The Book of James: Chapter 1

I pray into the atmosphere Spirit of God, you're here. You have all authority. I pray over my heart and mind. I am healed by your stripes. Your blood declares that I am free. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim, every weapon formed against me, must pray in the mighty name of Jesus. I draw the permanent boundary line. The enemy has no right to come near my family. No scheme could ever undo God's plans, no matter the circumstance. The cross has sealed my destiny. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim, every weapon formed against me, must pray in the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus, I know, all the power of fear and darkness. My soul is every key to every victory. I hold this in the mighty name of Jesus. Let's sing it. I will not fear, I will not fear, when the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear, I will not fear, there's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus. Yes, yes. I will not fear, I will not fear, when the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus. You sing it. I will not fear, I will not fear, there's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, calling on the power of heaven. I proclaim, every weapon formed against me, all must pray in the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus, all I know, all the power of fear and darkness,

in you must know, there's every key to every victory. Oh, I'll have a hold, it's in the mighty name of Jesus. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. It's in the mighty name of Jesus. No other name, no other name has the authority that you do, God. No man on earth has the authority that you hold, God. We will not fear. We will not fear. We have you, Jesus. We have you, Jesus. So I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of... I will not fear. Come on. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. No. On the doorframe of my whole life is the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ. I will not fear. I will not fear. When the enemy comes near. On the doorframe of my life is the blood of Jesus Christ. So I will not fear. I will not fear. There's an army of angels here. I'm protected on all sides by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the mighty name of Jesus. Oh, my God. Calling on the power of heaven. Oh, I proclaim. Here it is. That every weapon formed against me must break. In the mighty name of Jesus. Jesus. And in the mighty name of Jesus. I know all the power of fear and darkness must go. Cause every key to every victory I hold. In the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus. You're wonderful, Lord. In the mighty name of Jesus.

Thank you, God. Praise you, thank you. The Lord is my shepherd. And he is everything I need. So I will not worry. I will not fear the enemy. He said that he loves me. He said that he's with me even though I walk through the valley. The shadow and death and still I know. He has good plans. He has good plans for me. So I will take more than deserts and gardens. He has good plans. He has good plans for me. If I know my father, I know my father has good plans. We believe that this morning. The Lord is my savior. So why should I doubt my victory? Why would I question the rod and the staff that comforts me? He quiets the waters. He quiets the storms inside of me. So what could be better than walking with him when I believe? He has good plans. He has good plans for me. So I will take on... He has good plans, He has good plans for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father has. He has good plans, He has good plans for me. So I will take heart and deserts and gardens. He has good plans, He has good plans for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans. Oh, we submit to His plans, we submit to His plans. So surely, Your goodness and mercy will follow after me. So be well, not by me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God. Surely, Your goodness and mercy will follow after me. So be well, not by me, cause I'll be dwelling right here in this house. Surely, Your goodness and mercy will follow after me. So be well, not by me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God.

Surely, Your goodness and mercy will follow after me. So be well, not by me, cause I'll be dwelling in the house of God. He has good plans, He has good plans for me. So I will take heart and deserts and gardens. He has good plans, He has good plans for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans, good plans, good plans. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans, good plans, good plans. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good plans. Yes, we know you have good plans, Father, and we thank you. We thank you for what you're doing today. We thank you for providing this house that we have to dwell in, Lord. We thank you for the worship today, Lord. We thank you for the message. Lord, I pray that you just are moving in this service and that we can feel your Holy Spirit, Lord. We thank you for the comfort that you have brought to us during this service, Lord. Lord, the comfort and peace that we have knowing that you do have good plans for our life, Lord. And we just thank you, Lord. I say all this in Jesus' name, amen. Good morning, church. Welcome to Revolution. We're so glad you're here with us today. If this is your first time visiting, we are so glad you're here. We want to connect with you. So please meet us at the Connect table. We have a gift for you. And today, Amy, if you make the best decision of your life to make Jesus the Lord of your life, we want to walk that journey with you. And we have a gift for you as well at the New Believers table.

