please take them from me, in Jesus name, amen.

Next, we’ll want to address the spiritual warfare aspect of this battle. Resist the devil, and the devil will flee from you. Often times our desires our disturbed because the enemy is whispering to us and tempting us toward evil. So you’ve got to speak the name of Jesus, and tell the enemy to be gone!

Come near to God, and God will come near to you. Again, this is seeking God honestly, returning to your Father with all your heart, not just words, but really getting in deep in prayer and turning over your heart to Him.

Wash your hands you sinners, it says. And purify your heart. This is the key: Repentance. When we’ve got desires that are out of control… we want to humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, yes, resist the devil yes, but ultimately in all this we are finding a place of repentance.

That is a power word in the Christian faith, repentance. Lord, I repent. It pictures one who is facing toward sin, and they turn 180 degrees away from it, turn their back on sin, and turn their face toward God. They are forgiven. And the sin is now behind their back, they don’t see it anymore, they are focused on God. The sin is gone, and the affections are back where they should be, on God himself. That is true repentance. It’s not just turning from sin, it’s turning toward God.

The desire, or affection that was once focused on the sin, is now off the sin, and onto God. Thus the sin is defeated, because it’s lost it’s place of love in our hearts.

Notice also the scripture today says to change our emotions, to grieve and mourn when we’re caught in the sin of coveting. Change our happiness to grieving and crying. That’s wisdom too. There is a time for joy, yes. But there is also a time for sorrow and grieving, and expressing our sadness to God.

In all this, as we humble ourselves and repent, God will lift us up from that place of mourning, and restore our joy, and the sin of coveting will be defeated. And that is cause for celebration.

If during this message, God brings something up in your heart, I want you to pray and repent. If God brings it up, repent of it, Lord I turn away from that sin and I turn toward you. Lord please forgive me by Jesus’ blood. It’s real and powerful. And that’s how many revivals have started in Christian history, a small group of Christians repenting honestly before God.

James is going to bring us to two more key topics before the end of chapter 4, but remember again, as we dive into these topics, let God speak a word to you right now, and be quick to grieve, humble yourself, turn and repent and get that sin under the blood of Jesus.

Next, verses 11-12: "Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you – who are you to judge your neighbour?”

Do not slander others. And do not judge others. Think right now about someone who has harmed you recently. Your feelings of pain are valid. Your confusion and frustration is valid. The wrong they did to you matters before God. All of that is true. However, you must not slander them to others, or judge them in a way that you sit on the throne to declare them worthy of condemnation.

This is so common for us, when someone hurts us, we slander them, and then we judge them by condemning them.

Now, it’s valid for you to go to a friend, after someone hurt you, and say, this is what they did, and it hurt. That’s not slander, you are speaking truth. But, if you take it further and declare they are bad, or you begin spreading rumors, now you are sinning.

If we slander or judge, we are in fact judging and slandering the law of Jesus, which is the golden law, to love your neighbor as yourself. If we slander and judge, we are actually slandering and judging Jesus’ perfect law of love. Who are you… to judge your neighbor? There is only one judge, and it’s God, not me, not you.

Lastly, verse 13-17 “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

James hits on a completely different topic to conclude the chapter.

What we really see here, is James is addressing the key issues that make war with our souls.

The big three mentioned in 1 John 2:16: “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”

The lust of the flesh is our internal coveting getting out of control. The lust of the eyes are what can cause us to be in love with this world. And the pride of life is what James is getting into lastly here.

The pride of life is all about achieving things in this world and taking pleasure in the accomplishments of this life before love for God.

I actually asked AI what the pride of life was, and it said, “In a Christian context, "the pride of life" refers to a strong desire for self-exaltation and self-gratification, often associated with seeking recognition, status, and material possessions. It involves finding pleasure in worldly achievements and possessions, rather than acknowledging God's grace and seeking his glory.”

Often times I’ve found AI answers to be deceptive and misleading, but in this case, I think the AI is correct.

And this fits with our scripture for today, it pictures someone boasting about moving to a new area and doing business for a year and making money. But again, humility is the key. We should always keep God first in the plans we make. And when we speak, we should phrase it as, if it’s God’s will, we will go and see these plans succeed. Submit your plans to God. Keep God at the center.

Boasting in our arrogant schemes is sinful. So if you battle with boasting, again, repent and seek God’s forgiveness. Boasting in our plans is a symptom of the pride of life. Instead, recognize you are temporary, we are just a cloud of vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Like a flower that grows, blooms, then fades and dies.

Then at the very end we get this tidbit from James “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”

This is a scripture I try to live by. I’ll often sense that God is leading me to do something, could be simple, go talk to one of my staff members, or even go take a nap, these I call “nudges from God.” And I think many of us just naturally follow these nudges. But, we also get this scripture, that if we know the good we’re called to do, and we don’t do it, it becomes sin for us.

Now, every nudging from God is not a sin issue. God gives us free will for a reason. Yet I do believe there are certain nudgings that are critical, and if we refuse the leading of the Holy Spirit, it’s sin. And we’ll need to repent and ask God’s forgiveness in that circumstance.

In conclusion today, we put it all together… the challenge in living as a Christian is that we still battle the sinful nature within us, though we also have the Holy Spirit within us helping us to choose the right.

Nevertheless, at times the desires of this life can cause us to lose control of our desires and become covetous. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life can take over. Slowly we start to drift toward being more in love with the world than we are in love with God. We become double-minded. One foot in the world, one foot in the Kingdom of God. This double-minded situation leaves us miserable, constantly torn between God and this world. Our lusts and desires control us, and we end up in fights and quarrels and drama. We want God but we want the world too. So we’re divided, and this divided state puts us in danger of being regarded as an enemy of God.

The solution to this miserable situation is to humble ourselves, seek God honestly, mourn and grieve over our divided heart, resist the devil who is leading us astray, and at the proper moment, we repent, we submit to God, and we give Him our whole heart. And God moves in and suddenly, he’s all in all to us. We jump off the fence, with both feet in the kingdom of God.

