A Journey Through the Book of James
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James 1:1
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.Who is James?
James was the half brother of Jesus. However, he was a skeptic long before he became a servant.Who is James?
James was the half brother of Jesus. However, he was a skeptic long before he became a servant.Early on James did not accept Jesus as the Christ and even challenged his authority
John 7:1-5
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.Who is James?
James was the half brother of Jesus. However, he was a skeptic long before he became a servant.Early on James did not accept Jesus as the Christ and even challenged his authority
James was an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:7
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,Who is James?
James was the half brother of Jesus. However, he was a skeptic long before he became a servant.Early on James did not accept Jesus as the Christ and even challenged his authority.
James was an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus.
James was in the upper room when the Church was birthed
Acts 1:14
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.Who is James?
James was the half brother of Jesus. However, he was a skeptic long before he became a servant.Early on James did not accept Jesus as the Christ and even challenged his authority.
James was an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus.
James was in the upper room when the Church was birthed
James rose to prominence as a leader in the Church in Jerusalem.
Galatians 2:9
In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers.His identity was rooted in being a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ!
James 1:1a
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus ChristBeing a servant is applicable to all of us, not just some of us!
James proves to us that humility is the pathway to genuine faith.
Genuine: used to describe people and things that are exactly what they appear to be, and are not false or an imitation. Not fake or counterfeit; original; real; authentic. not pretending; frank; sincere.
Who is the audience?
James 1:1b
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.James is writing to a Jewish Christians who are experiencing persecution and have been displaced from their homes, scattered and disconnected from their faith communities, and now are having difficulty living out their faith in foreign places, in unfamiliar places, in environments that are hostile to Christianity.
Scatter
Positive Perspective: to cause to separate widely - to sow by casting in all directionsNegative Perspective: (of a person) distracted or disorganized
It's important to understand that the “scattering” of God’s people into foreign nations, different cultures in this scenario, was not God punishing His people, it was God planting his people.
Why is James writing this letter?
As an encouragement to live their and our lives integrated with the ways, the wisdom, the words and the works of God through practical faith.To bring some course correction and to challenge “the scattered” to live a lifestyle that will identify them as a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
Romans 12:2
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. - JB Phillips NTHow The Genuine Church Handles Two Things We All Face in our Lives
Outward Adversity - Trials or Tests
Inward Enticements - TemptationsHow we handle these two things in our lives is the difference between remaining in a state of infancy as a believer or growing into maturity as a believer.
Faith Responds to Outward Adversity Differently - Trials & Tests
Faith counts trials and tests as an opportunity for joy, not an opportunity to complain.
Jame 1:2
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds… - ESVFaith knows God uses trials and tests to develop me, not destroy me.
James 1:3
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. - NIVFaith through perseverance always finishes and completes what’s been lacking in your life when you allow God to use adversity for your advancement.
James 1:4
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. - NIVFaith asks for wisdom when the waves and winds of doubt are overwhelming you.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. - NIVFaith Deals with Inward Enticements Responsibly - Temptations
Faith endures temptation, it doesn’t entertain temptation.
James 1:12
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.Faith recognizes Satan as temptation’s source and resists it.
James 1:13
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.Faith takes responsibility to trust God’s Word, when I’m tempted to step outside of God’s will.