So come by and see us. We have a new Bible for you that will help you along your journey. And Amy, today, if you miss anything, check out our church center app, the website. We also have a QR code below the screen that you can check out as well. That's awesome. We're so excited that you guys are here. We have a lot going on here at Revolution. One of our biggest events for the year is Helping Hands and registration for that opens today. Our volunteers can register. to serve, we could not do this event without you. All right, Amy. We also have Connect One and Connect Two. The Connect One is always on the last Sunday of the month in the pavilion during the third service, so don't miss that. That is about our church values and our vision. You wanna go there and check out and meet our pastor or leadership and learn more about their heart and the vision for our church. It's pretty awesome, Amy. So also on the first Sunday of every month, we're gonna have Connect Two, and that is where we learn about membership and the values of being a member of Revolution Church. That's right. Also, we have baptism coming up on April 26th. It will be at the river. You can visit our church website

or the Church Center app to get signed up for that. Awesome, Amy. We are excited about our church service today. Remember, check out the website, Church Center app, and the QR code. Enjoy the service. Church, anybody glad to be in God's house? Come on, somebody. I know it's not Easter, but really every Sunday is Resurrection Morning. Can I hear an amen to that? Praise the Lord. Man, it's good to see all of you in the house of the Lord. Today, we're starting a brand new series, and like every new series, we begin it with taking communion together. And so right now, I'm excited because we do that with the entire church. As a matter of fact, we have the 411 church family gathering right now joining us. Let's give it up for Pastor Tim and the team down there. Good to see all of you guys with us today. And I will say that if you didn't get your elements yet, didn't get your bread and juice, hold up your hand real quick. We have ushers that'll come around and serve you. Hold up your hand real high, and we'll make sure all the ushers see you. Have anybody?

We have a few, okay. And while they're serving, those individuals, I would like to say to you at home, if you'd like to take communion with us, if you wanna go to your cabinet, grab some crackers, some juice, whatever, and we'd love for you to participate in holy communion with us. So what is communion? Communion is really acknowledging Jesus as our Lord and acknowledging the fact that he laid down his life and that he made that great sacrifice on Calvary for our sins. And how many of you are grateful for Jesus for doing that today? Amen, I think we all are. And I wanna give a moment before we take communion to allow us all to just reflect and to look inside, just evaluate. You know, God, is there anything in my life that needs to be cleared up between you and I? Is there anything that doesn't align with your will, your heart? And if so, it gives us an opportunity to ask the Lord to forgive us, to cleanse us, just another opportunity to repent. And then also, it's a time for unbelievers to really consider where you're at. The Lord has been tugging on your heart and today's the day that you accept him.

I would encourage you in this next prayer, if you're not a born-again believer, to invite Jesus into your heart. It'll be the best decision that you've ever made. Can I hear an amen if that's the case for you? So right now, I want us to go ahead and bow our heads and let's just take a few moments of quiet meditation between us and the Lord. Amen. In Jesus' name, and everybody said, come on. Amen. Amen, amen. Amen. So if you want to go ahead and get your bread ready, you can peel the cover off the top and grab it. And I'm going to go to 1 Corinthians 11, verses 24 and 25 for a passage. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's take the bread. Amen. If you'd get your cup. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's pray, Father, we're just so grateful for the sacrifice that you made on Calvary. God for laying down your life, the stripes on your back, God, the blood you shed, Father, we're so thankful and so grateful and we'll never forget. We'll never stop remembering, Lord, the sacrifice.

God, we thank you for salvation, we thank you for healing. Thank you for deliverance. Thank you for the move of God that we feel right now, God, that we're going to experience today. Thank you for the body of Christ. We pray blessings upon everyone now, in Jesus' name. And everybody said, come on, help me, amen. Come on, let's go. You ready? Let's go. All right, the book of James, quick history. But before we dive into the book, I want to ask you to really consider paying close attention. If you're a note taker, take notes. I've got a lot of information I'm going to be sharing in the next 30 minutes. And so it'll be a lot of things that you'll probably want to take home, dive deep into, discuss in your life groups, things such as that. So anyway, quick history. The author of the book of James obviously is James, but it's James the brother of Jesus. Now there's a lot of Jameses in the New Testament. There's James the brother of John, there's James the son of Alphaeus, but today we're talking about the book of James, which is James the brother of Jesus. Jesus had four brothers. Not sure if you know that. He had two sisters, and they're mentioned in the Bible. But the book of James was written, most people believe, somewhere between the year 45 and 62 AD. So think about that. The book of James is thought to be the earliest book written in the New Testament. The earliest book written in the New Testament. And so I want you to also understand that initially, James wasn't a supporter of Jesus,

