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TEXT: JAMES 5:12 | STOP SWEARING INTRO ILLUSTRATION : If you would venture back with my to my elementary playground. We would find the slides, the swings, the basketball courts, and kids running and chasing one another. We were soaking every second of life out of our 30 minute recess time. Depending…

TEXT: JAMES 5:1-6 | IF RUST COULD SPEAK INTRO ILLUSTRATION : As a child, every year at Christmas time we would pull out an old VHS tape. It had recorded on it various Christmas movies and commercials that my parents had recorded off the tv. I’m not entirely sure if there were any recording licenses violated…

There was a word that came into our everyday vocabulary a few years back. Some of you may know it and some of may have used it. That word is hoarding. If you look it up online at the Webster’s Dictionary web page you will get 3 definitions. I want to read to you two of them. The first one says... Hoarding…

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,…

Life is fragile and short. We know this to be true and we, or at least I, do not like to be reminded of this. Our prayer list is filled with reminders of the fragility of life. Also the shortness of life. How will we be different during unexpected moments? To some extent this is the question of James.…

Evening 24 September 23

The Church is called to caring for the poor, needy, and afflicted We have allowed pagans and degenerates to hijack social justice But the Church has always been meant to be the center of charity Justin Martyr (Justin the philosopher) gives us insight into the earliest churches He tells us Christians…

Reading Ecc 2:4-10 Good morning everyone and thank you for being here today. I hope you have prepared yourself to receive something this morning. That you come expectantly to be engaged in the message this morning. Announcements Tom 80th Bday Janitorial Position Prayer We come to the 5th chapter of James…

Introduction We just finished a section that dealt with people saying what they will do in the future. This is what a mind set on material things and worldly passions will do. Now, James is rebuking this living even more than in the last section. He zero’s in on worldly desires and passion for wealth.…

Introduction We are in our study of the book of James. We have seen that James has placed an emphasis on the poor in this letter. In fact, we are going to see he saves his harshest language in today’s passage. Last week, we saw in James 4:13-17 the arrogance and pride involved in planning life without…

Learn to suffer well

One evening, a husband was balancing the checkbook, and after finishing he said to his wife: “You know the old saying, ‘money talks’? Well, ours just said, ‘So long!’” We all know that feeling, right?! H. Ross Perot — “Remember, if you get real lucky… if you make a lot of money… if you go out and buy…

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." The woman below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering…

Sometimes we have to wonder, “Will it ever end?” In the Church there are trials and temptations. We see other faiths and denominations seem to prosper. We face opposition, torment, and sometimes outright persecution. So what shall we do? Patiently Endure! The members of the Early Christian Church lived…

Summary: Is it good to be rich? What’s good about it? What’s bad about it? James is addressing an extreme here. But extremes start with non-extremes. Who is James writing about here? James has addressed wealth before, primarily to believers ( James 1:9–11 ; James 2:1–7 ; James 4:13-17 ). Here James seems…

James 4:13-5:20 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to…

1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. 3 Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say…

19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart…

As James comes to the end of his letter, he presents in stark contrast, two ways to live. We can be like wealthy landowners who exploit others so that they might live a life of luxury. But they will soon suffer the consequences of their greed. Or we can be patient and endure as we wait for Christ's return, caring for one another. We have to choose one or the other, we cannot be a double-minded person who vacilates between both, because they are so opposed.

As we come to our scripture today, I want to give you a warning. It’s not a comfortable one. We all have our favorite passages to quote for encouragement, to make people feel good, and to lift people up. I’m willing to bet todays passage is not one of them. I’ll confess to you that though I’d planned…

We are looking at another letter this week. This letter has been classified in a particular group of letters known as the “Pastoral Letters”. Instructions from God to those who lead the church and what should be taught in His Church. Paul is by training a man who is skilled in the art of communication…

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.…

James has been writing about the contrast between the value systems of the world and the believer. He began by contrasting how wisdom differed between the world and godly wisdom. Last week, we examined the idea of whether God is considered within our plans or is He simply an afterthought Tonight, we…

Palm Sunday Foretold by the Prophets 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 22 The stone which the builders rejected…

Where do we start? 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever. What do we tend to fear? The unknown…