Living a Life of Faith

 The Life of a Living Faith

Book of James Chapter 5

If the Book of James has seemed to be confusing to anyone, we can see that a good study of what James is teaching will clear this all up.

There are no contradictions in the Bible and those that say so are the same ones who do not trust the Word of God to be the truth!

The Book of James is about practical, faithful living!

We must base our faith on the Word of God. We must understand that most of this world we live in will never agree with our creation as described by the Word of God.

For them to believe in our Creation, they would have to acknowledge our Creator and they will not do this.

Our faith in the One True God says that we accept the Words He has given to us as the absolute truth!

The plan of our salvation did not begin when our Savior came to this earth!

The plan for our salvation began immediately upon our creation in fact before our creation and the creation of this world we live in!

2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and "belief of the truth":

We are to have so much faith in the truth of God that it should the main topic of our salvation until the day God takes us home or we last until the time of the rapture of the Church, which could happen at any time now as God begins to work with Israel as He promised them.

It is not just some of the Word of God is true, it is that all the Word of God is true!

It is because we live in this world so full of doubt that we must strive for our faith in this truth.

Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, "with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel";

Our faith then is based upon the Word of God, all the Word of God.

Striving means we must put forth the effort to defend the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Another word for strive is contend.

To contend is to struggle in opposition to the falseness of this world.

Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 

James is teaching us that we must be patient in this striving until the coming of the Lord.

It is best stated as Living in Faith!

*****Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

The one thing we must stay focused upon is the "Coming of the Lord"!

The Lord Jesus said He was coming again and we are to accept that as the truth and stay focused on Him.

The Holy Spirit has given us the example of the farmer.

The farmer has invested all he has to buy the seed.

The Lord has provided the seasons and will provide the early and later rains.

The ground is prepared and the seed is planted.

Then is the time for patience!

The Lord Jesus explain this as the act of spreading the Gospel.

Luk 8:11  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 

Luk 8:12  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 

Luk 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 

Luk 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 

Luk 8:15  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

The life of each Christian is under the same law of growth!

Gal_6:7  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Time and again the Scriptures teach us the second coming of the Lord.

The same Scriptures teach us that before this Second Coming, He will stop in the clouds and take His Church out of this world.

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

The Scriptures agree that the Lord is returning to reward "every person" for the work that they have done while He has been back in Heaven.

Mat 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 

Mat 16:28  Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.

This obviously goes against anything this world is teaching.

The world is trying to save a world that the Lord says is not worth saving because of sin!

Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead.

2Ti 4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 

Jesus Christ is returning to execute "judgment on all those who reject His truth!

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

No matter what this world is doing, we who are practicing "Living Faith" are to continue living for Jesus Christ!

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 

We must be patient and show this patience until the Lord takes us out of this world.

When the Lord repeats Himself, we certainly had better pay attention.

*****Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Sometimes it is not until we have hemmed ourselves in and are not able to take another step that we try to do what the Lord ask us to do.

It is in those times that we just need to stand still and watch what the Lord does to solve our issues.

What did the Lord say to Job? Job_37:14  Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.

We cannot do these things unless we have faith and that faith will teach us patience.

Our strength will come from the thought that the Lord could return to take us home at any moment!

If those in the Old Testament had this faith, then we should ask ourselves why we do not have this faith when it is evident that we are in the "Last Days".

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

We do not see the coming of the Lord as afar off but as it could happen any time now!

We should have no doubt that our redemption is closer than it has ever been and we can "stablish" our hearts, which means we are to make this truth an absolute fact in our hearts.

We must never become dissatisfied with the Word of God!

*****Jas 5:9  Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 

It is not time to complain about the things we see in this world.

It is certainly not time to bring these complaints inside the Church.

When we complain we are again assuming the office of a judge.

If we rest in the truth of the Lord's soon coming, then we should act as if He is standing at the doors of Heaven just about to open the door to return to take us home.

Until the Lord completes the work He came to do for our salvation, He will not be standing at the door of His return!

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Until the Church Age is complete the Lord will remain in Heaven as our High Priest.

2Pe_3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

If we even think we are suffering now, especially here in the United States, then we need to go back and read about the Apostle Paul and all the other Apostles and even the things that happened to our Lord and Savior and we will see that we are not suffering at all.

The Holy Spirit will hold back more of evil in this world, if we only do our part.

Almost all of the Old Testament prophets were murdered by the various governments of Israel during the time of kings.

*****Jas 5:10  Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

 We must patiently endure the persecution of this world just so we can get that opportunity to witness for Jesus.

Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 

Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 

Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 

These men and women patiently endured all these things because they held on to their faith.

It would have been easy to turn their back on Jesus and stayed alive a little longer, but they refused because they knew they had the truth.

How can we grumble against God who has made such wonderful promises to us?

Look at Moses for a great example.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 

Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

The rewards of Heaven are just too good to give up following the Lord Jesus!

Job was also a great example.

*****Jas 5:11  Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 

We see here that James looked upon the Old Testament as actual history and we should to!

Job endured to gain the rewards of Heaven and the things that happened to Job happened in just a few days.

Every child of Job all died on the same day.

Few have ever suffered the trials and temptations of life that Job suffered through.

Along with the death of Job's children, he suffered bankruptcy, the loss of his property, all his livestock and even his employees and even his wife turned on him because he refused to complain to God.

Job never gave in. Job never forsook his faith in God even though he did not understand what was happening to him.

Job said: Job 13:15  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. 

Job stated that he just could not be a hypocrite: Job 13:16  He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him. 

It is hard to even imagine the absolute conviction of Job to hold onto his faith!

We must never take our eyes off the prize of the coming of the Lord to take us home.

It is sure and it is real!

The Apostle Peter also knew this to be the truth: 1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 

No matter how much we are provoked by this world, we must never break into fits of swearing or the making of oaths.

When our answers are yes then say yes.

When our answers are no then say no and it will be enough.

We always seem to forget the Holy Spirit who is living within us.

He is our strength!

He is our comforter!

*****Jas 5:12  But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

No matter how much this world provokes us we must not swear by the name of the Lord.

What the Lord is saying here is to let your words stand firm. Always speak the truth and let your words be your bond of truthfulness.

He does not forbid the raising of our right hand and swearing to tell the truth in a court of law, but we had better be telling the truth when we do this.

The Jews in the day of Christ were notoriously guilty of common swearing.