or his mission, or his ministry. And so look at John chapter 7 verse 5. It said, for even his brothers did not believe in him. So you know, when you think about that, I mean, I can understand why it would be difficult believing that your brother is the son of God. I mean, this is the guy that you ate breakfast with, that you, you know, swapped licks with, paper, rock, scissors, or whatever they did back then. You know, went fishing, you know, hung out. This is your brother. I could see why it probably would be difficult seeing, you know, okay, now Jesus is the son of God. So initially, he wasn't a supporter. But James received a special appearance after the resurrection. First Corinthians 15-7. It says, after that he was seen by James, James individually, then by all the apostles. So Jesus made sure that he revealed himself to his brother James, and again, it's a special appearance after the resurrection. I would say this is probably the cause of James' conversion. So again, today to get the most out of this teaching, the most out of this series, take notes. Dive in. Dive deep. I'm praying that this will be a life-changing series for our entire church. How many of you guys would receive that today? A life-changing series. Something that you could point back to and say, that's when I changed my life in certain areas or maybe born again, whatever it may be. So let's go ahead and begin the book. James chapter 1. Now I want you to notice right here in the very beginning that James doesn't refer to

himself as James the brother of Jesus. or James a Christian, but he refers to himself as a bondservant. I want us to look at the Greek word for bondservant. The Greek word is doulos and it actually means a slave, one who gives themself up to another's will. So a bondservant in Jesus's time was someone bound to serve another, often voluntarily. And so when you look at a servant or a bondservant in the Old Testament, if a Hebrew servant had done his time serving his master but yet decided that he didn't want to leave, he loved his master, he wanted to continue serving him, they had this special vow that they would do. And what would happen, the master would take the servant to the door or to the doorpost and he would pierce the servant's ear with an awl. Okay? And so everyone that seen this servant from this day forward realized that he voluntarily became a servant for life to the master. You see, this is symbolic of what we do as Christians. You see, most of us today don't have pierced ears. Well, probably most of us do have pierced ears today, but that piercing doesn't represent the fact that we're a Christian, right? We don't have pierced ears, but all of us who are born again have a transformed heart. Amen? And you may not see that on the inside, but when you're around a believer for any length of time, you're going to recognize something's different about her. Amen? Something's different about him. He's been changed. So just like they recognized back then a bondservant, I believe that people should recognize us. What if we quit referencing ourself as Christians and we started saying, I'm a bondservant to Jesus. I mean, that would get people's attention, wouldn't it? Well, what's a bondservant? Let me tell you. I voluntarily laid my life down and said, Jesus, you take me and you use me. I'm yours forever. Amen? I mean, that would be pretty awesome. And that's what, that's really what James was doing here. James also addressed this letter to the 12 tribes. Okay? This is to the Jewish Christians. He's addressing it. So again, this is probably why it was the earliest writing of the New Testament, because this was prior to the Gentiles, which is all of us, it was prior to the Gentiles being brought into the church. Are you guys with me? And so he's talking now

to Messianic Jews, those who have been converted from Judaism, who have been born again. And so this, the Gentiles, as I said, they came into the church around 50 AD. Let's go to verse 2 and 4. My brethren, James says, get in all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be what? Perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If you're taking notes, key word, key word I want you to take from this right here is when, not if. You guys with me? When, not if. When you fall into various trials, not if you fall. Every single one of us will. Amen? So when you fall into various trials, he said, you know, it's going to produce patience. Now, the word that James uses here for fall is peripepto. Sounds like, it reminds me of Pepto-Bismo. You know, when I read that and pronounced it like, I can remember the Pepto. Peripepto is the word for fall. And so this depicts a person falling into a deep ditch and then raising up with problems all around them. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been in a situation where there was problems all around you? I think we have. As a matter of fact, this word's only used a couple times in the New Testament. The other time it's used is when Jesus was sharing the parable of the Good Samaritan. You remember what he told about the Good Samaritan. He said, there was a certain man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell. That's the word. He fell into this and he fell among the thieves and the robbers and what happened? He was beaten, he was robbed, he was wounded, and he was left half-dead. That's pretty severe. So one thing that we can know about this word and about falling is these trials come as a surprise. They come when you least expect it, okay? You're going about your business, you're going about your routine and bam, there it is. Anybody ever had that happen to you? If you've not, it's going to happen. I'm just telling you, okay? bad news, but really it's not bad news. It's really great news when we understand the outcome. Are you guys with me now? You guys stand with me. Trials are inevitable. Write that down, mark it down. Trials are inevitable. They are traps set by the enemy. Say enemy. Okay, we need to be clear on that. They're set by the enemy. But what happens when we're going