Vs. 16 - Don’t be deceived…
Vs. 17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above…
Vs. 18 - …he brought us forth by the Word of truth. -
(00:05) [Music] get up get out your seat live out your Desy get out hi my name is Jesse and I serve here at Real Life Church as one of the pastors and I want to take a moment before we jump into the message to say thank you for engaging with us we believe that this message is going to lift up your faith and lead you to encounter God through his word if you haven't already we would love for you to take a second and subscribe to our YouTube channel this way you can stay engaged and upto-date on the latest message and it helps us get the message
(00:54) of the Gospel out to others again thank you so much for joining us from Sacramento and Beyond and we trust that you will be blessed by the message today going to this summer June and July we're going to be taking a journey through the entire book of James I've titled this sermon the genuine church because when you're reading the book of James you discover what genuine faith is all about and how many you want to be a part of a genuine Church we're going to learn learn more what that means today
(01:32) but before I start I want to give you an overview of the book by answering through questions three questions who is James who was his audience and why was he writing this letter this is the foundation that is going to set us up to understand the entire book and we're going to walk through it verse by verse we're not going to read every verse one uh James 1 1-8 18 but most of the verses uh or half of the verses in James chapter 1 verse one says this James everybody say James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12
(02:13) tribes scattered among the Nations greetings who is James James there's actually four James that are actually mentioned in the New Testament so it's easy to get them confused or think maybe that they're the same person when but when you're studying this out you understand you begin to understand that the author of this letter James was actually the half brother of Jesus now he didn't just he he he W he wasn't a Believer from the get-go he actually was a skeptic long before he became a servant and early on James did
(02:56) not accept Jesus as the Christ and even challenged his authority now how many you know if you had a brother or a sister saying I am the Christ you'd be like no you're not we see this in John 7 3-5 it says this after Jesus went around in Galilee he did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him now look at verse three look at his brothers Jesus's brother said leave Galilee and go to Judea did you guys just catch that his brothers want him dead hello his brother said leave Galilee and
(03:44) go to Judea so that your disciples there may see the works you do no one wants to become a public figure acts in secret since you are doing these things show yourself to the world verse five for even his own brothers did not believe in him now James could have begun his letter with James the brother of Jesus to establish his authority but he doesn't do it next Jesus uh James was actually an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is talking about this scene where Jesus post Resurrection
(04:26) appears to the Apostle and 500 other people and and James is one of them it says this in verse 7 then he appeared to James then to all the apostles and still yet James doesn't use this firsthand account to establish credibility or validation in the writing of this letter he doesn't say hey the one who was an eyewitness to Jesus James was also in the upper room when the church was birthed we talked about this or Dr Allan Tennyson talked about this on uh may I believe it was 19th on the day of Pentecost it says
(05:05) this in Acts 1:14 they all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers you see the day of Pentecost obvious obviously changed the trajectory of James life and Leadership and he was among the 120 that would have been in the upper room on the on that day who were baptized in fire yet he doesn't start the book by saying James the one who was in the upper room and filled with the Holy Ghost he doesn't say that and after this experience in the
(05:48) upper room James Rises to prominence in the Jerusalem Church as a leader and he took the First Christian Community which was very difficult for 20 years he he navigates a famine and and helps navigate persecution Messianic Jews were being persecuted by Jewish leaders in Jerusalem but through it all this is what Paul says about James in Galatians 2:9 it says in fact James Peter and John who were known as pillars of the church recognized the gift God had given me and then ultimately James would die a martyr's death he was stoned to death in
(06:35) 62 ad if anyone had bragging rights it was James if anyone had an impressive resume how you know that was a pretty impressive resume right there it was James but what I want us to learn from the get-go as we Dive Into the Book of James this summer as the is that his identity was not being related to Jesus it was not in his encounters with Jesus it was not in his personal experiences in the upper room it was not in his positions or title as a leader James opens up the letter by saying simply James a servant of God and of the
(07:21) Lord Jesus Christ how many you know it's a powerful thing come on when you can just say your name and it gets people's attention he wasn't trying to impress people with all that he experienced and all that he had done listen his name carried weight because James was a man of integrity who lived out his faith in the day that he was leading James a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ you see his identity was rooted in being a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ James a servant of God I think
(08:02) James was laying down a foundational Truth at the very beginning of this book and it's this being a servant is applicable to all of us not just some of us you see I can't relate to being Jesus's brother I can't relate to being an eyewitness of Jesus post-resurrection I can't relate to being there in the upper room when the fire of God fell down I can't relate to being a leader in Jerusalem leading the First Christian Community but can I tell you even today what I can relate to is being