We fall in love so much with Jesus Christ, that our love for the world’s pleasures fades away. And it’s suddenly all about Jesus Christ.

And then, the Lord lifts us up in honor. Because we belong to Him. And we’ve crucified the desires of the flesh.

Additionally, at the end of the chapter we also discussed not judging or slandering others, but allowing God to be the only judge. And we also addressed avoiding the pride of life, and instead submitting our plans to God’s leading, and obeying the nudgings of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. So that is the challenge from God before us. We’re going to pray, and repent, and offer our hearts to God afresh today. We are going to renounce any adulterous love for worldly pleasures, and turn to Jesus. 

Prayer: Father, we mourn and grieve over putting things in the world, pleasures before you. We know this is wrong, yet we did it anyway. We’ve allowed pleasures and desires to take control. And we want that to stop. Father please forgive us for embracing the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Forgive us please for slandering others, and judging others. Forgive us for taking pride in our own plans. We renounce these past ways. We offer you our hearts and ask you to consecrate them. Set us apart from the world, for holy sacred use. We repent of our sins. We repent of coveting. We turn toward you Father, in Jesus name, amen.

The Tongue can Change the Course of your Life

Yiddish folklore offers a telling tale about our words. One man had told many malicious untruths about the local rabbi that, overcome by remorse, he begged the rabbi to forgive him. "And, Rabbi, tell me how I can make amends." The rabbi sighed, "Take two pillows, go to the public square and there cut the pillows open. Wave them in the air. Then come back." The man quickly went home, got two pillows and a knife, went to the square, cut the pillows open, waved them in the air and then came back to the rabbi's chambers. "I did just what you said, Rabbi!" "Good." The rabbi smiled. "Now, to realize how much harm is done by gossip, go back to the square..." "And?" "And collect all your feathers."-From Hooray for Yiddish (paraphrase)

Words are powerful. We see this theme in James chapter 3 played out. Words are very powerful. They can do great good. I can encourage someone, and their spirits will be lifted. I can pray with someone, and those words will bring life. In fact, in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we see that God spoke, and the world was made. That’s how powerful words are.

Words can do great good. Indeed, how many of us heard the gospel through spoken words, or someone reading the Bible to us? In fact one of the key ways that I got saved, was I watched this movie over and over called “The Life of Jesus” which was a word for word translation of the gospel of John. I must’ve watched that movie one hundred times, and then one night it finally dawned on me, that Jesus could save me. I need to cry out to Jesus with all my might. Then I did. And the rest is history.

That’s how powerful words and speech are! They can bring great life.

It can also bring great destruction. Think back in your life, to a time when you heard someone say something terrible about you. Maybe it was during middle school or high school. Maybe it was a bully teasing you. Maybe it was a teacher who didn’t like you. Maybe it was even a parent, mom or dad, or a family member, who said terrible things to you. And they probably did that because their parents said the same things to them. 

Words can do great harm. They can function like a curse, hanging over our heads, repeating in our minds. If you've been cursed by the words of others, ask Jesus to heal that in you. He will break the curse and silence the repeating lie. 

James is going to deal with the issue of how to use our tongue in the right way. But first he’s going to address leaders, verse 1: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

First word today is addressed to leaders like myself. Not many of you should become teachers because, you will be judged more strictly on judgment day. Why would that be? My job is to teach the word of God, what happens if I teach it wrongly, or let my own biases affect how I teach it? Suddenly the people I serve have a big problem, because they are receiving false teachings.

Everything we’re about to learn is very true for believers, but doubly so for pastors and teachers. How we use our tongues, in regard to teaching, is very serious.

Verse 2: "We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check."

We as Christians stumble from time to time. What does that mean? We sin, we make mistakes. But, we don’t have to be stuck there. James is making a logical argument here.

We as believers stumble, but we don’t have to fall, and here’s the key. If you can guard what you speak, you will be able to keep your entire system under control.

Wow, that’s astonishing! If I can learn by God’s grace to guard my mouth, the rest of me will fall into line with what I’m speaking. This isn’t really taught but it should be. James is telling us something crucial, it’s huge, if we can control what we say, we can control our whole being.

He expands on this in verses 3-5: "When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."

How powerful is the tongue? It’s so powerful, it’s like the bit in the mouth of a horse, or the rudder on a giant ship. It can turn your entire life around, if you use your words correctly.

This is not something easy to do. Our emotions are so powerful, that when we’re upset or disappointed, we begin to speak words that are toxic, and actually drive us further into despair.

When someone makes us angry, we often spew things from our mouth that are so toxic. And those words are establishing a pattern in our life. We are building a road with those words, and often times it’s a road we don’t want to go down. Thankfully, we can turn the ship around and go in a new direction.

Why are our words so important? Think about it. God made the world by speaking it into existence. Jesus is called “the word made flesh.” We are made in God’s image. Just like God has a voice, and when God speaks universes form, similarly, we have a voice similar to that of our Maker’s. And we speak, we create in a limited sense, realities around us for ourselves.

If we speak a hopeful message to ourselves and others, what happens in ourselves over time? That hope we keep speaking becomes our reality.

If we speak the power of faith and God’s word in our lives, what happens over time? That faith and power becomes a reality in our lives.

This is not name it and claim it theology. This is a reality of the power of God’s word, when we speak God’s words back to ourselves and to the world, we change for the better and the world changes for the better.

And when we speak filth and sin, we slide deeper into the mud, and the world slides deeper into sin.

Our words are powerful to move us quickly in a good or bad direction. It’s like how a single spark from a camp fire or lightning can start a small fire. And soon that fire spreads, and it gets larger. Soon it’s 1 foot wide, then 10 feet wide, and pretty soon, the whole acre is on fire. That is the power of the words you speak.

Next, verses 6-8: "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

James takes us to the worst possible end of the conduct of the tongue, if we don’t control what we say, and just let it rip, the tongue will corrupt our entire being, setting the course of our lives on fire, burning like the fires of hell itself.