through these trials, there's a supernatural component to these trials if you endure, if you don't give up, and it's called, and I'm going to pronounce the Greek word here, it's hupomone. Say hupomone. It's hupomone. It's the word translated patience. It's a supernatural endurance, perseverance, no quit. It's not a natural thing. And so it means steadfast endurance, perseverance. Now, I want you to listen closely. This word is a compound of the preposition hupo being the first part of it, and mayna, the second part. Hupo means, it depicts one being under a heavy load. Have you ever been under a severe trial? You just felt the heaviness of the weight of whatever it is you're going through. We've all been there. It's heavy. It's exhausting. That's hupo. Now, the last part of that depicts the resolve to stay put, to abide, and not to move. That's the supernatural ability. So, the definition I would give for hupomone means to stay, to abide, to keep a position, or to resolve, to never surrender, and maintain the authority that you have attained. Are you guys with me? Do you realize you've obtained some authority? Do you realize you've attained some ground as a believer in Christ? It's just not backing up. It's saying, I will not quit. I will not stop. I'm going to press on. It doesn't matter what's in front of me, what's behind me. If God be for me, who can be against me? Come on, somebody. It's a push. It's a presence, and it's supernatural. Honestly, it's not even in you. You may look at yourself and say, well, I'm pretty tenacious. I feel like I'm resilient. I don't give up easy. Well, there's another element of it. It's hupopamone. It's not giving up. It's pressing on, and it's supernatural. Say it's supernatural. So, essentially, trials are training ground for endurance, okay? Trials are the training ground for your endurance. Now, you guys know we have seven grandchildren. We have five of them that are playing sports now, okay? We have so many playing sports. They're playing tee ball, softball, baseball, soccer, and football. So, here's the deal. The reason seven of them are not playing is because the other two is too young. So, let me tell you how we operate. We have them on rotation now. They know poppy and memia is not going to be at every game. Can't be. It's kind of like pastoring a church. I can't be at every hospital visitation, but guess what? We're going to have somebody there for you. The congregational pastors, the elders, the deacons, your life group leaders, somebody's going to be there. So, we're there now as grandparents. It's like kids can't be there. Yeah, I mean, yesterday, we're in Knoxville. We're at the Catholic

school watching Revolution Christian Academy, playing the soccer game, watching our granddaughter. And by the way, they won. Come on. Let's give it up for Revolution Christian Academy. We're big competitors. We like to win, do we not? And so, but we can't be at all the games. We can't be at all these. As a matter of fact, yesterday, one of our kids was at Maryville College football camp. And so, he was there, and the reason he's there, he's trying to get better, okay? Training, trying to get better. Now, I want you to listen to me closely. We don't like the drills. We don't like the running, the working out, the sweat, the lifting. We don't like that, do we? We don't like the batting cage, and we don't like spring practice. We just want to play the game, Poppy. We just want to go hit a ball. We just want to play. But I want to tell you something. Here's a word for you. If you're writing things down, here's a word for you. Learn to enjoy the drills, and you will begin to love the game. Learn to enjoy. Learn, I said. Learn to enjoy the drills, and you will begin to love the game. Why are you going to love the game? Because you're going to get better. You're going to be more proficient and that's the way with a Christian. If we go through the trials, if we learn to enjoy the trials, count it all joy, I know it doesn't make sense but it's in the Word of God, count it all joy because of the outcome. Because of the outcome. And again, James said count it all joy because it's going to make you better lacking nothing. Look over to your neighbor and say you're going to lack nothing. Verse 5 and 8, verse 5 and 8, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all, listen to this, liberally and without reproach. And it will be given to him but let him, check this out, ask in faith. Key words, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, he is double minded, he's a double minded man, unstable in all of his ways. Anybody lacks wisdom, let him ask God, he's going to give to you generously, liberally. And so, we're not going to talk about wisdom today, we're going to talk about that, go deep, we're going to dive deep, week 3, chapter 3, James talks about godly wisdom and what it looks like so we're going to wait for that.