(08:42) a servant of the most high God you see it's so important for us to understand anyone can serve and everybody should serve why because Jesus said the greatest satisfaction in life is when you're serving not being serve and listen we got to have a mind a mindset shift in the church listen that goes from just being consumers to contributors listen you will never be satisfied if it's all about come on what do you have for me that's right but listen when we contribute listen this is when our heart is filled with God's plan
(09:25) and God's purpose you see before James was anything else he was a servant and as a servant of Christ listen we acknowledge God's sovereignty over our lives come on I'm not in control of my life God you are God I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do Lord I'm your servant what do you want me to do as a servant of Christ I acknowledge God's sovereignty over my life my life and a willingness to commit myself to his service his people no matter how difficult they are come on somebody his
(10:10) way his words and his wisdom in other words on your greatest day and your worst day as a Christian Jesus still sits on the throne because of this fact alone you are a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ and James from the get-go proves to us that that humility is the pathway come on to genuine Faith he doesn't try to impress us he doesn't give us a list of all that he is and all that he does he just says I'm James genuine means is used to describe people in things that are exactly what they
(10:52) appear to be come on how you know we need a genuine Church in the day and hour that we're living in it's not a false false or an imitation it's not fake or counterfeit it's original that's why people like the name real life and that's what our mission is listen we engage come on real people we engage real life to encounter the real God not fake or counterfeit authentic not pretending sincere the genuine church I believe in our day listen overcomes the skepticism of the world by becoming and being genuine
(11:34) servants you know when we first got to the church and there was about five months between the last pastor and myself and so a lot of people had left and so when we got here I'm a community guy and and we had to actually face outward we had to become a church listen that was about the community and so we did but how many you know listen when you're just trying to get your foot in the door A lot of people are skeptical that's right they already want to know what like what strings are attached and so we would just we came
(12:11) and we just said hey we're going to serve the city we put I think our first event is we took 50 volunteers over to a City Event over here and we did that consistently no strings attached and pretty soon come on we weren't calling them they were calling us because skepticism is overcome Listen by a servant's heart and so we started love nomus now it's its own nonprofit you guys have heard about the the warehouse and listen we want to raise up servants we call them Heroes listen people listen that
(12:49) want to love their neighbors and when they hear of a need listen they can go listen to the city serve app and they could come to this warehouse and can meet that need in Jesus name one of the things that I'm enjoying as uh the church uh experiences growth is that people are running with my heart how many many know you can't be at everything that's right even though you want to sometimes right I don't know about you I got fomo fear missing out and so I'm always I'm like always trying to get somewhere just so I don't miss
(13:27) out and one of the things that I love love to do again is is Outreach but I haven't been able to to make them all and we feed breakfast um quarterly we've done it twice now and we feed breakfast at the Robertson Center I think we fed two to 300 people each time that we've done it and we're just going in jesus' name come on in with some bacon and eggs amen and our prayer teams are praying for people they're loving on people and and Lisa Joiner brought this to me now we only been there two times everybody
(14:00) say two times two that ain't no big deal you know what I mean but she brings this to me the Del Paso Heights Community Association recognized Dean Nam and Real Life Church for their generosity and support of the Del Paso height Community now this is humbling you know why I didn't do anything it was y'all carrying not just my heart but the heart to serve serve and love people right where they're at in Jesus [Applause] name so that's James a servant that should be your highest goal in life to be known as a
(14:44) servant who's he's speaking to we see this in James chapter 1 B to the 12 tribes scattered among the Nations greetings James is writing to J Jewish Christians who are experiencing persecution and have been displaced from them from their homes and they're scattered everybody say scattered they're disconnected from their faith communities they're far away from their Homeland Jerusalem and now they're having difficulty living out their faith in foreign places in unfamiliar places in environments that
(15:23) are hostile to Christianity that word scattered can actually be seen as a negative but it's important as we read the book of James that we get the kingdom perspective on this word because what uh it's important that we see the scattering of God's people as strategic everybody say strategic the word scatter the positive connotation is this to cause to separate widely to seow by casting in all directions in other words the P persecution of the church was for the infiltration of the Gospel in places that had no witness
(16:09) amen so what seemed like what seemed like a scattering was actually God being intentional about getting the gospel witness in places where there was no gospel witness the negative connotation and we all kind of know this one is this idea a of being distracted or disorganized anybody ever met somebody and you say man they're scattered or maybe you said they're all over the place just me all right the people are scattered right and this this this meaning of scattered is to live as though God has no idea what he's doing