We all know someone like this and it’s ugly. We want to stay away from that person because they pour out negativity and gossip and slander and hatred.

All sorts of animals James tells us have been domesticated, I have two cats and a dog, but, who can tame the tongue? It is a great challenge. It is full of deadly poison. An animal can be slowly trained, domesticated, but, to domesticate the tongue is too much for a mere human. 

Next, we’re going to see how it is probably with many of us.

Verses 9-12: "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

For many of us we’ve avoided being that toxic person whose tongue is burning with the fires of hell.

We use our tongue to praise our Heavenly Father, and the Lord Jesus. We use our tongue to encourage other believers.

And then at certain moments, we slip into gossiping about someone. We’re praying one moment, then something makes us angry and we let out a series of curses.

We struggle between pure words of the Spirit and sinful outbursts.

This is a common battle. But we also don’t have to stay stuck here. We can have victory over the tongue. James tells us it shouldn’t stay this way, can a salt spring produce fresh water? Can the dead sea produce fresh water? It’s not logical.

This is where we need to seek God’s help, and pray, and let the Holy Spirit convict us. This is where we need to turn to Jesus Christ, and let our savior provide the power. This is where we need to consecrate, (surrender) our tongue into the hands of Jesus. Repentance is key here too. Pray, and repent. Confess the tongue issue, and turn it over.

In the last few verses today, James is going to show us what it means for the tongue to be controlled, and how it can be controlled. The answer might surprise you. It’s not try harder. It’s not feel sadder. It's not surrender more thoroughly.

It’s something, or someone, called Wisdom. The Spirit of Wisdom, in particular. The Spirit of Wisdom is mentioned in Ephesians:

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” -Ephesians 1:17

We find out here as well that we can pray and ask for the Spirit of wisdom. The spirit of wisdom is also mentioned in Isaiah 11:2.

We can’t control our tongues on our own. But, if we call on God, and learn the word, and walk closely with Jesus, we may ask for Wisdom. And Wisdom will come and be with us, and be a guide and a guard to our tongues.

So many times I don’t know what to say, or what to do, but the Spirit of wisdom guides me. Wisdom in scripture, in Proverbs and the New Testament is not simply a concept, but a person. As I learn the concept of wisdom in scripture, this is good, but ultimately, what I’m seeking is God’s presence as the source of wisdom. This wisdom is then not simply a concept, but a divine person. 

The answer to the fire of hell that is the tongue is to learn to speak life yes, that’s true, but more so, it’s to learn to abide so closely with Jesus, and His word, that together, the Spirit and the word combine and they guard our tongue together. 

The goal is that our mind and heart would know (mind) and love (heart) the word. Just as much, we are then in relationship with God, not just the word, but the God described in the word. Then, with word of God in us, and the God of the Bible with us, the Spirit of wisdom is present as well, and then, we are mighty in our God. We’ve done our part to  love the living God, and to love His word, and the Spirit does His part by being present and the voice in our life.

Then we have Wisdom.

Next, verse 13: "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom."

James immediately goes to application, if you’ve given your tongue to the Spirit, and it’s under control, you are wise, but now show your wisdom through living a good life, good deeds, and those deeds done in humility.

Where does that humility come from? Again, it flows out of wisdom in your life.

Next verses 14-16: "But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”

Many of us may think we have wisdom, and to some extent we do, but very quickly we find we’re actually harboring bitter envy, which is to be angry about someone having something we don’t, or desiring someone’s position.

That isn’t easy to admit. So we hide it and say it’s wisdom. But it’s not. Similarly, selfish ambition, so very common, we long to be important, to be rich, to be the great teacher who everyone listens to, to be famous, to be popular, and this is not wisdom, it is evil.

I confess I’ve been in bitter envy, envious of fellow pastors who have more influence, more power, more money, I repent of that.

I confess I’ve been in selfish ambition, wanting to be important, wanting to the best writer, wanting to be the public figure, wanting to be in charge, the Lord has forgiven me.

These two attitudes, bitter envy and selfish ambition are very common in ministry. If you struggle with it, ask for God’s help, confess it, and turn away from it. God will help you be free from these bitter desires.

These things James brings up because they often masquerade as wisdom. They fake wisdom, because selfish ambition wants to be important, and bitter envy wants what others have. But you’ll be able to see through the false wisdom, to the truth of the person behind it, by their fruits you’ll know them.

So what is true wisdom? What does it look like? How can we recognize it?

Lastly, verses 17-18: "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

When we allow the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of Wisdom to rest on us, and reign in us, we will see the following fruits appear flowing from our tongues: purity, peace, consideration of others, submissiveness, mercy, good fruit, impartiality, sincerity, and peace

This kind of person is in fact a peacemaker. They have planted with their tongue, by the leading of the Spirit of Wisdom many beautiful seeds within themselves, seeds are those things we speak over our lives that are good. And we plant them, and we keep watering them by speaking them over and over, scripture, declarations, decrees, faithful sayings, psalms, proverbs, blessings, they are sown in peace and later, weeks, months, years later, a great harvest of righteousness appears.

Beautiful fruits will flow from our tongues:

1. Peace-loving
2. Considerate
3. Submissive
4. Full of Mercy
5. Good Fruit
6. Impartial
7. Sincere

All of this will come together over time, years and years, to form in you a character of true, pure, humble wisdom. You will be a peacemaker, a real Christ centered peacemaker. At the center of you will be the heart of Jesus, glowing within you, flowing through a mind centered on the Spirit of wisdom, guided and protected by God the Father, to be truly, a son or daughter of the living God; A friend of God. And that my friends is a rare and glorious sight. Slowly build toward that goal, year by year with the Lord, and you will see it form in you. You’ll be amazed at what He does, when you place yourself on his potter’s wheel, and surrender to the process. It is a gift. Allow God to do it in you.