But today, we're going to talk about faith. How many of you know God wants us to have faith? He wants us to operate with faith. Do you realize there's a correct way and an incorrect way to ask God for something? Do you guys, do you understand that? There's a right and wrong way. And so, we see it through the, and James said this, he said, when you ask God for something, believe that he's going to give it to you. Have you ever asked, I know I have, I've asked for something and in the back of my mind I'm already doubting it. Like God, would you do this? But in my mind it's like there's already a little doubt there. He's saying that's not the way you do it. When you're going to ask God, if you're going to ask him for something, ask him believing that he's going to give to you generously what you're asking for. And I believe that it will happen because James says if you doubt, then when you ask, you should expect nothing, say nothing. So if we're doubting, don't expect God to do anything. We didn't ask by faith. Now, share a story with you. There's a family in our church. And they use their refrigerator door to post their request to God. Are you guys with me? They use their refrigerator door to post their request to God. And I've been in their house. I've seen their refrigerator. And I don't know, I just call it a faith refrigerator. They just believe. And here's the crazy thing. Listen, here's the crazy thing, is when they write it down and post it, it comes to pass.

Every time. And I remember seven years ago, they had something posted on their refrigerator door that was humanly not possible. I'm just telling you. But they posted it. And every life group that have been in and out of their house for the last seven years, they saw that. I've been in there. I would see it. And every time I'd see it, I'd say, that's big. That's huge. Only God. Seven years, it hung on their refrigerator door until the day that they called me on the phone. They said, hey, are you at home? I said, yeah. We got something to tell you. They drove to Townsend and they shared with me that thing they had posted for seven years that was humanly impossible. God brought it to pass. And he received the glory and the honor for it. So what are you saying? I think everybody should turn their refrigerator door into a request to God. Start posting it. Let your kids see it. Hey, Habakkuk says, make it plain. Write it down. So the people that see it will run with it. Come on. Come on, somebody.

So now, listen to this. So just, I think it was last week or week before, and this is what made me think of this to bring it up today, is I get a text with a photo attached from this family. And I open it up and I look at the photo, and there's their refrigerator door. And they have a list of requests that are big. And I got fired up. You know why I got fired up? Because my name was on that list for God to bless me and my family and our church family. Come on, somebody. I got excited! There's a right way and a wrong way to ask God for something. I'm just saying that. Let your faith grow. Start believing God when you ask. Now, let's look at verse 9. He said, Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. Verse 11, For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat that it withers the grass. The flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. It's not that the rich man is fading away because he's rich. It's because of what he's pursuing. He's pursuing the riches. And so, James right here gives instructions that whether we're rich or whether we're poor, we should honor God with humility. No matter what we've got or what we don't have, we should all, with humility, honor the Lord. Can I hear an amen to that? Riches will fade, and the person chasing them will as well. Verse 12.

Now, check this out. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. He who endures the temptation. So James is saying right here, your struggle isn't wasted. Your endurance will be rewarded. And also, what's coming is far greater than what you've went through. Are you guys with me now? What's coming is far greater than what you've been through. Stop looking at the rear view mirror and start focusing on the windshield in front of you. Are you guys with me? Let's not focus back there. Let's focus out there. Verse 13-16. And then he goes on, James says, let no one say, now this is important. We need, again, very important, you need to get this. We need to talk about it in our life groups. Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. Listen closely. God never tempts no one. Sinner, non-sinner, no one. Say no one. No one. God doesn't tempt. So don't ever say God is the one that's behind this temptation. And he goes on and he said, but each one, now, we're going to understand, where does temptation come from then? Okay, the enemy, yep. And the enemy might be within us.

You guys with me? Flesh and spirit, constant battle. Look at what he says next. Each one is tempted. And he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Temptation comes when I'm drawn away. Drawn away from what? Help me. Drawn away from the Lord. Drawn away from the teachings of God's word. Drawn away from his presence. Drawn away from anything that's godly. The church, whatever. I'm going to tell you guys, you just stop coming to church for a little while and you'll see where you're at. And it's not going to be pretty. Because the enemy realizes, if I can draw you away from anything that's godly, now guess what's going to happen? He's going to bait the hook and just waiting on you to take the bait. And then there we are. Okay, so this is some good stuff right here. So it happens when they're drawn away by their own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin and sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren, he said. One clear thing that we know for certain, remember this from James chapter one, God tempts no one. Everybody with me? Okay. Temptation comes when we're drawn away by our own desire and enticed.

So, what is a desire? A desire might be a thought, okay? Satan places a thought in your mind. He dangles it out there. And now you're thinking on it. And you know that that thought is not from God. You know that that has nothing, there's nothing godly about that. There's nothing positive about that. There's nothing productive about that thought. But what happens when you become fixated and focused on that thought, if you continue, it eventually is something that draws you in. You become impregnated by that thought. It conceives and then sin is birthed. Now sin, when it's first birthed, you know when sin first happens, many times it's actually fun for a little while. I've been in sin, I've lived in sin. There's times where I thought, man, this is fun. What I didn't know was the end of the story. I didn't know where it was going to take me. See, I've got friends, multiple friends, who have been alcoholics and have shared their story with me. How it started, the middle of it, and how it ended. I've got one friend, and he's a high level executive. And he shared with me, you know, social drinking, CE boards. Alcohol is common, and it started there. But then it led from there to more casual drinking. Next thing you know, he can't do without it. It used to be fun, and now it's bondage. And it's pulled him in, and so here's what it cost him. I'm just thinking of one friend of mine.