They would swear on anything in God's creation, but not so much by God Himself.

Most of the time when we hear men swearing, they are trying to hide the fact that they are being dishonest.

If what we are saying is the truth then we do not have to swear to it.

Even in a court of law, God is watching us so we should take care that every word we say is the truth.

It is the same for us every time we open our mouths to speak. God is always watching His children.

We must never be that person who thinks we have to swear to cause someone to believe us!

This should hold to be the truth, even when we are going through trials and temptations because we are already being watched by Heaven's audience.

Most trials and temptations are tests to begin with.

Almost all of our answers can be "yes I will", or "no I will not".

If we are afflicted because of trials and temptations the best thing we can do is to pray.

Giving our burdens to the Lord is always the best thing we can do!

*****Jas 5:13  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 

Jas 5:14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 

Jas 5:15  And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 

When we are going through troubles we need to pray!

When we are not going through troubles, then we need to pray and praise the Lord thanking Him for not going through troubles.

In fact, we need to praise the Lord in the midst of our troubles, thanking Him ahead of time for removing those trials and temptations from us.

Everyone upon this earth are facing trials and temptations at some point in their lives and usually quiet often.

As Christians we can depend upon the Lord to help us through these things when the lost have no such help.

Worldliness, lust and pride are the enemies of the Christian!

Also accidents, disappointments, unfaithfulness, bad times and bad feelings affect everyone from time to time.

We can all have good days and bad days.

For the Christian we can always rejoice no matter what we are going through because our names are written down in Heaven.

At some time or another we all seem to have sicknesses and most of those things are the same things we all suffer from, such as the "Common Cold".

There are also sicknesses that only affect certain people such the things of the heart, and that terrible word cancer that no one wants to heal and some other terrible things.

Many other things come about because nations are seeking some new disease that can stop an army in its tracks and make them easier to defeat.

We must understand that there is no illness that Our Savior cannot heal.

There is no problem that Our Savior cannot solve.

There is no nation that our Savior cannot defeat.

And thank goodness there is no one upon the face of this earth that Our Savior cannot save.

There are always some who are sick among the Church.

There may occasionally be a congregation that have no one sick on a given day but this is unusual.

There are those that think that the preacher’s job is to preach and nothing else but this is not true and every body of believers should have what are called elders.

It is the job of these elders and anyone else to visit the sick, but as we gather in God's house there is no better time to anoint that person or persons with oil and pray over them.

This is where our faith kicks in.

A prayer of faith, not just by these elders and the preacher but by all those present that day, especially including that one who has that sickness can indeed save the sick.

Notice the Holy Spirit adds that this prayer in faith can save the sick.

Notice what the Lord Jesus says: Mar_2:17  When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

It takes the same faith to be healed as it does to be saved and this we must remember.

Over and over the Lord Jesus said this was true.

Mar 10:52  And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. 

Luk 7:50  And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. 

We must also understand that our prayer of faith must also be a fervent prayer.

*****Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

Confession is also a key to our forgiveness and our healing!

This does not mean we are to go around confessing all our sins to each other.

We are to confess our sin in closet prayer, between us and the Lord.

If the Church is aware of our sin, then yes, we can confess that sin to them.

If we have wronged some other Christian then we can confess our sin to that person and ask for forgiveness and that forgiveness should come.

If we have misled or lied to someone, we should confess that sin to them.

If we have caused someone to stumble and sin, we certainly need to confess our sin.

If we have publicly committed some crime, then we need to confess and forgiveness is required but this does not mean we hide them from the law.

If we have a pastor who we can trust we can sometimes confess our sin to them.

When we confess to one another then we must also pray for one another.

We simply cannot overlook the power of prayer.

Prayer is the greatest gift the Lord has given to us after our salvation.

Our prayers must be in the will of God for our lives and the lives of God's people.

The Holy Spirit gives us an example with the prayer of Elijah.

*****Jas 5:17  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 

Jas 5:18  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. 

Elijah a prophet of God in the time of the Kings showed us the power of fervent prayer.

Elijah was a man just like we are, a human being who had passions and feelings just like we do.

Elijah earnestly prayed for it to not rain for three years and six months and it did not rain.

Then Elijah prayed for the rain to come and he could not get to shelter fast enough to keep from getting wet because of a thunderstorm.

If we can live our lives knowing that we can contact Heaven then, we will know that the Lord God of all Creation has heard our prayer.

If that prayer goes along with His will for our lives, then it is highly possible that we will get a favorable answer.

If our trial or temptation came upon us because of our sin then it is possible that the Lord will remove that obstacle from our path if that chastisement is sufficient.

If our sickness came upon us for doing something God said to not do then we may not get an answer at all or we may get an answer we did not expect.

The main thing is for us to live in the will God has for our lives and give the Holy Spirit our reins and do what He leads us to do, always.

This is called following in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is being a Christian.

Notice it is the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, not a self-righteous man.

It is the righteous man that gets the help of the Holy Spirit!

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 

We need to stick to the truth of the Word of God and we can depend upon it to be the truth!

Amen

How Does This World Affect You

 The Humble Dependence of a True Faith

Book of James Chapter 4

What is the theme of our lesson today?

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 

No matter what we say, we do have that fear of when that last war will come because we know these politicians that are elected in all nations will one day set off the nuclear armament, they are so proud of and refuse to do away with.

It is a fact that the leader of every national power today is trying to cement themselves and the things they have changed while in office to remain the law, long after they are gone.

We simply cannot allow this to happen.

All of us see war on the horizon, because every nation is trying to dictate what happens in other nations and have forgotten how to take care of their own people.

It may look like the end for us all, but the Lord made a promise to His children and this takes away some of that fear for most of God's people.

Jesus said: Luk_21:9  But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, "be not terrified": for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.

The world will tell you that religion has caused most wars and that maybe true, but I have no faith in religion.

It has always been evil men seeking some imaginary power they desire who use people to cause wars.

Eph_6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

According to the Lord these things are just a part of our lustful flesh.

1Pe 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, "abstain from fleshly lusts", which war against the soul; 

James is saying that coveting the things that we do not have but we think we must have, are a cause for most wars.

Today the drug traffic and human trafficking have become so profitable that men are willing to go to war over them.

No doubt sin is the biggest moneymaker in all this world and those who will pull the trigger are in high places in every nation.

Who would ever believe war would be so profitable and death would be so cheap!