The Relationship between Faith and Action in the Book of James

"One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."

The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known." -Donner Atwood.

I will catch you. But I can’t see you. A holy moment begins. Time slows down. Afraid at first, uncertain, the child at last, filled with faith, takes action ,he trusts his daddy, and he dives into the unknown, and safely, into his father’s arms.

We live by faith in God. But what use is our faith if we don’t actively live it out? Just like the boy who is afraid, in the burning building, he can’t see his father below with his arms wide open, but he believes that he is there. He has faith that his dad is there even though he can't see. That’s kind of like our faith in God. We know God is here, active in our lives, we know he’s helping us, and guiding us. But what good is it for the boy to believe that his dad is there? The house is still on fire. The flames are close. He has faith, yes. But what needs to happen? The boy needs to take action. And maybe that’s the hardest part. He needs to jump off the house and into his father’s arms. And in the same way, our faith in God, is useless, empty, and dead unless it’s followed by action, by works.

As the founder of the salvation army said, "Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again -- until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other."
-William Booth in The Founder's Messages to Soldiers, Christianity Today, October 5, 1992, p. 48.

Today we’re looking at James chapter 2, it’s a short chapter, and we are going to swim through all of it today. Here is the breakdown of how it’s going to look, the first half of the chapter we’re going to dive into first, and its going to deal with one important topic, the topic of favoritism. The second portion of the sermon will be two chunks at the end of the chapter that really help us understand the main idea that James is getting across for the entire book of James.

Let’s dive in...

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” -James 1:1-4

We know how important it is to avoid discriminating against someone on the basis of age, or sex, or race. Discrimination is wrong. God doesn’t want us as His people to show favoritism to someone for any reason, or to despise someone just because of how they look.

Why would that be do you think?

Because God doesn’t show favoritism to the poor or to the rich. Whether you’re wealthy or poor, black or white, intelligent or simple minded, whether you’re male or female, the gospel message is equally open to you.

God doesn’t like some people more than others. God accepts those who embrace His son Jesus Christ.

So why would it matter if we discriminate or show favoritism? Because we are God’s representatives. If we discriminate, others may think our God behaves that way too. Which isn’t true.

Next, verses 5-7: "Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?"

I know if someone came into our service in a nice suit or a fancy dress, I might be tempted to give them special attention. And if someone was dressed in rags and smelled bad, I might be tempted to avoid them. But we should notice that behavior in ourselves, and counter it.

I think that’s what many of us do, we notice we have a bias toward or against something and we act against it. We make doubly sure to treat others equally.

I’ve heard it said that the real test of character is how you treat someone who can not help you in any way.

Verse 8 helps us understand the key component here: 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right.

The goal of not showing favoritism is one word: Love.

Love your neighbor as yourself. And I’m not loving my neighbor if I’m discriminating against them, or if I’m treat them with favoritism above others based on outward appearances.

Are there situations when a believer is allowed to “evaluate someone” and take action? Yes. Once you’ve evaluated someone’s character, through prayer, communication, and they are a danger to you or the church, you may of course break contact. You shouldn’t be cruel to them, but you can protect yourself and your family.

But what we want to avoid is despising someone just because they look poor. Or because they dress in a certain way. Or that we decide we like someone just because they dress in nice clothes. We also want to avoid despising someone just because of their skin color, or deciding we like someone just because of their skin color. We want to treat people equally, and once we discover character and action, to make decisions based on that information.

James warns us in verses 9-11: “But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”

Showing favoritism is regarded by God as a sin. So, if we’ve done it in the past, we should ask God’s forgiveness, if we haven’t repented of it yet.

Unfortunately people in our world, in our community will continue to discriminate. I’m sure many of you have been victims of it, or you’ve done it to someone else. But even if it happens to you, defy the system, and refuse to do it to others.

Don’t use that language. Reject that mindset. The rulers of this world want us divided over race and gender and politics and wealth. Defy the system, loving your neighbor and treating all people equally is an act of defiance against an unjust system. They want us to hate each other. They want the races to distrust each other. Don’t let the rulers and authorities of this world win.

Sun Tzu in The Art of War wrote: "If his forces are united, divide them." (paraphrase) Divide and conquer, a united force is dangerous, but if you can get them fighting each other, they are weakened.

Choose radical love, no favoritism. Love for all.

As it says in verses 12-13: "Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Speak and act. It will appear in your words and in your actions, who you really are. The law that gives freedom is the command of Jesus love your neighbor as yourself.

The law of the Old Testament put up boundaries and restrictions and judged us guilty. The law of freedom, the commands of Jesus to love God and love others gives us freedom, because the Spirit gives us the power to love.

The key here to remember about being a Christian is mercy is greater than judgment. We are quick to want to judge someone who has hurt us, or who has yelled at us, or who has taken something from us, or who has wronged us. But, God commands us to be merciful. Show mercy. Give them another chance. Forgive them.

You are not the judge. Remember this. It feels righteous to judge sometimes. But God is the judge, not us. We’ve got to leave it to Him.

That is the first half of our message today, the teaching on favoritism that leads us toward the law of love and toward mercy. The second section will deal with faith and works and how they work together.

Next, verses 14-17: "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

James is going to make a series of statements to defend his point, that faith in God alone is not enough for salvation. That’s why he says “Can such faith save?”

His first example is helping someone in need. Is desire enough, or does it need to be followed by action?

Next v. 18-19 "18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."

Can someone show they have faith, without an accompanying action of some kind, evidence, fruit? No. Instead James tells us, I will show my faith, it’s evidence will be, my actions, my deeds, will prove it.

Is belief enough? Even demons believe in God. But that doesn’t mean they are saved.

Verses 20-24: "20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[e] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone."

Many today want to believe that if they simply have faith, they are saved no matter what they do or don’t do. But faith is about the heart, and a true heart faith will naturally lead to powerful actions, total life change. If not, there is something seriously wrong.

