Introduction: Thank you so much for having me here, I count it a great honor to be here today, as i also count it a great honor anytime i am given the oportunity to teach the Word of God, so thank you God for giving us your holy word and your holy spirit as our great interpreter. I also want to thank my wife and kids for allowing me the time to be here with you guys today. i also want to thank derek archer for thinking of me to fill in for you guys. he also said he would accept any negitive critisism from the serman and the possitive feedback you can send my way.

PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

my name is seth dombach born in colorado and lived most of my life there. my wife and i moved up here about 3 years right after isaiah our first born son came. we just had our second son elias 7 weeks ago. we moved up to be close to my wifes family and for me to go to seminary and were not quite sure what is after that, but we know god does.

so today is the last week for my friend jim series looking at the book of james. we will be at the last chapter in the book chapter 5. (ask what the next series is on) what hit me as i was reading through james in studing for today was how easy it is to say 'yah well that is not me, but i know who needs to hear that, and i'll go and tell them so that they can get thier act together, and start really living for christ.' so i want you all to know that what i am really doing today is speaking to myself.

i was listing to a sermon from cj mahaney the other day and he gave this illustration for what divine persective is and how important it is for us to have this perspective not only as we look into scripture but as we seek the calling for our lives.

imagine you are on the recieving end of this letter from the daugter of this girl who is at college.

dear mom and dad since i have left for college i have been remicent in writting, i am sorry for my thoughtlessness and i will bring you up to date but before i do please sit down. are you sitting down? it is very important that you are sitting down before you continue reading this letter.

i am getting along pretty well now that the skull fracture and concution i got from jumping out my dormitory window when my dormitory caught on fire shortly after my arrival.my concotion is pretty well healed i only get those sick head aches a couple time a day. fortunatly the fire in my dormatory and my jump was witnessed by an attendant at a gas station. he ran over took me to the hospital and continued to visit me there. when i got out of the hospital i had no where to live because of the burnt out condition of my room,so he was kind enough to invite me to share his basement apartment with him. it is sort of small but very cute. he is a very fine young man and we have fallen deeply in love. we are planing to get married but haven't set the exact date yet but it will be before my pregnancy begings show. yes mom and dad i am pregnant. i know how much you are looking forward to being grandparents, and i know you will welcome the baby and give it the same tender care and devotion you gave me when i was a child. the reason for the delay in our marrage is that my boyfriend has an infection that i carelessly caught from him. i know however you will welcome him into our family with open arms. he his kind and although not well educated he is ambishous, although he is of a diffrent race and religion than ours i know that your often expressed tolerance will not permit you to be bothered by that.

in conclution now that i have brought you up to date, i want to tell you that there was no dormitory fire, i did not have a concution or a skull fracture, i was not in the hospital i am not pregnant i do not have an infection and there is no boyfriend in my life. however i have failed history and science. and i wanted you to see these results in thier proper perspective.

behold the transforming effect of perspective!

and so our goal as we have a brief synopsis of this last chapter in james is to look at this chapter not through personal circumstances or judging others but looking at the word of god and then looking at my life and see if the two match up.

james ends his letter by hitting three main themes that surround issuses he has already adddressed eirler in his letter. we are going to look at each of these themes one by one.

but before we start looking at this section of james. i want to talk about love real quick because,loving others is at the root of all three of these sections.when paul says in eph 3 that we are to pray that ourselves and others are to be rooted and grounded in love it is because love is able to produce the life desired by God for the people of God. this lifestyle is what we are looking at in james. also in eph 5:2 says "And walk in love, as • Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." this love that james is decribing is a verb not a noun. it is an active pursute of living it out. not only for our benifit but for others. love starts and ends with christ - the alpha and the omega.

james only uses the word love three times in his letter but in each use involves these three sections of james 5 that we are going to look at today.

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section one 5:1-6

1–3     5 And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You’ll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you’ve piled up is judgment.