It cost him his family. There was an affair that came. It cost him pretty much everything that meant anything to him. His family, his wife, children. And it started so innocent, but then once it got its hooks in it. And then he's coming to me saying, you know, I need help. I don't want another drink of alcohol. I'm going to tell you a story. There was a guy dealing with alcohol when we were at the high school, and I was still running our business, and it was destroying his life. Anytime I was around him, it was obvious I could smell it coming through his pores. And he was trying. He'd be at the altars. One day I was at my place of business. I was working, and he stopped in. He stopped in to see me, and we were talking. And again, I could smell that it's got its hooks in him. And I asked him, I said, you're still drinking, aren't you? And at first he said no, and then he said, yes, I am. And he said, it's behind the seat of my truck. I pulled the seat back on that truck. I pulled a six pack out on the floor, or on the road out here on East Lamar Alexander Parkway, and I gave it a drop kick as hard as I could. I kicked it across the parking lot. I did. I said, get rid of that junk.

It's killing you. It's destroying you. It will. It's Satan's claws. And listen, I'm not picking on alcohol today, because that just happened to be the thing that came to my mind. I'm saying that anything that lures you away, are you guys listening to me today? Anything that lures you away from God, God's family, unity, the body of Christ, get rid of it. It'll kill you. It'll destroy you. There's a lot of, I've got a lot of friends in this building right now that can relate to the drugs and the alcohol, and so much other stuff. But what happens is, it says right here, when we start thinking and we don't, so what do I do? How do I deal with this? When the thought comes to your mind, cast it down right then. Cast it down. Don't keep dwelling on it. And here's something else I'll say. Maybe you've fallen into the trap to where you've not only thought, but now you have, as a Christian, you've participated in that thought that you knew wasn't right. You're not eternally damned today. I got to say that again. You are not eternally damned today.

You're one decision away, one prayer away, from experiencing the grace of God. It's like, Lord, just forgive me. I'm sorry. I messed up. Come on, somebody. Verse 17, 18. Now, it's getting ready to get good. Verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Listen closely. I want you to hear me closely. Everybody listening. Everybody, put your hand up and cheer. Everybody listening. God is good. God is good. God is good. I got to say it again. God is good. And not only is God good, but all good gifts comes from God. OK, there's this distorted view that God's not good from the world. Now, say, well, if God is good, why do children get cancer? If God is good, why does X, Y, Z? Listen to me. God is good.

And all good gifts come from God. He's not fickle, as the Bible said right here. He's not like a sundial that's constantly moving like the. Shadow He's solid you can depend on him you want something you can depend on open the Word of God you can stand on it There's no variation It's awesome. This is this is what I'm talking about today God never God always gives he never subtracts God always gives he never subtracts blessings from your life He's never gonna subtract pull away a blessing verse 19 21 Okay, so then my beloved brethren listen closely to this let every man be what's that word Swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness check this out the Implanted word which is able to save your soul the impregnated word Receive the implanted word into your life That's so good. Is it not? Now the word that James uses here for Swift describes a runner Running as fast as he can to reach the finish line ahead of his competitors You guys with me so when he says be swift he said go after it with everything you've got Finish finish ahead and so be swift to hear so to speak slow to Wrath if you take these three things home with you today It's been a good service at revolution. Can I hear an amen? Swift to hear so I got gave us two ears so to speak. That's why we got one Come on slow to wrath I Don't know what I've done on Facebook But evidently they've got my algorithm all messed up because every time I turn it on I've got two guys road rage fighting out in the middle of the road And I think it's because I liked a couple of them and I thought this is pretty cool