Abraham is often credited as having believed God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness. But naturally, flowing from that, Abraham followed God’s lead, and left his own lands to go to a place he didn’t know. His actions matched his belief.

James even goes as far to say that one is considered righteous, the King James Version says a man is "justified" by their works and not by faith alone.

And as we know from scripture, Paul in the book of Romans tells us we are justified by faith alone, apart from works of the law (Romans 3:28). 

So are these two scriptures in contradiction? Not at all. Paul was writing to tell us that we are no longer subject to the old testament law of Moses, and instead we are justified by faith. The point James is making is that faith is not idle, faith is so linked to action that our faith must be accompanied by good deeds to be considered real faith at all.

Lastly verses 25-26: "In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

We get a new example here at the end. Rahab the prostitute honored a God she didn’t even know at the time. Her actions proved she feared the God of the Hebrews. And she was regarded as righteous.

Last line, verse 26 pulls it all together, when a human dies, the spirit leaves them, and what is left is just the empty shell. He makes a radical statement here: Faith without works accompanying it is dead.

Faith without works is dead. What does that imply?

Two things. First, if we claim to have faith, but there are no works going with it, it can be proof that we never had faith in the first place.

Second, more so he’s emphasizing here that someone who really does have faith, if they aren’t using that faith through works, that faith can shrivel up, without being expressed, it dies away, and soon, as James says, that faith is dead. Faith without works is dead. Don’t let your faith die, express it in your actions.

Faith is completed, made full, like a blooming flower, through our actions, our practical expressions of faith, they are the evidence of the internal reality, yes, but they also complete the internal reality. They are oxygen to the internal reality. The external expressions are like air to the internal reality, causing it to prosper and grow. Without those external expressions, the internal reality is choked of oxygen and begins to die.

In conclusion, you may be thinking good, I want my internal faith to match my external actions. So how do I do that? How do I go from belief to action? 

The first step is to know God. You can come to church and hear about Jesus Christ over and over again. You hear it, you like it, you can tell there is power there, but you’re just observing it from the outside. We’re floating around the outside, saying yes God is real and I appreciate his ways.

But here’s where the change happens: Go from believing that God is real, to living with God inside you. You go from saying that God is there, to having God as your personal father. You go from believing, to converted, surrendered, you give your heart to Jesus, Jesus takes over your heart, claims it as His own, you die to self, and Jesus lives within you suddenly. It’s total surrender, and total conversion in the heart, not just in the head.

Have you made a decision to receive Jesus Christ of Nazareth as your personal savior? It’s between you and Jesus. Nobody else. Embrace Jesus! 

How? Ask Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be your personal savior. Give your entire life to Jesus. Cry out in your heart, "Jesus Christ I make you the Lord of my life. I give my life to you. You died for me personally on the cross. All my sins are nailed to the cross. You suffered and died for my lies, for my misery, for my emptiness. Jesus I am yours, and you are mine. I surrender. I give you all my heart. ALL OF IT!"

That’s the first step.

The 2nd step is action. Start attending a small group Bible study (as God leads you). Get fed from the Bible each week. Learn to pray, to talk to God, to study the Bible, and to grow in holiness. This brings about character change over time. We see sins fall away. We develop relationships with other believers in the church. This is vital.

The third step is diving into discipleship. You go deeper with God. You begin to study theology, and spiritual disciplines. You begin to identify your spiritual gifts, and you learn how to share Jesus with lost people out there. You learn to give and serve.

The fourth step is serving in the church, you volunteer at the corps, you join a prayer group, you help with setup, in the kitchen, evangelism, you practice your Christian faith by doing good works. You use your gifts for God’s glory.

Faith is action my friends. God builds us through action, through making decisions and then following through on them. Have you made a decision to grow in your faith? Now is the time to step out. Let’s pray and ask for God’s help as we do this.

Prayer: Father, we confess that we have failed to adequately live out our faith in many ways. We've struggled to translate faith into practical actions, for that we ask your forgiveness. We ask God, that you would do a mighty work in us, and guide us from internal faith to external actions. We admit we can't do it without you Lord. In Jesus name, amen. 

Be Doers of the Word

"I've read that when Edward VI, the king of England in the 16th century, attended a worship service, he stood while the Word of God was read. He took notes during this time and later studied them with great care. Through the week he earnestly tried to apply them to his life. That's the kind of serious-minded response to truth the apostle James calls for in today's Scripture reading. A single revealed fact cherished in the heart and acted upon is more vital to our growth than a head filled with lofty ideas about God.

One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it."
-Chambers, Our Daily Bread, March 4, 1993.

Last week we discussed how we can have joy in the trials we go through. This week we address the issue of obedience to God.

The book of James is our source for this series. It’s a very interesting book, written by the brother of Jesus, and it doesn’t read like most new testament letters.

“This book begins like a letter because it’s being sent to people at a distance. But it is actually not very much like other letters of the time. It is a collection of short sayings and slightly longer discussions of practical topics. The conversational style, the short, pithy sayings and the interweaving of themes all make this book similar to the wisdom writing found in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.” -YouVersion Intro to James

James is trying to help us learn to live the Christian life in practical ways. How do I do this on a daily basis? Let’s dive into the teaching for today, we’ll be looking at James 1:12-27.

Verse 12 says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.”

As we learned last week, we can be joyous in our trials knowing they are refining our faith. That’s challenging, but very true.

Oddly enough I’ve learned, when going through something hard, to stop and think to myself, this is going to make me stronger. I even get excited sometimes, because I know that this moment is huge for my growth. Yes, when something bad is happening! Crazy right?

But here’s the good news, every trial has an expiration date. Blessed is the one who perseveres. What does that word mean?

Here is the Webster’s Dictionary (1828) definition: “To persist in any business or enterprise undertaken; to pursue steadily any design or course commenced; not to give over or abandon what is undertaken; applied alike to good and evil.”

The goal is to pursue steadily the path we’ve chosen.

Once we do that, we will come to the end of the trial, and we can say, we stood the test, and we stood firm. And God gives a gift to us, a crown which is called “life.”