     4–6     All the workers you’ve exploited and cheated cry out for judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears of the Master Avenger. You’ve looted the earth and lived it up. But all you’ll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you’ve done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.

first love of others: loving people more than money and personal gain

2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

so we see a contrst here in this passage as choice of two diffrent life styles, on the one hand the rich and the other the poor. we see the the rich striveing to get richer because of thier sickness to need more and more and not only gaining wealth, but it comes at the detrament of others lives!

but the poor as they love god are rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of god.

what is the perspective james is after? well he is challenging us to take a gut check, he is gives us a perspective of the rich that is easly over looked. he is asking us if we realize that the things that the wealthy are gaining are coming at the cost of others lives? and as believers in christ do we realize all that we have in him, as heirs? when james says here the poor in the world, it is not that he is saying 'ok everyone break out your bank statement and if you make so much than you are in this class or tin this class of citizens. but when we think of wealth how do we look at our selfs and clasify ourselfs? we have let our culture classify it for us. when we do taxes that is how it is broken up. even the presdental canadents speak to us this way as they decribe the people in our nation, middle class and so on. but remember we want to read this with a divine perspective not a cultural perspective. so in other words 'the question for us is what is at the center of our heart when it comes to making money?' it is not neccesarlly the amount (though it could be) has all our gain come at the cost of others?

do we realize that God is the ultimate provider for us or do we lack faith and provide for ourselfs? i had been a christian for about three years at the time and God told me to go to bible school. so i told him that he would need to wait for that to happen because i was working two jobs just to make ends meet because i had to have that jeep. he said no you need to go in 9 months. so i did what all christians who need money do. i sent out a support letter. i got about 600 dollars from that which was good but i was about 7500 short still from what i needed. so i prayed and said are you sure. he said yes. and so i left for school with about 900 in my pocket and i needed half of tuition before i started and the director said well what are you going to do? i said well i sent out a letter and i am praying.that was not the response he was looking for. so long story short god ended up providing 2000 dollors more than what i needed and a the staff of the bible school payed for half of my missons trip with out me even asking them for it. i gianed faith that year that God is true to his word and we truly are rich in him. what that event helped me to do was to look to scripture and tap into the spiritual wealth we have in christ which is worth far more than we are able to comprehend or even imagine. the coolest part about christ's wealth is that we are not just to hold on to it for ourselves we are to give it to others, share the wealth that bring life not the kind that tkes it away.

section 2 james 5:7-12

Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.

     9     Friends, don’t complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.

     10–11     Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

     12     And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don’t add words like “I swear to God” to your own words. Don’t show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can’t be used against you.

second love of others: is staying true to the end

james 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

the perspective that james is after here is by asking us how are preparing for christ triumphal reentry? he is comeing and we need to be ready! we need to looking and preparing just as the prophets who were looking to christ's first coming not only prepared them selfs but proclaimed his coming to people. hwo did they know he was coming in the first place? by knowing and studying the torah and revelation from the holy spirit. so we too need to be excited about chrtist coming back. but we can't be excited about something we know nothing about.

I saw—it took my breath away!—the Lamb standing on Mount Zion! (Rev.14:1)

as we delight in God's word, we should be exstatic about the return of christ so much so that people should be telling us to shut about it already.and as we get excited about his coming back for his bride and he wants us to get ready just as a bride does before her wedding. and it is not only being ready ourselfs but it is getting the rest of the body (our brothers and sisters) ready too!

and what does that look like? well this last section shows us some of the thingswe are to do as we prepare ourselves and others for the gloriuos return!

section 3 james 5:13-20

Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you’ve sinned, you’ll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

     16–18     Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

     19–20     My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

third love of others: is right now look to your right and left and see those whom we are to love

james 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

look how rich this section is in ways we can love our brothers and sisters and get them excited about christ's return! what i notice here as i read through these last verses is that none of the things listed here can be done by ourselves nor are they intened to be. when you need healing and prayer you don't go to the pantry and grab the extra virgin olive oil and pour it all over and pray for yourself in the closet. this is the what the body of christ is for, you and me. so the question we have to ask ourselfs is 'who is in my life that is able to do these things?' take a look around you real quick, this is your body. these are your brothers and sisters. you and i my friends are the bride groom of christ. the leaders of this body of christ desire for you the same thing that james is encouaging us with in these words.

are you or a brother hurting - than lets pray

do you feel great - than sing and praise God

do you feel sick - God has placed men and women here to pray with you

do you need to confess your sin - tell your brother in christ, he wants you to be free from your shame

do you know some one who has wondered off - bring them back to the truth we can help each other

this walk of life and love is not meant to be alone.

these are the simple truths of following jesus according to james chapter 5: that are easly missed if we are looking at them under a skewded perspective. just like the letter from the daugter to the parents.

we are rich in christ

we are to look forward to christ's return

we are to love our brothers and sisters

before closeing i don't believe we can speak on these things and act on them. so after the service there will be some of us up here at the front of the stage. if you need prayer for anything or need to confess anything, please come up here. though you may not know me or some of the other people up here, know this, i love yo and these people love yo and we would love nothing else than to be able to pray for you.

please pray with with me.

Sermon text with italics and bold and John 3:16 and v. 20.

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