Let me watch this and now every time I go on my my account is like there's there's two guys just punching it out So I'm over it. How do you get rid of it? Somebody tell me after the service? Verse 22 verse 20 through 25 listen to this real close, but be doers of the word and not hears only Deceiving yourself for anyone who is a hearer of the word and not a doer He's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror free observes himself goes away and immediately forgets What kind of man he was but he looks into the perfect law of Liberty and continues in it and It's not forgetful here, but a doer of the work this one will be what? blessed in What he does if you want to be blessed in what you do be a doer of the word and not just a here Let me give you an example For years at the City of Maryville, I went to a lot of conferences Terry I know you you've been to a lot of them as well Traveling trying to learn how to be a better employee better manager Whatever and as a pastor for 19 years, I've been to a lot of conferences I've been to not eight or nine grow conferences at Church of the Highlands Traveled around the United States heard a lot of information Let me tell you how many of you guys have ever been to a conference come on hold up your hand look around here Almost everybody's got a hand up training conference Here's been my experience at the conferences. I go. I'm excited. I'm fired up And I take notes I Grab material I feel a satchel up I'm ready to bring it home to Revolution Church and implement it I've heard all the material. I've got the knowledge. I bring it home and I put it in my closet That's piled this high and Connie said pacer you're never going to use that stuff Can we get rid of it? Can we just get rid of well? I might someday. I have no clues what I have no clue. What's in there? Here's an example. I heard the information I Had good intention

Good material great material. I've got more material hidden Than you can imagine But but it's just there because I wasn't a doer and that's what I've seen with a lot of like those conferences We go get through the material bring it home, and we implement about that much of it It's just it's just normal. It's kind of what we do, but here's what James is saying don't do that with the Word of God Don't do that with the Word of God let the Word of God not be put away in the closet somewhere and forgotten But let it be an application that you go to every single day of your life Don't just be a hearer of it, but be a doer of His Word. Verse 26. We're wrapping up. We only have two more verses left. Verse 26. Check this out. If anyone among you thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue, he's deceiving his own heart. This one, here's what James said, this one's religious is useless. How many of you know what a bridle is? I've been around horses all, pretty much all my life. From the time I was 8 or 10 years old, I had a pony. And just always been around. My first job, I'm working at the riding stables. Shoveling nasty stuff out of the barn. That's your first job. That's what you do. But I liked horses. I liked riding them. But I want to tell you something. A few years ago, probably 25 years ago, we drove to Kentucky and we got a little horse, a little colt. We got it for a hunter. Never been broke. And so bring him home and man was he feisty. You go up to try to feed him and he'd kick you. And it took a while to get him to where you could pet him and be around him. But as he grew, I realized that there's something that you can put in their mouth that controls them. A 1,500 pound horse. Sam, I know you know well because you're a big horse man. Jim Ryan, there's a lot of you in here. You know this. But you can take a big animal, like I said, 1,500 pound or more and put a one pound bridle in its mouth and he will do what you want him to do. Why? If you need him to stop, what do you do? Somebody help me. You pull. If he don't stop, what do you do? You pull harder. If he still won't stop, what do you do? What do you do? Somebody said you jump. That's a good one right there. You jump, Stephen D said. Brian said. You got blamed, didn't you? If you need him to go one way or the other and he decides not, you pull. Why do you do that? Because it puts pressure. It puts pressure on their mouth and you just pull harder and the more pressure eventually they can't tolerate, they have to do something. See, here's what James said. Our tongue is hard to take. Things running around, rapid, people talking, people saying this, doing that, whatever. He said it's like it's uncontrollable. The only way to control it is you need a bridle.

You guys with me? Where do I find that bridle, Pastor Pacer? Co-op? Rural King? Tractor supply? I don't know. Where do I find that? You know where you find it? It's in the Word of God. It's when I allow the Word of God to control even the words I speak. Now I've bridled my tongue with His Word. And that's what he's saying. And he said otherwise my entire religion is useless. And then the last verse, verse 27. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is to do this. He said visit the orphans and the widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Again, Paul, his writing here, if we had more time we'd go deep in the Greek, but Paul used some incredibly good words when he describes all of this. But the word that he uses right here for visit actually means to care for. It's more than just going to the widow and saying how are you doing today? No, it's going and observing what are your needs? How can I care for you? Do you need some help around the house? Do you need your yard mowed? Do you need anything? That's what he's saying right here. He's saying that when we do that, that's pure religion. And then orphans. Check this out. Who are the orphans? Orphans are those without parents, but it's also those without a teacher. Okay, will you let that sit for a second? An orphan are those without a teacher, a guide, or a guardian. In this church, the Lord's placed it in our heart that we offer opportunity for each one of you. Anyone who wants to, that this church has an opportunity for you to serve the orphans, to care for the orphans, for you to care for the widows. If you want to know about either one of those today, we're going to have representatives back at the door. back right today. Just walk back there, give your name, someone can contact you and let you know what we have to offer. FAM is one of the ministries, the other one is the widow's ministry that Carol Adkins leads and runs. Lots of needs right here. This is pure religion and undefiled before God is to do these things. So we're gonna stand, we're gonna pray, we're gonna jump into James chapter two next week. Are you guys ready to go? Come on. Amen. Praise the Lord. Pastor Tim, I'm gonna ask you to come forward and just give the gospel down at 411. I'm getting ready to give it right here. I've got a list in my office of three things that I do when I'm preparing for a message. The first question is, am I extremely passionate about the subject? Because if I'm not passionate, can't expect you to be, right? If the worship