This is not to be the way of the Christian!

It simply does not register with us just how sinful our flesh is!

We all seem to think we have some good in us when the Word of God says we have no good in us.

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 

These are all things that the Devil has influenced in this world while we all go about thinking we have some good in us.

The only way we stand a chance for peace in our lives is to humble ourselves before the Lord!

*****Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

Submitting ourselves to God means that we will receive His Messiah as our Savior. 

That Messiah is the Lord Jesus Christ who came to this earth just as described in the Old Testament, fulfilling every prophecy that was written of Him.

If God was willing to send a Savior surely, we can take some time to listen to what He has to say.

We know that we face the temptation to do evil on every side.

When temptation comes sin will follow, unless we have the strength to say no to temptation.

We have no strength to overcome temptation without the strength that comes from the Lord.

Every sin is preceded by temptation!

When we are young, we try to imagine a world without war, without murder, without hatred, without arrogance, and without neglect, but it takes some time to realize all these things come about because of sin and most do not ever figure this out.

We think that every person has some good in them when the fact is that none of us have any good in us at all.

Every person has a different definition for the word good!

In fact the word good comes from the word god.

In the best dictionaries the word good can cover a whole page.

Everyone in this world has a god whether they acknowledge it or not, but there is only One True God.

He is the only God who is denied and His name was Jehovah in the Old Testament and the Old Testament says He is the Messiah, the Christ of the New Testament called Jesus.

The Lord Jesus said that God is the only one who is good.

Mat_19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

The Lord Jesus then said He is that God, He was the Messiah of the Old Testament.

Luk 4:17  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 

Luk 4:18  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 

Luk 4:19  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 

Luk 4:20  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 

Luk 4:21  And he began to say unto them, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears". 

The Bible is specific, we are to submit ourselves to the Messiah of the New Testament.

It is He and He only, the One who can bind the Devil!

Once we submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will move into our Soul and it is then, that we have the power to Resist the Devil and only then.

Other than this, no lost person can resist the Devil!

2Ti_2:26  And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, "who are taken captive by him at his will".

No one can overcome the wiles of the Devil who has not submitted themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ!

This is a fact!

We can turn away from temptation and push it out of our mind, only if we have the truth of God on our mind.

When we focus our mind on the truth of Jesus Christ the Devil will flee and that temptation will be gone.

1) We must submit to the Lord!

2) We must resist the Devil!

It is a two-part thing.

We can never defeat the Devil if we are fighting him alone.

We can never defeat the Devil if we are going our own way.

We can never defeat the Devil by giving in just a little.

We can never defeat the Devil by not obeying the Word of God!

If we even listen to the Devil's tempting offer, we have begun our path to defeat!

Even if we have been enslaved to the Devil for years, the Lord Jesus can break that bondage!

Our freedom begins when we draw nigh to God.

*****Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 

That nearness to God is the promise that is attached to true and earnest prayer!

We cannot get any closer to God than just getting on our knees in submission, and just telling our Heavenly Father just what is happening in our lives, and He cannot hear us unless we are one of His children or part of our prayer is submitting to His Son.

Psa_66:18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Drawing near to God includes repentance!

We must walk away from that old life we had, and join the many others in knowing that we are never alone when we are facing trials and temptations that all come in one way or another from the Devil himself.

The Devil is a real person and he will make himself known to you the very moment you have the Lord on your mind.

Other than this he will remain hidden in this world of sin because he is a coward!

Get close to God, as close as you can.

 We get close to God with a good prayer life.

We can get close to God by reading His book.

We can get close to God by remembering what we have read and discussing it with others.

If we take one step toward God, He will take two steps toward us!

God knows how this world affects us!

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

We cannot draw near to God if we have sinful, unclean hands.

When we touch the things, God forbids us to touch, why would we think He will accept us.

Even after our salvation our soul has been saved, but these bodies that soul lives in is still just as sinful.

It is this closeness to God that can overcome that sinfulness!

1Ti 2:8  I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 

Holy hands are clean hands.

Those who have the right to draw near to God are those same ones who are not ashamed to walk in fellowship with the Lord!

These are the same ones to walk in victory over the Devil and victory over the trials of this life!

1Co 10:21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. 

What was the message of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

James gives us this same thought.

*****Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 

When temptation comes it is not time to be laughing and joking around.

We need to have a sense of urgency and misery.

The Apostle Paul wrote: Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

The Lord Jesus wrote: Luk 6:25  Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. 

While we are to enjoy the truth of our salvation and we should, we must always be prepared for that next battle with trials and temptations, for they will surely come.

This Scripture is teaching us that laughter at trials and temptations is that of a careless, selfish world and the sport of a fool.

Pro 10:23  It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.

Trials and temptations are real and they are nothing to laugh about, and we are never to laugh at others while they are going through them no matter how serious we think they are.

How can we expect the Lord to be merciful to us, when we do not take these things seriously?

Temptation is an affliction and we must discipline ourselves to be in control of the comforts and joys of this life.

To have victory over our temptations we must be humble before the Lord!

*****Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 

We must understand that the Lord has His eyes upon us at all times and He understands that we have

needs and He will fulfill those needs when we remain close to Him in obedience.

We must never look upon temptation seeing how attractive and enticing it is! 

We must see temptation for what it is, the Devil trying to cause us to fail while the Lord has His eyes upon us.

It is looking at that second helping of food that is not needed, just as it is that second look at an attractive man or woman or any other thing that is considered sin.

Remember King David would have saved himself from a lot of problems had he not taken the second look at Bathsheba.

If we look upon any other human being with hatred, we are just as guilty and these are also temptations.

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 

This verse is speaking to our own disobedience, when we are to be obedient to all the Word of God!

When we humble ourselves before God, He will lift us up. This is His promise!

This is something we are to do first and not wait until we have no choice, but to seek God.

Most of the time we will only go to the Lord when we realize that we cannot cope with life by ourselves, and we waste the limited time we have to get close to the Lord.

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 

The Lord hates all sin, but we can be sure that if we become a judge of other people that God will hate this sin the most!

*****Jas 4:11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? 

Over and over again the Lord has said we have only one Master, and we can be sure that we also have only One True Judge.

There is no one in this world who does not understand the meaning of both judge and judgment!

Act_10:42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

2Ti_4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

What is speaking evil?