Every trial we go through has at it’s end a reward called life. What does that mean? It means we grow stronger, we’re built up, we’re better than we used to be due to the trial.

Next, completely different thing, but, verses 13-15: “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

James is bouncing around, like Proverbs, toward different topics related to how to obey God in life.

He has given us the example of completing a trial. What about a temptation? A trial is different from a temptation. A trial is something we go through that makes us stronger. A temptation is something that stirs a desire within us that makes us feel drawn toward something sinful.

The dictionary definition of temptation is: "enticement to evil by arguments, by flattery, or by the offer of some real or apparent good."

We’ve all felt this, drawn toward something we shouldn’t be. If we don’t seek God’s help, a process begins. The process is like this: We feel tempted, the temptation grows stronger, it begins to drag us away toward sin, once the desire is fully grown inside us, it gives birth to sin, pictured like a woman who is giving birth. Then, if we allow the sin to take over and keep happening over and over, the sin grows stronger and stronger, and eventually it gives birth to spiritual death. Over time the sin can keep happening and it begins to affect our heart, and we begin to fall away from the living God.

Thankfully, this process of sin can be stopped at any time by seeking help from God and from friends to pray for you.

Next, verses 16-18: “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

It could be very easy to think that we are being tempted by God, because, we know God allows us to go through trials to test and refine our faith. But, we are never tempted by God. We are tempted by our sinful nature that causes us to be drawn toward evil.

Instead we should remember, every good gift comes from God. He doesn’t change. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that’s Jesus, so that we could become fruitful.

Next, verses 19-20: "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."

Sometimes I will feel angry in a self-righteous sort of way, and I’m going to show them what it’s really about. But that sort of anger doesn’t often produce the righteousness of God. Instead, once I’ve calmed down, and I show that person love with correction, then it’s effective. Otherwise it turns into a mess.

So, be slow to speak, slow to get angry, and quick to listen. Listening is a gift we should all cultivate. People need someone to listen. But we’re so often waiting for our turn to speak. Really listen to people, hear them, and they will love you for it. And they’ll learn to love God too.

All of this is about obedience to God, following His ways, and seeing Him in the way we He wants to be seen.

It’s very practical. How do I live it?

Jumping down to verse 22 it says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

I think 22 is the key. Don’t just listen to it, do what it says. Because if we just listen, we end up deceiving ourselves. How so? Many do it, they come to church, listen to a sermon, and go home and think that’s it. They have deceived themselves, they think just because they are in church, they are a believer, but, what really matters is if we’re living it, learning to use what we learned in church to change our lives.

Sometimes when we read the Bible, we wonder, can it really be done? But I’ll tell you this, it can be done, but it doesn’t happen all at once. It happens over years and years. So we have to be patient. But we also have to be dedicated to the process.

“One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.”

I’ve found that to be true. For years I learned about evangelism, how to share the gospel with others. But, once I went out with the Salvation Army on the streets of Chicago, and started talking to random people about Jesus, well, I had learned about 10% in evangelism classes, the other 90% came from actually doing it.

Next, verse 21 of our scripture today it says, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

Clear out the evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you. Many of you here have that word planted in your heart. God is at work. You’re feeling drawn to pray, to study the Bible, and to come to church. You’re feeling a discomfort in your heart with things in your life that are wrong. You can feel it. That is called “conviction." Conviction is when God’s Holy Spirit which lives in us, is telling us something we do is wrong.

How do we “get rid of the moral filth”? One target at a time. But not by our ability. Instead, follow this simple pattern. First, notice the conviction God brings. 2nd, think about it. 3rd, Pray and say to God, I repent of that behavior. Lord help me to be free. 4th, begin to build patterns to stay free from it.

The Holy Spirit whispers to us from time to time: “Don’t do that. Put that away.”

We have free will, we have the choice to either stop, or continue. That is a sacred gift from God. But I challenge you today, don’t just listen in church, then go out during the week and do whatever you want. Sincerely try to live it out. 

Next it says, (verse 23-24) “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”

So you’re starting your day, and you look in the mirror as you brush your teeth and get ready. And you tell yourself, “I’m a Christian, a follower of Jesus.” But then as you jump into your daily routine, you immediately forget that you’re a Christian. You’ve forgotten who you are. You’re a Christian. 

It's all about admitting we can’t do it ourselves. We can’t force ourselves to be good. We need to instead get on our knees before God, and say Lord Jesus, I confess I can’t do it. I need you to change my heart. Make my heart all yours. I give you my heart, and I ask you to change it.

Once we’ve sensed God has changed our heart, at the altar, or wherever we met with him, then we can fight the battle by praying through the day, by whispering prayers in our minds during the day. We can fight the battle by remembering the words of the Bible, storing them in our minds, and declaring them out loud. 

And pretty soon we will be swearing less, we will be less selfish and helping others more, we’ll be lying less, we’ll be gossiping less, and pretty soon those things will vanish entirely. But we have to remember who we are.

I am a Christian. Say it with me: "I am a Christian. I have a new heart. God loves me. With His love in my heart, I can live pure and free."

So if we remember our face in the mirror, then James says, (verse 25) “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

What is the perfect law James is referring to here? It’s the 10 commandments, the teachings of Jesus, all the commands of scripture that we look into and when we look into them, and study them, and apply them, we receive the gift of freedom.

It's all about heart obedience, allowing God to change our heart, as we ask Him to again and again, and then from that heart change, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live the way God wants us to.

All of this is closely related to the tongue as well, the tongue reveals the heart.

Verses 26 say, “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.”

The tongue, our words, can be so incredibly destructive. They can also be such a great blessing. Reign in your tongue. If you’re someone who gossips and spreads rumors, pray to God, and ask Him to help you stop. It can feel “fun” to talk gossip, and to swear, and cuss, but it’s so destructive, and it leads to pain and misery. So don’t do it. Shut that off. And ask God for help to do that.