(16:52) therefore I don't know what in the heck is going on you see it's important to understand that the scattering of God's people into foreign Nations different cultures in the scenario was not God punishing his people it was God planting his people I have a pot here and inside I have some seeds uh this is some summer squash and what was happening is people were getting saved and how you know when you get saved come on you have the seed of the Gospel on the inside and so people were getting saved we know this
(17:34) by The Upper Room experience 3,000 in a day people were getting baptized saved and listen they were they were becoming a part of the Jerusalem Church how you know this can get comfortable come on this this can get easy but God's heart was for people who didn't know him and so as we we read in John chapter 7 Jewish leaders started persecuting Messianic Jews PE uh Christians people who believed in Jesus they started persecuting the church in Jerusalem and what seemed like a bad thing man I got these seeds all over the
(18:16) place what seemed like a bad thing the scattering was actually strategic yes God said I need a witness in Turkey I need a witness in Asia I need a witness in Zambia come on I need a witness in the marketplace I need a witness over here I need a witness in the barber shop I need a witness and listen the scattering was actually strategic on God's part and this is what he does for us you see like a farmer scattering seed from his hand it was God's hand that strategically planted Christians in places where there was no Christian
(19:01) witness and this is God's heart and his desire still today this is why we go to Zambia unreached places listen unreached Villages this is why we planted a church two years ago right in Zambia and now it's filled with 3 to 400 adults and children because there was no gospel witness in that area so why is he writing these letters to the scattered anybody ever felt scattered before come on be honest he's writing this letter to the scattered as a Lifeline of encouragement anybody ever need to be encouraged to live their
(19:44) lives integrated with the ways the wisdom the words and the works of God by faith instead of allowing cultural pressures of their day persecution and uh influence their Faith James is writing this letter to bring some coar correction anybody ever needs some coar correction in your life to challenge the scattered to live a lifestyle that will identify them as a citizen of the kingdom of God and not one who has been shaped by the culture or worldly behavior that they've been scattered into Romans 12:2 don't let the
(20:23) world around you squeeze you into its own mold but let God remold your minds from within so that you may prove practice and that the plan of God for you is good everybody say it's good meets all his demands and moves forward towards the goal of true maturity James is communicating to those who are experiencing listen Faith under pressure under pressure and this is what James is teaching and this is what we'll learn over this summer listen how to live that's right listen how to live by faith Under Pressure God than Lord James says even
(21:05) though you've been scattered he says live a lifestyle of faith that is strategic and practical not a life that is chaotic and C uh confused about faith how many you know there's a difference in other words James is saying even though we are scattered physically it doesn't mean we have to live like we're scattered spiritually and James begins to instruct them about what faith should look like when you find yourself under pressure when you find yourself isolated when you find yourself I don't know what's going
(21:39) on he knows what's going on listen when you're confused or you're or you're in the middle of chaos listen God says you're not scattered that way you are scattered strategically I have a purpose and I have a plan and this is how we begin to begin to see how to apply James's teaching to our lives because though we are not facing the same type of persecution the early church fac and I would just say in some countries around the world we have no idea we have no idea people are giving their lives I mean you can scroll on if
(22:19) you follow some different uh social media uh websites and accounts you can see what real persecution looks like we're not fa facing that typee of persecution the early church fa but Christians still experience pressure that causes us to scatter and loose side of the why behind God's ways and James is writing this letter to give the scattered the why behind his ways the why behind his wisdom the why behind the word and the why behind his works so though we may not face the same pressures of the early church we
(23:03) experience different pressures that threaten the genuine Church from living out a genuine faith and we experience the pressure of culturalization which causes the modern-day Church to scatter from truth and embrace false teaching and Doctrine I love June because it's my birthday month I was born on June 21st 1970 I was the greatest gift my parents ever got amen but so many good things have happened in my life in June June 18th 1988 come on I graduated high school what an amazing day that was thought I'd
(23:56) never do that and then June 18th 2017 Amy and I were selected to be the pastors and installed as the pastors of real life church I love to celebrate June but it's also a month it's also a month where the culture dedicates the entire month of June to celebrating a view of sexuality that contradicts a Biblical view amen and because of this contradiction that I disagree with I choose to hold because I choose to hold on to biblical truth and basic biology not just biblical truth but basic biology now I'm will be honest I
(24:43) got a D in high school biology but I still got the basics right amen however cultural pressure now especially this month labels me as a hateful bigot simply because my biblical beliefs differ from what's becoming a societal Norm amen my stance is not born out of hatred right but from a commitment to uphold the teachings of the Bible I I'm I'm talking through this because I want you to hear my compassion for people because how many you know we are all sinners we all got sin that Jesus delivered us from I believe in loving and respecting
(25:39) every individual even if I disagree with their choices anybody ever disagree with somebody's choices like your kidss choices but you still love them you see disagreement is not synonymous with hate and bigotry but listen if the world wants to start off the conversation how many know you can't have a conversation with somebody that's calling you a hater and a bigot from the giggo because they don't want to have a conversation about your convictions so cultural pressure says You must compromise your faith or you'll be