To criticize, to backbite, to gossip, to condemn, to grumble, and to judge any other person than ourselves, is speaking evil of others.

When we tear down some other person or even share things of them that we should not be sharing, we can cause harm to them that they may never overcome.

When we speak evil of another person, then we have judged them to be evil!

We will all come up short and fall or fail, as we try our best to serve the Lord.

The Lord Jesus expressly teaches us not to do this!

Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged. 

Mat 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 

Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 

Mat 7:4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 

Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. 

We already know the Lord Jesus gave us the "Royal Law" and we are to be obedient to that law!

The Lord Jesus is the Lawgiver to the Church and the Holy Spirit warns us, that it is only Our Lord Jesus who is able to save and able to destroy us!

There is no other in any place that has this power that only the Lord has!

Sure, another person can take our life and snuff it out, but if our soul belongs to the Lord, we will still wake up in the arms of the Lord.

Satan has been designated as our accuser and we are never to follow in his footsteps!

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: "for the accuser of our brethren" is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 

The reason we are given by the Lord, is that these are our brothers and sisters in the Church and each and every one of them have already been judged by the Lord, and again we will be making ourselves to be judge of the Church. 

This position is filled by Our Lord and we cannot ever over rule Him.

We are to reach out to help our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and certainly not to condemn them!

We must concern ourselves with what is going on at this very moment because we cannot ever be sure of the next moment in the day and certainly not tomorrow.

*****Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 

Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 

None of us are self-sufficient. That song that says "I Cannot Walk Without Him Holding My Hand", we all know to be true.

When we plan without including the Lord in our plans we are just asking for failure!

There is nothing wrong with making plans even for our future and we all should.

Rom 12:11  Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 

This Scripture is not talking about planning before we act, this Scripture is speaking of planning without the Lord.

We can be sure that if we are planning to move to another location it will not be any better if we do not stay close to the Lord.

Our life is not in our own hands!

We do not need the Lord just on Sunday and Wednesday, we need the Lord every moment that we are alive and our plans must include what happens after our death.

We have never been able to completely handle our own affairs alone!

We must accept God's plan for our lives. We must accept God's will for our lives!

We must realize that utter destruction of our future could happen in the next moment that we cannot see.

The next time we go to the doctor our plans could change.

The next time we drive our car our plans could change.

We are completely in the dark with what our future will bring.

We do not know what will happen in the next hour!

The only thing we can depend upon, is the truth of Our Lord and Savior!

Pro 27:1  Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. 

We seldom know when death will come but we certainly know it is coming to us!

When death comes, we are snatched into eternity never to return to this life. We are gone forever!

Refusing to face up to this fact is certainly foolish!

Some of those plans we had been making in that old life had better been about seeking the Lord Jesus our Savior.

Compared to a life that we can have in the glory world which is for eternity, our life in this world is not more than a vapor which is only here for a moment and gone forever.

*****Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Being self-sufficient is failure to acknowledge our God, Our Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is also our Creator.

This verse is very simple! We should not do anything until we have talked it over with the Lord!

Pro 19:21  There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

The things we do must be part of the will of God for our lives!

Everything concerning life, whether we live or die and how well we live, should be discussed with the Lord and this daily, and sometimes moment to moment.

We depend upon the Lord for life!

Most everything in this life can be found in the Word of God and we should make it our guide in this life!

We should say "if the Lord will we shall live, and do this, or that".

Even the Apostle Paul did this: 1Co 4:19  But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. 

As he wrote to the Corinthians. Christ has the power to influence the heart of the Christian, when there is no power in the vanity and pride of man.

We must know that everything we do is dependent upon the Lord.

We are not able to do anything that goes against the will of God, not a single thing.

A million different things could happen to us in the next moment and prevent us from carrying out any plan that we have made.

It is just best we talk over all our plans with the Lord or search for an example of God reactions to a similar event in the Word of God.

We know that God never changes no matter what some man says!

We must be willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and sometimes He will speak softly just to see if we are listening.

We should see that the miracles of Christ in the New Testament show us His power to deliver us from the consequences of this world, if He so chooses.

We should never brag that we can do anything we want to do because the Lord will show us the folly in that statement.

*****Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 

Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 

We all have a tendency to look back on life and say, "look what I have accomplished".

This in itself is boasting that we are better than those around us, who have not accomplished much.

We can all say that we will do even better next year and we have no power to do so.

Both of these things are in the hand of God.

I felt pretty good about my life about three years ago and then cancer came back into my life and it seems that I lost more than a year and I still struggle to get motivated to do things that I want to do now.

To be quiet honest, I just do not pray enough!

But I am still here and still serving the Lord because this is what He wants me to do!

Everything else is secondary to this!

We must just trust the Lord and know that He has a better plan!

Our theme for this lesson holds true every time!

*****Jas 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. 

We can almost say that life is a test.

Other humans, angels, the Devil's helpers, Heaven, and Hell are watching to see if we are going to pass this test.

The Lord will help us.

The devil will hinder us.

The Lord Jesus tells us He has a better plan for our life and we just need to have faith in His plan.

We cannot get to Paradise, that is called Heaven, without the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to walk in fellowship with the Lord all the days of our lives.

Refusing to do this, is the sin that will send us to Hell!

Amen

There Will Be Consequences

 Warnings and Words to Teachers.

Book of James Chapter 3

Today our lesson concerns those who teach the Word of God.

*****Jas 3:1  My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 

The word "masters" means instructors or teachers.

James included himself when we said we shall receive greater condemnation.

What James is saying is, that the Lord Jesus is our Master and we are to teach the things that He said or that He approved, which is the Word of God we have in our possession.

What did the Lord Jesus say? Mat 23:8  But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 

Mat 23:9  And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. 

Mat 23:10  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

We certainly only have one Master and He is our Lord and Savior.

We can never be a master teacher but we can teach the way Jesus taught by using all the Word of God, rightly divided.

2Ti_2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Is teaching a calling?

We must understand a Pastor is a calling and the biggest majority of them are also great Teachers like our own Pastor.

A Teacher on the other hand is not a Pastor and neither can he be unless he is called of God.

A teacher also is not self-appointed.

No one can teach the Bible without first being a Christian and not a new Christian.

The Apostles were trained by Jesus for three years and this seems a fair amount of time for any of us.

How did I get into this position? I first I felt I was drawn to help in the youth department.

At that time Travis was our youth Pastor and I asked him if there was a place where I could help him with the youth.