team up here is not passionate about their singing, can't expect that the people to be, right? That's the first question. Am I passionate about the subject? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ presented in the message is number two. And then third, is there a call for salvation? That's just the three things every week. Look at it. So right now, maybe you've never heard the gospel. The gospel is this. Humanity was separated from God. It happened in the garden, lost eternally, but God had a plan. His plan was to send his only son Jesus Christ to this earth, who would sacrifice, lay down his life. We talked about it last week. Offer up his life for all humanity, that he would die on a cross, be buried on the third day. God would raise his son from the dead, and the scripture tells us that whosoever believes that shall be saved. That's the gospel message of Jesus Christ. It's good, amen? God is good. But we today want to give you an opportunity to accept that. Would you bow your heads? Father, in the name of Jesus, if there's anyone here today listening in person or online that hasn't received Jesus, hasn't received you Lord, a Savior, I pray God that that they would feel the the need today to say yes to Jesus. If God's speaking to you, and he's saying, surrender your life to the Lord, give your life to Jesus, accept this gospel message. If you just say, pastor, will you remember me in prayer right now, with everybody praying. Slip up your hand and say, remember me pastor, amen, amen, amen. There's hands going up, amen, praise the Lord, amen. More hands going up across the way. Anybody else? I don't want to miss one person. Yeah, God sees you in the stadium seats, he sees your obedience, he sees that you're serious with the Lord, amen? You can put your hands down. Bible says, if we'll confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us. It's his will that none should perish, but all would come to repent us. Confess Jesus with your mouth, believe in your heart, you'll be saved. Is there anyone here today, and you'd say, pastor, I've been going through a trial, and today I need faith to press on. If that's you, slip up your hand real quick across this building, amen. There's a lot of hands going, a lot of people dealing with trials, amen, you can put your hand down. God's with you. Who pomine, patience is coming, endurance, the

ability to stay the course, abide, not quit, finish. Jesus' name, let it be. In the name of Jesus. Anyone here today, and you'd say, I've got an illness, a sickness in my body, and I really need a touch from the Lord today, slip up your hand real quick across this building. Amen, God sees a lot of hands right here that needs healing. I'm going to ask the prayer team if you'd come. As the prayer team comes, we're going to sing this last song of worship, and I want to encourage you, if you lifted your hand for any reason or didn't, lift it. I want to invite you to come forward and just agree with one of these prayer warriors. They've been praying all week for this moment, for this time. Let's just receive that miracle God has for us, amen. God bless you guys. I'm blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. He's been my fourth man in the fire, time after time Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough Oh, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail Perfect submission, all is at rest Cause I know the author of tomorrow is God in my steps So this is my story, and this is my soul I'm praising my risen King and Savior all day long Oh, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail He didn't fail you then He won't fail you now

And I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him And I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him And I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him And I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered That's why I trust Him, that's why I trust Him Oh, I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail And I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered Oh, we trust you Lord, we love you Lord We praise you Lord, we lift you up Lord I trust in God, my Saviour, the one who will never fail He will never fail, I trust in God Who will never fail, He will never fail We trust you Lord, we trust you Lord, we thank you Lord Father, God, Lord, I just pray that there's any hearts in here that have had trouble trusting you Father I pray that they can come back and just lay it all down in front of you Lord And just trust that you have it, that you've got it And Lord, I admit that I am one of those people Lord, that I've been having trouble trusting you Lord And I've been trying to take control of my own life But I can't do that because I'm going to fail I'm going to fail every time But I know you won't And Father God, I just want to say that I trust you Lord I hope that everyone else in this congregation can trust you as well Lord Father God, I just pray that as we step out into this week Lord

That we can trust that you have it in your hands We thank you Father We all pray together and we say Amen God bless you all