Now this can be challenging. And as we begin to try to practice our faith, we’ll come upon setbacks. I remember being a new Christian, and thinking wow I’m a mess, I’m not doing this right. I was smoking, I was swearing, I was living in lust and watching movies and videos I shouldn’t have been watching. But here’s the thing guys: Don’t beat yourself up.

I’ll say that again: Don’t beat yourself up.

God is patient with you. But don’t play games with God either. God does not play games with us. He loves us, but he knows how we truly are. So do your best to ask God for forgiveness after you sin, and declare before God, your desire to change, your repentance, of turning in a new direction. Again, it’s about a heart change, if you let God change and heal your heart, the rest will follow.

There will be setbacks. But keep fighting, keep praying, and you’ll see month by month, and year by year, God slowly changing you.

It’s not over when we sin. Because the word says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” -I John 1:9.

God is our daddy, so run to Him when you make a mistake, and ask for His help and His forgiveness.

Let’s finish by looking briefly at the last verse, 27 which says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

So here James is giving us an example of how to live out what we believe. Serve others before we serve ourselves. Go visit the elderly in their homes, or in nursing homes, visit widows, go into the jail and share the gospel with prisoners, go and share God’s love with children at orphanages. Bring some bread and food to your neighbor, or go spend time with a friend in the hospital. Get out of yourself, and all that selfishness, and help somebody else. That is the hardest thing. We’re all so incredibly selfish sometimes, myself included, wow, so self-centered, everything about me and what I want, but instead God calls us to think of others and their needs and their souls.

So that’s our word for today, and its best summed up in this phrase “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (verse 22)

Do what it says guys, that’s my battle too. It’s all our battles. Don’t just hear it, do what it says. And I find great joy from God in that.

Review of Main Points
1. Trials eventually end: If we persevere, we receive the crown of life (spiritual growth)

2. Temptation is dangerous: It can lead to sin which eventually leads to spiritual death

3. God allows trials, but he never tempts us: Good gifts come from God

4. Avoid being quick to anger, anger doesn’t produce righteousness

5. Don’t just hear the word, hear it and do what it says

6. Get Rid of Moral Filth: Practice Repentance quickly if you fall into sin

7. Remember who you Are: Hold Fast to your Identity in Christ (look in the mirror of the word)

8. Surrender your Heart: Invite God to Change your Heart (over and over in your life)

9. The Perfect Law brings freedom: Looking into the word of God brings victorious change

10. The Tongue must be controlled: Invite God to help you overcome gossip/slander

11. Run to the Father: God is our Daddy, if we confess our wrongdoing he will forgive us

12. Religion is made perfect in loving service: Go to those in need and lovingly serve them

The Emmaus Road: Jesus puts Puzzle Pieces Together

It had been several days since Jesus had died on the cross. The sky had turned dark, the ground had shook, and Jesus had cried out one last cry before he died. His body had later been taken down from the cross and entombed. Judas had hanged himself, and the remaining eleven disciples had gone into hiding. The Passover festival continued. And the entire city wondered quietly to themselves if this was the last they would see of Jesus.

The followers of Jesus mourned, thinking that Jesus had fallen short of proving that he was the real messiah. They had all longed for Jesus to take the throne, and rule over the nation, but instead, he had been arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. It seemed like it was over. Nothing more was to be done, but to undergo the normal burial rituals.

Sunday morning came, and the women did just that. They headed to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.

From Luke 24:1-8, ”On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.”

The women retuned to the disciples and told them about this incident where they saw the angels, but to the disciples it sounded crazy, and they didn’t believe them.

This is the moment we find ourselves examining today. The women have seen an empty tomb. They’ve been told Jesus is risen. But there is still so much confusion. They don’t fully understand what’s happening. The disciples are heartbroken. They hear this report and they can’t understand it.

I can’t say I blame them. When you’ve gone through an emotional rollercoaster it’s hard to be told that there is still hope. You’ve settled into your grief, and let hope go.

Jesus was dead. Now they’re saying he’s alive. The tomb is empty. Where is the body? Where is Jesus? What do we do now?

But notice that simple phrase, “then they remembered his words.” It tells us a lot. The women were helped in this moment to put it all together, and see the truth for a moment. They were called back to words Jesus had already spoken. And it helped them understand the moment they were living in presently.

This is where we come to our scripture for today, starting with verses 13-24:

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

For the two disciples, Cleopas and his friend, this is a dark road. This is a rocky, miserable road, the word says their faces were downcast, they were sorrowful.

And they were reflecting on everything that had happened. It had been the craziest three years of their lives. They had walked day and night with Jesus, God in human form. What would it have been like?

Have you ever had a time in your life where you felt like you were swept up into something bigger than yourself, something special? That is an incredible feeling, to know you were and are part of something special, important, bigger than yourself. And yet, at the same time, for the disciples it had been a hard time, it had been a time of constant controversy, as some accepted and some rejected the teachings of Jesus.

Then it all suddenly ended. And then they were understandably sad, melancholy.

The two disciples are walking along talking and talking and talking about everything that has happened.

My wife and I also do this. We talk about everything that has happened, from when we first became friends in 2021, to when we started dating, when we got engaged, when we got married, when we left Michigan, everything that happened in Chicago, leaving the training college, and now being here in Gary. We wonder, what is God doing? What does it all mean? Why did it happen like this?

The two disciples saw Jesus teach, and do great miracles. They saw him arrested and crucified. Then they heard wild stories of Jesus being risen from the grave.

They are so very confused. They have all these puzzle pieces, but they don’t know how to fit them together.

Time and time again in your life, in your walk with God, you’ll be looking at all these puzzle pieces of different things that happened, and you’ll wonder, what does it all mean? You’ll seek to understand just what God was doing. But the answer will escape you.

Have you ever seen the movie Interstellar? The part where he's fallen into the blackhole and he's behind the bookcase. It’s kind of like that. You’re wondering what in the world is going in this movie, you’ve got a sense of something, but you can’t quite put the pieces together. Yet your heart is warmed by the story, something about it connects to something deep inside you.