And I began to teach the kids and I loved it.

As time passed the previous teacher of this class asked me if I could help him by teaching every other Sunday.

Now do not get me wrong, I do not feel I was called but I was pushed along by the Holy Spirit and felt I could not say no to either of these things.

So I was trying to teach the youth on Sunday night and every other Sunday in this adult class.

During this time I began having some medical issues which cause me to run to the bathroom.

I did not have a helper with the kids which was needed and you cannot just run off and leave a bunch of kids to themselves for any amount of time.

It was during this time that I had to make a choice and I chose the adult class because I can run off to the bathroom and leave you lovely people.

My issues have cleared up and I am much better now.

The previous teacher left to go to another Church and I became the full-time person filling in until this class elects someone else.

Any time someone else wants to teach in this class we can have an election and that person will be the new teacher if the votes are his.

I have been here since 2013 filling in until that teacher arrives or our Master arrives.

What James is saying is, to love the work of being a teacher, but do not strive to be after the honor of a Teacher like our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In other words, I must learn just like you do and then we can all learn together the truth of the Scriptures until we get what the Lord is trying to teach us.

You see, the temptations and trials that we face, we will face them together!

Just so we understand, the tongue is the tool of the teacher and because of this, if I use my tongue for a sinful purpose in this class, I will face a harsher judgment from the Lord!

I must never give you a warning from the Lord without applying it to myself also.

To be honest, teaching this class has given me an opportunity to learn more from the precious Words that the Lord God, our Creator, has given to us.

****Jas 3:2  For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 

If I allow the Word of God to be my bridle then, in that sense only, I have become a perfect teacher, but in no way am I a perfect person, as only the Lord Jesus Christ has been perfect in the time He was upon this earth and He is our only Master!

All this being said, I will not allow this fear of judgment to neglect doing my best as a teacher.

I depend upon the Holy Spirit to keep me straight, and I know I still make mistakes, and if you hear me do that then tell me and we will get the right answer from the Word of God.

The Words God has given to us, are the only perfect thing upon this earth!

Psa_119:89  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

Sometimes I use too much politics and I will try to use less but we are to apply the Word of God to our lives today in real time.

You see, as long as there is fuel to our temptations, then we have to be on guard in this life until Jesus Christ returns to take us home.

You see, I always know if I got the message across that I had and failed to do so.

I also know that when I stand before you that the Holy Spirit will bring out things that need to be said.

Another thing I know is, that when I have prepared a lesson that has too much information in it for the time we have, I try to rush the lesson and sometimes mess it up completely.

I am trying to do better.

The one thing my tongue shows me is that I am always stumbling and coming up short with what I am trying to teach, but I make no excuses because I know the Lord rewards effort and the Holy Spirit will correct my mistakes.

We know our tongue will speak about what is on our minds and what is in our hearts so, that same tongue will either justify us or condemn us before God.

This is exactly what the Lord Jesus said!

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 

Mat 12:35  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. 

Mat 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 

Mat 12:37  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

The Lord Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and I depend upon Him to teach me!

Every part of me, from my head to my toe and everything inside me, was designed to serve the Lord and I want to try to make sure that they do!

The Lord wants us to be clear about the harm and the good that can come from the proper use of our tongues.

*****Jas 3:3  Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 

Jas 3:4  Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 

 Sometimes, we can understand what the Lord is saying by the way we do things ourselves.

A horse is a powerful animal, but a bridle and a bit can place this large animal under our control.

The Lord says if we follow His instructions, we will not need a horse’s bridle with that bit that controls the tongue.

Psa 32:8  I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 

Psa 32:9  Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. 

A piece of rope or leather connected in the right places, with a bit can control a very large horse!

Even the largest of ships have a small rudder compared to their awesome size, but that rudder turns the ship in the way it should go!

So it is with our tongue! It is such a small member of our body, but the destructive power of our tongue is very great!

We can boast about anything, but no matter how that boasting is done, it is almost always destructive.

Boasting is nothing more than vain or empty talk, unless we are boasting about what the Lord has done in our lives!

Our words are the expressions of our thoughts!

There was no such phrase in the American language as "brotherly love", until Christians used it!

There was no such word as Christian until the world used it to describe all those who were trying to live like Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

We should understand that every word we speak has its own history and at its appointed time, it was added to the library of the world's thoughts.

It is only the wisdom that is from above that gives us the proper way to use our tongues!

We should ask ourselves, why are we so willing to freely speak about the business of others than to attend to our own affairs, when we should be freely speaking the Words of Christ Jesus and His affairs?

A kind word has helped more people than can be counted when cruel words can break the heart of weak spirits who may never recover from them.

We must consider that we are the king of our tongue, but we are also a slave to suffer from its abuse.

In most cases, it takes a bridle to calm a nervous horse and a ship is only a useful thing if it can turn to a set course.

That small rudder gives safety to a ship, just that bit gives calmness to a horse.

Those that do not know the Lord do not have the power to control their tongue, and we see this increasingly today in this wicked world.

*****Jas 3:5  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Jas 3:6  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

We have an upcoming election between two men.

We will be asking ourselves, are we voting on what they say or are we voting on the actions we have seen from them both.

The main thing we should be asking is, what is their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ?

We know that all the fires that roar over our nation every year, each began with one spark.

One of the greatest fires in California was started by a man lost in the wilderness so someone might find him.

Billions of dollars were lost and several people died because he made a foolish mistake in a dry forest.

This is the same action of our tongues if we do not bridle them and give the Lord the reins and the control of that bit in our mouths.

We know that a forest fire can destroy everything in its path and our tongues can destroy every good relationship we have ever made.

Boasting is also a sin of the tongue.

What are some of the things Our Lord hates?

Pro 6:17  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 

Pro 6:18  An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 

Pro 6:19  A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

We see a lying tongue, and a false witness using his tongue to speak lies, when he that sows discord by the use of his tongue.

Any sort of falsehood will ruin our testimony!

Any sort of falsehood can ruin the testimony of any Christian.

I wish our politicians could understand this one thing as well as each of us are to understand.

Lies destroys marriages.

Lies destroys friendships.

Lies destroys our reputations.

In this life we have now, our tongue is an ever-present tool of evil, unless we allow it to be bridled by the Word of God.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

If the Potter does not remake us, then our tongue will lead us into the fires of Hell!