(26:16) vilified for your convictions instead of having conversation and a little bit of Common Sense pay attention Church so I have a choice to make we have a choice to make because I know I'm not alone I can live scattered around my own ideas about sexuality which at one time I did sex before marriage was fine before I was saved but when I got saved I got a youth pastor that you're going to meet in a couple weeks on our anniversary and he said the best thing that you could do right now is break up with your
(26:53) girlfriend which was Amy at the time how you know my flesh didn't want to do that cuz I wanted what I wanted but I have a choice to make I can live scattered around my own ideas about sexuality dumb down my theology so that I can affirm what culture is celebrating or I can live my life under pressure with my faith integrated in God's word that resists the pressure to conform to culture listen yet still have compassion for people whom God loves and died for I still can have compassion listen even if you don't want to have a conversation
(27:34) I can still love you I can still pray for you again the enemy wants us to scatter to confuse and cause chaos and James is reminding God's people that God scatters to influence and integrate faith into places that have no witness and he'll invite you into this place in the places if you see his hand and his plan as strategic not a holy accident and in fact in verses 2 through 18 this is how far we're going to get and then Pastor James is going to pick up next week he gives us some practical advice about how
(28:18) the genuine church needs to handle two things everybody say two things that we all face in life for an effective witness how many want to have an effective witness you see church we have to understand Listen People are watching our lives people are seeing how we are responding and reacting and oh yeah they are how we handle two things it's this outward adversity which come to us in the form of external factors everybody say external exteral and these come in the form of tests trials and tribulations anybody been through some
(28:57) of those amen tests trials and see there are things that happen in my life that are beyond my control but genuine Faith knows God is the one who is in control and controls the outcomes whether I like them or not that's outward adversity how we hand the second thing that we have to learn how to handle is Inward enticements and these come to us in the form of Temptations these are things that happen in our lives that we actually can control or counter with truth so they don't control us and our actions and how
(29:43) we handle these two things outward adversity inward enticements how we handle these two things is the difference between remaining in a state of infancy as Believers or growing into maturity as Believers so let me just really quickly run through these things and this is how it's going to work I'm going to give you a right and I'm going to knock I'm going punch you with a left is that all right I'm going to give you a I'm gonna give you a left I'm gonna give you a principle and then I'm going
(30:10) to punch you in the mouth with a Bible verse is that all right everybody just say one two come on faith responds to outward adversity differently everybody say it's different Faith here's the right Faith knows God uses Tri well Faith counts trials and tests as an opportunity for Joy not an opportunity to complain amen Faith this is what I want us to understand counts differently Faith listen H Faith understand understands this listen it doesn't have it doesn't matter how many tests or trials I'm going through how
(31:02) many you been through a lot how many you been hit by more than one thing like two things and three things and it's like man I'm going through this but yet James says listen Faith counts it all as Joy Faith isn't trying to figure it out Faith isn't asking what faith just counts it as Joy look at listen not the trouble that's coming but look at the joy that is coming it's a and this is what Joy is joy is an inward it's it's an inward standard or inward response to external realities it has nothing listen listen
(31:43) you can't steal my joy you can take away my happiness but you can't steal my joy you can't steal my joy you guys ready for another jab Faith knows God uses Tri s and tests to develop me not destroy me James 1 verse3 because you know everybody say you know you see you know that you know that you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance in other words listen James is saying listen don't waste your pain don't waste your pain stop complaining about your pain your pain through perseverance through patience
(32:30) will produce something in you that listen you couldn't do without the pain because you know that the testing of your faith produces something called perseverance you guys ready for another jab Faith through perseverance listen always finishes and completes what's been lacking in your life when you allow God to use adversity for your advancement and so many times listen we're resisting adversity we don't want to go through that it's like when I talk with leaders and they're like man I can't
(33:13) believe how many things I'm going through it's because God's developing you for something better than what you're currently experiencing for do you know we would not be the church that we are today in fact our mission statement came out of a pandemic one of the toughest times toughest Seasons not just for this church but all churches but we wouldn't be the church today if we didn't walk through covid-19 P whatever it was because our mission was birthed out of that and it was this be the
(33:45) church engage real people engage real life encounter the real God James 1:4 let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking listen stop avoiding it stop avoiding it and let the trial and the test have its way you see faith can take the hell you're going through and actually bring about a wholeness in your life that you could never arrive arrive at without it let me give you another one Faith ask for wisdom I'm enjoying punching you today today is that all right Faith asks
