Sermon Tone Analysis

Passage: James 4:13 – 5:12

Title: The Test of Dependence & Endurance

Summary: The Book of James, this epistle speaks clearly of the things that get the Christian distracted, off course, and how to get back on course and head in the direction God has willed for our lives.

In our passage today we have a clear call of God to examine our dependance (do we plan our day or allow God to plan our day), and secondly….. when life gets tough do we endure, or check-out.

Join us as we dig into another passage of how we can live the victorious Christian life….

Today!

James 4:13–17 (NKJV) 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

For what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

16 But now you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 5:1–6 (NKJV) 1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5 You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

James 5:7–12 (NKJV) 7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.

Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.

Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.

11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure.

You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath.

But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

Illustration

Maybe you heard or read the story, as we here in our region live in what is known as the Chesapeake Bay.

A large container ship, carrying close to 5,000 cargo containers, ran aground because it veered off course, and was stuck in the mud of the Bay for over a month.

The reason being….. the pilot was on his cellphone and simply missed his turn.

What is equally interesting is that one of the officers knew they were going off course, announced the errant direction (161 degrees), he did it three times, but did not say clearly to the distracted pilot, that 180 degrees was the correction heading.

So 19 degrees off was all it took to run aground.

Coast Guard: Ever Forward Pilot Distracted By Cell Phone Prior to Grounding

Mike Schuler

December 7, 2022

U.S. Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capitol Region completed its marine casualty investigation into the incident on Tuesday.

Coast Guard investigators found that the embarked Maritime State Pilot was relying solely on his Portable Pilot Unit (PPU) to navigate the vessel as it departed Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland en route to Norfolk, Virginia, with 4,964 containers aboard.

During the course of the outbound transit, investigators discovered the pilot made a series of five phone calls amounting to over 60 minutes.

He also sent two text messages and began drafting an email immediately before the grounding occurred regarding issues he experienced with line handlers back at the terminals—issues that slightly delayed the vessel’s departure.

A few minutes before the grounding took place, the pilot had also exited the active navigation of his PPU to view a previous transit.

The Hong Kong-flagged ship grounded a little after 8:18 p.m. local time outside the Craighill Channel, east of Lighted Buoy 16, after failing to turn at its charted waypoint, while traveling at a speed of approximately 13 knots.

Ever Forward’s Master was not on the bridge at the time of the grounding, as he had departed more than a half hour before to get dinner.

On the bridge at the time was the Third Officer, Deck Cadet, and an Able Bodied Seaman, who was at the helm, along with the pilot.

“At approximately 2017, the Third Officer announced on the bridge that the vessel’s heading was 161 degrees and speed was approximately 13 knots.

Pilot 1 verbally acknowledged the Third Officer and took no action.

The Third Officer stated that the Pilot was still looking at his phone at this time,” the report said in a timeline of events.

The ship ran aground the next minute, at 2018.

The Report of the Investigation determined the incident’s causal factors to be the pilot’s failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating, and inadequate bridge resource management.

The Ever Forward was eventually refloated with the help of two anchor barges, five large tugboats, and a full moon on April 17, following dredging of more than 200,000 cubic yards of material from around the vessel and the removal of 505 containers.

Based on the finding of facts, the Coast Guard is recommending that marine operators develop and implement effective policies outlining when the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices is appropriate or prohibited, and that vessel owners and operators ensure and promote crew awareness of policies regarding the duties and obligations of officers on watch for the safety of the ship, even when a pilot is embarked.

The Test of Dependance and Endurance

I love the Book of James, as this epistle speaks clearly of the things that get the Christian distracted, off course, and how to get back on course and head in the direction God has willed for our lives.

In our passage today we have a clear call of God to examine our dependance (do we plan our day or allow God to plan our day), and secondly….. when life gets tough do we endure, or check-out.

Join us as we dig into another passage of how we can live the victorious Christian life….

Today!

Written by James / Didn’t believe – to Leader / Hindsight / Everyday Living

The Book of James was written by none other than Jesus’ brother James.

James was a leader in the church, a pillar in the church (Acts 21).

James didn't believe that Jesus was God when He walked this earth (John 7:5); but after the resurrection Jesus appears to him (1 Cor 15:4-7), and everything changed.

James is going to write us this letter, he will talk about everyday practical stuff.

He will talk about trials in life, our works, our tongue, prayer, and other things; as he writes these things, no doubt he will be remembering how Jesus handled them, reflecting back on watching situations, and watching his oldest brother.

He will reflect on Jesus’ life of love, and a life of sinlessness, in a world that can be so hateful at times, and so full of sin.

James will write these things based on hindsight, based on first hand witnessing of how his older brother lived life, everyday.

James watched Jesus handle everyday life, and that is what this book is about; it is about living everyday life as a Follower of God, in a fallen world.

Jesus Rubbed Off / Nature Illustrations / Favorite Teacher - Sermon on Mount

We can see how much Jesus rubbed off on James, for James style resembles his brother so much.

Like Jesus used nature as illustrations for His teaching points, so does James some 30 times.

He uses nature analogies such as the sea, flowers, sun, fire, horses and ships to name a few).

It is obvious who James favorite teacher was, because this epistle covers every topic that Jesus covered in the Sermon on the Mount.

There is amazing parallelisms between the two; James does not actually quote the Lord’s words, but he obviously had internalized Jesus’ teachings and reproduced them with spiritual depth.

Jesus covered about 30 topics in the Sermon on the Mount, and we will see that James touches on every one of them in this epistle.

The Book of James is Sermon on the Mount 2. The Book is also very quick and concise, moving from thought-to-thought quickly.

So the Book of James is the New Testament Version of the Old Testament Proverbs.

It resembles Proverbs because it is very poetic the way it flows its thoughts using illustrations and analogies.

So We can Examine Self / How am I Doing

Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount so that we might examine ourselves and ask the question, “so how am I doing in each of these areas?”

James writes to the church, to us, and as we read, we have to ask ourselves, “so how am I doing in these areas?”

This book is practical and applicable for us living in the year 2022, and the ultimate goal of this epistle is giving to us in verse 4 of chapter 1, to bring us into maturity, perfect and lacking nothing.

As in school, we take tests to see how much of a handle and mastery we have on a subject, we will do the same in this book.

3 Key Verses

Here are three key verses to get us going:

James 2:20 (NKJV) 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

James 1:22 (NKJV) 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:4–5 (NKJV) 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

The Outline of the Book of James:

Chapter 1

Introduction (1:1)

The Test of Perseverance and Suffering (1:2-12)

The Test of Blame in Temptation (1:12-18)

The Test of Response to the Word (1:19-27)

Chapter 2

The Test of Partiality (2:1-9)

The Test of the Law (2:10-13)

The Test of Faith and Works (2:14-26)

Chapter 3

The Test of the Tongue (3:1-12)

The Test of Wisdom Applied (3:13-18)

Chapter 4