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 

We must allow the Word of God be the bits in our mouths, to control that terrible wicked tongue that we have!

The tongue can defile our whole body!

Our nation is on a slide to Hell, because of all the lies that are spoken in it today!

Our news sources no longer post the truth but use politics to sway others to certain things almost always against the Word of God and the actual truth.

Only the Lord Jesus can tame our tongues!

*****Jas 3:7  For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 

Jas 3:8  But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 

In our world we hear that word "religion" an awful lot and we should be able to see that "religion" is not good for anyone, because religion cannot tame the tongue!

Religion cannot rule the speech so, it is a failure and it is fraud.

The tongue is like a wild beast that needs taming, but religion is not a tool that will work!

The tongue is fierce and uncontrollable, and religion does not have the answers to tame it!

Why, might we ask? It is because the unbeliever is a child of the Devil.

1Pe_5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

It is only the Lord Jesus Christ who can tame the tongue because it is only the Lord Jesus Christ who can cage the Devil!

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Religion is only a friend of the Devil, but the Lord is the Master of all His creation.

*****Jas 3:9  Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 

Jas 3:10  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 

No matter how much we claim to be Christian, it must show in our actions, and our tongue and our speech is a ready indicator of what is in our heart.

All of humanity were first made in the image of God!

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 

Gen 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

What people seem to forget is that image did not really mean our bodies.

God is Spirit and you cannot see a spirit.

It is true that the Lord Jesus was a man and also God, but He took on the looks of man.

There is an enormous difference between "image" and "likeness".

"Image" is our reproduction in form and substance.

"Likeness" is more our resemblance of thoughts and actions other than outward similarity.

We should understand that it is our nature that was made in the image of God.

It was the sin of Adam that changed this image!

The truth of these things is that humanity possess qualities that no animal could ever possess, and most true scientists have found this to be true while evolutionists try to make this to be false.

Evolutionists have great imaginations but they have no concept of the truth!

We can trust that the Lord speaks the truth!

The truth is, when we bless the Lord, our Heavenly Father, and then, use that same tongue to curse some person who is made in the similitude of God we are not who we say we are.

We cannot profess the Lord Jesus Christ and act like the heathens that are in the world!

Heathens meaning idolaters who oppose the truth of the Lord Jesus! 

Psa 50:16  But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? 

Psa 50:17  Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. 

Psa 78:37  For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant. 

The Lord gives us His own examples of what He means here.

Then the Lord asks, “are we really wise or fools?

*****Jas 3:11  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 

Jas 3:12  Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. 

Jas 3:13  Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

When you go to a water fountain you will get either bitter water or good water.

If you go to an apple tree you cannot get oranges.

If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not act like those of the world!

When the Holy Spirit speaks of wisdom, He is speaking of a moral matter rather than an intellectual quality!

To be "foolish" is to be without the Lord Jesus Christ!

Psa 14:1  The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 

It is only by the Lord Jesus Christ that this wisdom comes to us!

1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 

1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The wisdom of God brings about the good life we all deserve, the life that our Heavenly Father intended for us, when He first created mankind until the sin of Adam.

We cannot twist and turn the Word of God to mean something that God did not intend!

As teachers, if we cannot teach the Word of God as God intended, then we are not teachers to begin with!

The wisdom of the world cannot compare to the wisdom of the Lord!

The Christian teacher must apply the facts of the Bible, and they are facts, no matter what this lost world says.

We must have a translation into our language from a reliable source which is the Received Text.

A translation from a translation such as the Vatican Text, will never have the complete truth!

Not only is the Biblical teacher to teach the truth of God, that Christian teacher must live what he teaches!

A knowledgeable teacher is not a person who has all kinds of facts and theories, speculations, and notions in his mind!

A Biblical teacher is a good moral person who is just, loving, and caring, and who lives what he knows, and teaches according to the Word of God!

Meekness is the strength to control and discipline and does so at the right time.

Meekness does not make us weak; meekness is a strength!

Meekness is having strong self-control!

The Christian teachers who teach should show a control with righteous anger against injustice and evil again, according to the truth of God!

Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 

Eph 4:2  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 

Eph 4:3  Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 

There is only false wisdom and wrong teaching in this world and especially in our own nation. 

*****Jas 3:14  But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 

Jas 3:15  This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

Each teacher is to concentrate on those before him and not be envious of others.

Teachers cannot compare themselves to other teachers because comparison cuts and hurts.

If any teacher begins to teach a false doctrine, then those he stands before must question him immediately.

It is the same for any preacher who stands before any congregation anywhere.

As Christians we do not have to tolerate such things!

False wisdom and wrong teaching can only cause problems in the entire church!

We have seen much of this throughout our nation.

As teachers, we must not react angrily while being corrected if that is the case!

The Bible, the Word of God will settle all disputes!

True wisdom comes only from the Lord who knows all things!

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We must understand that envy is the mother of strife, just like the Devil is the father of all lies.

When these two things come together nothing but wickedness can come from it!

Ambition can sometimes lead to these things, when we all should be seeking the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of some man!

*****Jas 3:16  For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

To be honest if these things are allowed in a church, then that church will cease to be a tool in the hands of God!

The soul will become restless and the soul will not be at peace with itself nor with others!

Eph 4:29  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 

Eph 4:30  And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 

Eph 4:31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 

Eph 4:32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 

When we have grieved the Holy Spirit then He cannot do His work of Redemption.

Some can feel pride in their different beliefs, but the teacher must not give in to different beliefs that go against the Word of God.

The Word of God can settle all differences rightly divided!

2Ti_2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

This is a command unto all of us and not just to the teacher or the preacher.

Any teaching that goes against the Word of God is false teaching and false wisdom!

When we are not teaching the truth then we are not living the truth!

All false teaching is of this earth because there is no false teaching that comes from Heaven.

We must be very clear on this!

*****Jas 3:17  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 

Jas 3:18  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. 

America is full of false teaching today as is the world and the Church has allowed it to happen!

There is no such thing as a modern Gospel!

The Gospel we have today is the same Gospel that has worked since the time that the Lord Jesus Christ taught the truth of the Word of God!

The source of true wisdom is from the Lord!

True wisdom does not come from the knowledge of this world we live in!

True wisdom has first got to be pure!

It must be pure from fault and defilement, which means it must be morally pure!

All we have today is an immoral world from the knowledge of immoral men.