Next, verses 25-32: He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

This mysterious figure who is with them, begins to explain to them in detail the various predictions in the Old Testament about Jesus. As he speaks and explains the scriptures, it’s like the puzzle pieces they are seeing begin to fall into place one after another.

Next, verses 28-32: "28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

I know all of us have felt this way before… as some truth of scripture was explained to us in a way we hadn’t seen it before, our hearts were burning within us.

So one might say, we are all together, walking on this road, the Emmaus road, through the cool air, the trees and branches, the rocks, and shoals, wondering to ourselves, what does it all mean?

Very often we are left wondering as Christians. When a question pops into our heads, Jesus doesn’t suddenly pop up and answer the question does he? No, we’re often left wondering. What was all this about? What did it mean? Why did it happen like this?

The disciples are walking along, and a third person joins them. They don’t know who it is. But this person speaks to them about Jesus. And points to all these different scriptures from the Torah, from the prophets, which reminds the disciples of what it’s really all about.

Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we don’t understand. Sometimes we get a bit fuzzy, and we lose touch with what really matters.

This man tells the two disciples: “Remember, this is what was supposed to happen.” God planned it out this way. It had to happen this way. If Jesus hadn’t died, there would be no forgiveness for sin. And death wasn’t the end.

“This isn’t the end guys,” is what this mysterious figure seems to say, as they walked that dry craggy road.

It says their hearts were burning within them. Their hearts began to blaze with the truth. This 3rd figure is igniting something inside them. From the cold ashes of a once blazing fire, fresh logs fall, leaves and pine needles cover, and sparks turn to open flame.

No matter how close we are to God, no matter how effective our prayer life, how deep our study of scripture, we often forget, and drift, and lose heart. We end up a little depressed, a little cynical, walking that long road, thinking to ourselves: Well, I guess it’s just too late. Well, it didn’t go my way. Well, the Lord is missing, where is He?

Jesus might say to us today: “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

So they listen to him, on the road, and at the end of the road, they invite this stranger to eat dinner with them. The man breaks bread for them and they eat, their eyes are opened and they realize, it’s Jesus.

As we patiently follow the savior, he inevitably comes to us on the road and encourages us, and gives us new hope. Our sorrow is turned to joy and excitement. Our timidity turns to boldness.

But what does this event of Jesus coming to us do?

It fills us with wonder. And this wonder produces joy. And this joy produces hunger. And this hunger produces an awe in us to chase after God. We long to know Him more. We long for Him. And as we do, our heart changes. Like it said, their hearts were lit on fire, burning within them, and that burning is burning away the dross, burning away the unimportant things in their lives and producing a pure, complete desire in them for more of God.

This purifying fire that God lights inside us draws us toward Him with all our might. It woos us toward God. And we long to know the mysterious God, the one who is I am who I am. We hunger for him like never before.

The pathway of glory in this world is based on money, and fame, and compromising your beliefs to climb over people to get to the top. That is how fame and power works in this world.

But glory works differently for the saint of God. To ascend in God's kingdom means to descend to the most humble lowly service. 

As they grow, they become something beautiful. They become slowly, not quickly, but slowly over 20, 30, 40, 50 years, they become something so wonderful, something so amazing, something so wise and sublime and glorious that the world cannot fathom it. It reminds me of a David or Solomon who chased God with all their heart, and what they became was a person so wise and faithful and humble and true that the world was shaken by their presence.

You can be that too. Yes, its true. If you will allow God to woo you, and chase Him with 100% of your heart, you will slowly become a saint of incredible glory and faithfulness, and your life will shake this little Earth on which we live.

Yes, you. Not because of you, but because of your God, you will become a mover and shaker. And no one can stop it. Only you, you must decide, will you chase God with all your might? It’s the greatest adventure imaginable.

And the adventure starts today, with the puzzle pieces sitting in front of you.

Numerous times in our lives, we will have in front of us a jumbled mess of puzzle pieces and we’ll be wondering what God is doing.

And as we study the scriptures, and pray, and seek Jesus, Jesus will come to us.

As Jesus speaks to us and ministers to us, our hearts will glow within us, burning with His presence.

And like the disciples we’ll invite Jesus to stay with us, to continue to speak to us, we’ll seek Him deeply.

Jesus will fit the puzzle pieces together in our mind, and through this, we see the finished picture for the current season of our lives.

We say Oh wow, that’s why! (Revelation opened to us – puzzle is complete)

Then, we tell others about the puzzle God put together for us. It becomes a testimony for others to better understand the puzzle pieces God is putting together for them too.

What are the puzzle pieces in front of you right now? Maybe it looks like nothing more than a jumble. But if you’ll believe and keep trusting God, I believe you’ll see God fit the puzzle pieces together in a beautiful way. And this will bring a revelation that will become a testimony for others to better understand who God is and how God works in our lives.

In regard to the resurrection of Jesus, we know Jesus is alive. But do you know it in your head, or do you really know it in your heart?

Does your heart burn with passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ? Does your heart burn within with zeal for you savior and His message? Or is it dry and crusty, simple head knowledge?

For the disciples, Jesus came to them and met with them in their doubts. You can invite Jesus right now, to come and meet with you. 

Confess right now that you feel stuck. Confess that you don’t feel it in your heart, and ask Jesus to come into your heart and give you a fresh heart passion.

Just make it your honest request today to know him in your heart, not just your head.

We know Jesus rose from the dead and is alive. But do we know (in our heart) that He lives?

Then watch God cause your heart to be strangely warmed, like you never thought possible. That burning will grow and grow, to become a fire within you, a fire of the Holy Spirit. You will never be the same. As you tend the flame carefully, fielding it fuel, your spiritual life will flourish. The Holy Spirit will produce a revolution in your life. The end result of that journey will be becoming something more beautiful and glorious than you could ever have possibly imagined.