(34:30) for wisdom when the waves and Winds of Doubt are overwhelming you here's a key you guys listen when you are going through something listen I'm not trying to make light of outward adversity because I've been through some stuff too listen but here's the thing that you need to know when you don't know what the heck is going on in your life James says will you just ask for wisdom and so many times we try to lean on our own understanding but how many know Proverbs 35 and 6 trust in the Lord acknowledge Him in all
(35:04) your ways and he shall direct your paths this is what he says if any of you lacks wisdom you should ask God who gives generously to all without F finding fault and it will be given to you but when you ask you must believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown tossed by the wind so faith and I'm almost done Faith responds I'm going to finish right at one so Faith responds to outward adversity differently you guys got that in your spirit this sets the table for the whole
(35:38) book and then secondly Faith deals with inward enticements responsibly Faith endures Temptation it doesn't entertain Temptation and this is what James says in verse 12 he said bless blessed is the man now he says count it all joy but then he says blessed is the man how do you want to be happy that's what the word blessed means happy he said you want to be a happy man come on you want to be a happy woman he says this blessed is the man or the woman who endures Temptation for when he or she has been approved he will receive she will
(36:21) receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promised to those who love him James says unlike tests and trials that you have no control of but God is in control he says when it comes to Temptation you can control the outcomes in other words the devil didn't make you do it and God didn't make you do it either it is a inward evil desire listen called sin that you have to deal with and here's the choice are we we going to endure Temptation so we can receive Eternal treasure and the Crown of Life are we going to instead
(37:05) entertain Temptation for temporary pleasure which by the way leads to death and then lastly not lastly I got two more Jabs and two more hooks is that all right Faith recognizes Satan as temptation's source and resists it we see this in the life of Jesus Satan would come to Jesus with a Temptation and he would do what it is written everybody say it is written Faith recognizes Satan as Temptation source and resist it look at James 1:13 when tempted no one should say God is tempting me for God cannot be tempted by evil or nor does he tempt
(37:49) anyone but each person is tempted when they are dragged away but by their own evil desire and enticed you see no person who sins can escape guilt by trying to blame God for making them do something that is evil think about it God's nature and Holiness means that there is nothing in his character that can be a source of Temptation that takes you off course only you can take you off course and last lastly Faith takes responsibility to trust God's word when I'm tempted to step out of God's will I just trust God's word as I
(38:41) mentioned earlier when my when my pastor youth pastor came into my life and spoke truth that I never heard by the way he said y'all need to break up y'all need to stop having premarital being promiscuous and all of that I was like huh I had to trust God's word because listen God had put a desire in my heart a good desire to follow his will and listen I had to trust God's word and so like I said Amy and I broke up we broke up y'all for like two or three years and then listen when we got our heart right God brought us back
(39:24) together doing it God's way not my way cuz I was like what are you talking about Pastor Greg I ain't about to break up with this beautiful thing up here right and Paul ends the chapter with this he says this verse 16 don't be deceived he says don't be deceived every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above where the good gifts come from where do evil come gifts Come From Below where does God want us to live above and not below the head and not the tail Verse 18 he brought us forth and
(40:06) how do we do this by the word of Truth so don't be deceived don't bite the bit don't be lured away if it's not good it's not God in essence James is saying this and I close with this the same word that saved you and made you a new creation will create a way for you in the face of test trials and Temptation continue to W continue walking in the ways of God the wisdom of God according to the word of God so you can produce the works of God but listen we have to understand Faith responds to outward adversity differently everybody
(40:44) say differently and Faith deals with inward responses inward enticements responsibly everybody say responsibly and so my question is as we close today what are you going to do are you going to blame God for what's going on or respond differently and count it all joy are you going to blame God for the evil desires that you're acting upon that are looking on your heart or are you going to offer yourself up to him and say God I need to endure not entertain amen God wants to set you free church this morning hey everybody I want
(41:25) to take a moment again and say thank you for joining us real life Church's mission is to engage real life Embrace real people and encounter the real God we want you to know that you are a part of that mission we also want to make sure that you know about the best way to keep in the know about all things real life church and that is through our church Center app through this app you can give check out groups look at our events and even update your profile information we'd also like to take a moment and thank all of our generous
(41:55) givers through your gift we are able to make a difference for God's Kingdom in our community and Beyond there are a couple different ways that you can give virtually through our church Center app via our website at RLC sac.com or text to give text the word give and the amount to 84321 and also don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can stay up todate and encouraged with the latest message we'd also love to connect with you on our other social media channels where we share everything real life so
(42:27) see you next time [Music]