A person with pure wisdom will lead a clean and pure life!

He will discipline himself in all things and keep himself fit for the use of the Lord.

A wise person will keep his relationships pure!

He will lead a moral and just life!

He will protect his family from this immoral world!

Mat 5:7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 

Mat 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 

A truly wise person will keep himself pure before God, so that his relationship with God is always open to the being used of God!

A true teacher works to bring mankind closer to the Lord and closer to each other!

A true teacher will be gentle in dealing with other people.

The effect of true wisdom is the fruit of righteousness!

Eph 5:9  (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 

Eph 5:10  Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 

If we can just get people to be at peace with each other, this world would be a much better place!

As true Christians we are not the enemies of this world, we in fact want to be friends, but take note, we will not tolerate the worlds objection to us living according to the Word of God because we have no choice! 

We have chosen to live by the truth and we will and nothing in this world can change that!

We must maintain our relationship with the Lord!

We will not force the Word of God on anyone! 

We just ask that the world just take one look at what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say.

Why is this world so afraid to take one look at Jesus?

Most of our world does not know what the Lord says, because the world listens to false teachers and false Christians.

Every building with a steeple is not a Church.

Every gospel that is taught is not the true Gospel.

Everyone who claims to be a Christian is not a true Christian, because a Christian must walk in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Church is to be peace makers and not war mongers, but we will not allow the world to walk all over us!

Amen

Living For the Lord Jesus

 A Living Faith in the Life of the Church

Book of James Chapter 2

As our first lesson discussed, the fact that we face temptations and trials every day.

One the greatest trials we face today is that of showing favoritism or partiality or discriminating against people.

Our world is caught up in the middle of this crisis today and as is normal the world chooses the side of sin.

Remember the Lord says, "to come as you are"!

This means every person upon this world can come to the Lord Jesus Christ just as they are.

It is then when we give in to the Lord that the Holy Spirit will begin His work in us.

These things are the main headlines in our nation today and the cause of many of the problems we face in America and throughout this world.

We must clearly understand that there are only two types of people in this world and they are those who are saved and those who are lost.

The color of their skin, the way they dress, nor whether they are rich or poor, have anything to do with it.

It is only if they have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ or not.

By the way, as Christians we have become the greatest enemy to our government today because we refuse to fall in line with their policies and the policies of this world.

*Jas 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

Showing partiality means to favor some people over others or to pay special attention to a person because of his wealth, social standing, position, authority, popularity, looks or influence.

James has addressed this message to the Church and we need to be active in obedience to it because it came by the Holy Spirit, from our Heavenly Father.

What is going on in the world we cannot solve, but we can solve these issues in the Church.

The Church is to always be obedient to the Word of God which will never change because says He will never change.

Those in the world are the lost and we need to reach out to them with the message of Christ and we cannot expect them to act in a way suitable to the Lord.

Those in the Church who get caught up in this foolishness are the ones we need to address.

Our number one job is to be obedient to all the Word of God.

Our last lesson stated: Jas_1:22 But be ye "doers of the word", and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Of all the people upon this earth, the people who should never show partiality are believers!

Everyone in the Church stands on equal ground with the Lord Jesus Christ!

Everyone that knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, bow before Him As Lord.

All those who refuse to do so, the lost, are those same ones that we must pray for their salvation!

When we bow before the Lord, it is as a servant or a slave, all with equal standing!

The Lord Jesus throughout His short lifetime was no respecter of persons.

Mat 22:16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.

Every Christian will share the same glory of the Lord when He returns to take us to our home in Heaven.

So, we cannot allow these things to become part of the Church and we cannot expect those who are lost outside the Church to act any different than they do because they do not know Jesus!

We must pray for them, but the ones we need to reach are those who have not heard the Gospel or have only heard lies about the Gospel.

When we stand before the Lord no matter what we think of ourselves we can only see His glory which we cannot compare ourselves with because of His infinite glory.

On any given day we can expect many different people to step into the sanctuary of the Lord.

We must immediately show them the love of Christ!

*Jas 2:2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; Jas 2:3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

In the time of James a man with a gold ring probably had several gold rings because it was rare for any of those people to even come into the Church, unlike today when many wear gold rings for many reasons, marriage being one of those reasons.

Many a person with no gold rings or even goodly apparel would enter into the Church to hear the wisdom of Jesus Christ and not much fanfare was made over those, unlike the attention that the man with the gold rings would attract.

This is showing partiality and it is sin.

When we see that phrase "weareth gay clothing" it just seems to fit in with the things going on in our nation.

The fact is that if such a person comes into the doors of the Church, we should welcome them as we would anyone else.

They also have a soul that is valuable to the Lord!

If their actions prove to be against the Church, then we should ask them to leave as much as we would anyone who is not civil in God's House of Prayer, but we must refrain from being the cause of their actions.

If they refuse to leave, then we may have to get help to get them removed without causing harm to the Church.

We must allow the Word of God to convict them just as it has done to each of us.

Any house of worship that has specific good places for those who seem to be of high rank and bad places for the poor to sit, is not a Church!

Every Sunday there could be those who represent the extreme ends of wealth and poverty. If partiality is not to be shown in this case, then partiality should never be shown in any case.

In the Church there must be no distinctions, no distinctions of social class, standing, position, wealth, prestige, or recognition.

We should ask ourselves how many times a poor person has visited our Church and not been welcomed with open arms.

My church is mostly white so let us ask ourselves, how many times has a black person or a brown person come into our church and not be welcomed with open arms.

Since I have been at my church for over twenty years, I have not seen any rejected of any color, but I also know we can improve because the future that is front of us will weed out the true Church from the false church.

We must never think we cannot improve as a church!

We have the message of truth and a Pastor to preaches it.

We have loving people who show it.

We have prayer warriors who can make it happen.

We serve the one Lord of Salvation that says, "come as you are".

We will never feel uncomfortable around those we show the love of Jesus Christ!

*Jas 2:4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

Jas 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

When we show partiality, we have set ourselves up as a judge!

When we become a judge, then we think of ourselves as God!

We are saying that we can judge better than our Heavenly Father!

We judge by what we can see, but we cannot see into their hearts, but God can!

We do not know what is on their minds, but God does!

So we do not qualify as a judge in the Church of the Living God!

When we focus on the outward appearance of someone, we cannot focus on that person who possesses a soul that the Lord Jesus came to save.

Material things upon this earth will never be as important as the humans that live upon this earth!

Much of the world has forgotten this today!

The purpose of every human being upon this earth is to serve the Lord and make the fullest contribution to society. We can only do both by being in the family of God!

We are not put here to despise anyone!

*Jas 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

Jas 2:7 Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

Who are we to despise the poor?

When we despise the poor, we are showing contempt.

I do not know anyone in our church who is considered to be rich. In fact, Gethsemane is the most down to earth church that I know and I know there are other true churches.

Very seldom do the poor cause problems for anyone.

It is the rich and the high and mighty that oppress the poor and take from anyone if they get the chance to.

It is the rich and the high and mighty who will take advantage of every law to cause more problems for the poor.

No matter what our government tells us, the rich just get richer because it is they who make the laws.

The poor are getting poorer and the middle class is disappearing!

Why in the world would we try to impress the rich or show partiality to them?

The rich are those same ones who make themselves lords over us all!

Even the Lord Jesus cautioned us on this thing.

Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

It is the rich of this world who have placed themselves above the Word of God.

It is the rich of this world who have shown that they are the enemies of the Church today, and it is sickening to watch the world bow to them and grovel at their feet.

To grovel is to beg like a hungry dog.

We do not need any of this in the Church because the Church is a place to worship the Lord and we all stand on level ground in the Church.

What we see today is that everyone has been taught how to criticize.

In America today, everyone criticizes everyone else and the Church gets dragged into the middle of it when the Lord says to avoid it.

I have been guilty myself.

Let us just pray for the salvation of the lost and use the power of discernment to make the right decisions in our own lives and serve the Lord according to the Word of God.

*Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

What is royal law?

The royal law came from King Jesus!

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

A neighbor is today considered to be those who live closest to us, but this is not at all that the Lord Jesus means.

Our neighbors are all those who are connected with us in the bonds of humanity, and the love of God in us requires that we treat them all as friends.

The Lord Jesus means, that the entire world is to be considered our neighbors!

The Lord Jesus means, that we must not do to others that thing we would not do to ourselves.

A good example would be the parable of the good Samaritan.

It is a sin to show partiality!

James was speaking to Jewish people who knew the Laws of Moses, and James reminded them that the Laws of Moses directly forbade all respect of persons.

He also reminded them that it they broke one of the Laws of Moses, they were guilty of them all.

If we say we love the Lord and then, not show that same love to all others, then we are not being like the Lord Jesus Christ and if we are not being like the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are not being Christians.

This is the message James was giving to the Jewish Christians and to all Christians no matter their so-called race!

God does not see race; He only sees humans!

The Lord Jesus said if we could keep the Royal Law the Laws of King Jesus, then we will be keeping all the laws of Moses and all the laws of God.

If we could just love like Jesus loves, this world would already seem like Paradise.

*Jas 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

Some think faith is just believing the truth of Jesus Christ when in reality we show our faith by our conviction in action.

We show faith in our conduct in this world.

Head faith cannot save anybody!

We should ask ourselves, "is our faith moving us in the right direction"?

We could say that the greatest tragedy in the Church, is people who confess faith in Jesus Christ yet, they do not live for Him!

Millions profess Christ and are baptized and confirmed and made members of the Church, but they do not follow the Word of God, nor do they live for Christ Jesus.

Are they saved, it is between them and God, but the Lord Jesus said to deny ourselves and to pick up our own cross and follow Him.

Our faith must be more than a faith of speech, our faith must include our behavior and how we live our lives.

It should also include giving what we have in an effort to reach the lost!

A dead faith does not help anyone!

*Jas 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

Jas 2:16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

We must understand that our faith must be more than just sharing words of comfort!

There must be action in our faith!

When a brother or sister has a need, we must offer more than words of comfort, we must try to get the things they need for them.

Now James is talking about the Church and the members of that Church.

This does not mean we are not to help the lost, but helping the lost must include evangelism.

True faith begins with the Love of the Lord who cares for and is compassionate for all those who are in need by providing that need when we are able.

Now this does not change the fact that we are saved by faith without the works of those old Laws of Moses.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

There is no contradiction between these Scriptures they both tell the truth of God.

True faith cannot subsist without works after our salvation!

There is empty faith and there is faith working by love, which is being like the Lord Jesus Christ.

*Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

So many believe they are saved by faith and God accepts them because they believe in Jesus Christ regardless of if they fail to live for Christ and this is between them and God.

Once they have first believed in Christ then, in obedience to Him, professed Him before the church, and been baptized and joined the Church, God has accepted them and will take them to Heaven when they die and this is the truth.

I personally believe we can know we are saved when we are doing these very things.

I also believe we have an obligation to follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is these who do so who are called Christian.

What does the Lord Jesus say?

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

We must ask ourselves, then what is the will of our Heavenly Father after He has saved us?

The Lord goes on further to say:

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Jesus goes on to say all those who hear His Words and Does Them, are the same ones who are wise Christians.

Those who hear the Words of Jesus and do nothing else are then, the opposite of wise.

Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

The Lord Jesus is saying we are fools if we are not following Him, doing the things that He did, with all their heart.

James says show me your faith without thy works and I will show you my faith by my works.

These things sound tough, but the Word of God is always right.

*Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James says that even the devils and the demons and even Satan have head faith and are convicted with the fear of God, but they still follow Satan knowing they will spend eternity in Hell.

We need to ask ourselves; do we have more faith than the devils do? They not only believe, but they tremble knowing this truth because they cannot be saved.

The faith that they have cannot save them!

The question we must ask is, do we just have a head faith or a faith that knows our work is outside the Church and it consists mainly of reaching out to those in the world who do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be working on our relationship with Christ at all times!

What was the purpose of Jesus Christ?

Joh 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

Joh 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

Joh 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

Joh 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

Joh 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

We are to enter into the labor of all those who are Christian and who have gone before us.

This was the will of God for His Son and it is the will of the Lord for us after we are saved.

This takes more than just Head Faith!

Why are we hated today?

Joh 15:22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.

Joh 15:23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

Joh 15:24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

Joh 15:25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

It is the Gospel that points to sinners and they cannot hide their sin from the eyes of God!

It is because the work we are to do, is to show those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ that they have no cloak to hide their sin.

We have a work to do after we are saved, and it begins by studying the Word of God so we can give them the truth of salvation!

Amen