Chapter 2 |The Book of Judges: From Destruction to Deliverance

Well, again, good morning.

I appreciate you being here.

We're going to start chapter five of the book in the book of James.

It'll take us three weeks to get through this chapter.

this being the first of those three weeks.

The before I jump into that,

I want to address the events of yesterday.

and, give an understanding

of the events of the world

through a biblical worldview.

and not a worldly worldview.

I think it's important for us to be able

to keep a biblical worldview

as we see things happen.

especially,

in the events of yesterday.

And I want us to be mindful

of the voices we listen to

and the things we say and repeat,

the things we end up believing.

I want to encourage us not to confuse patriotism with godliness.

To be very careful.

And the voices that we listen to, whether it's

CNN or Alex Jones, both those and the myriad of others.

We do nothing but lead people astray.

So I want to encourage us to be very mindful

about the voices that we choose to listen to

the primary voice

has got to be the voice of God.

And as I watched what happened yesterday

and the intent behind it,

the thing I thought was this

when hatred and fear are the motivation, destruction

and death are always the outcome.

and of course, we can all agree in the tragedy of yesterday.

Not in the attempt, necessarily,

but in the innocent ones who lost their lives.

And the families are left in the wake of this,

spurred on

by hatred

on both sides.

And as I watched what happened, I

in my mind,

I thought, I know why.

I know why the bullet missed.

Because I want to read Scripture in second Peter three nine.

You know what that says.

This is why it's so important for us to be in Scripture

and have a biblical worldview.

When I, when I, when I,

when I, when I saw that the bullet missed, I thought, second Peter three nine

and here's why it missed,

because Scripture tells us

that the Lord is not wanting anyone

to perish, but wants all to to come to repentance.

Actually, it starts with these words.

The low is not the Lord, not slow in keeping his promise,

but is patient with everyone, not wanting anyone to come to repent.

not want anyone to perish, wants all to come to repentance.

And when?

When I saw what happened yesterday, I thought, okay, Donald,

you've got the opportunity again

to come to Christ.

Praise God the bullet missed.

Not for his presidency and not for the office

before his eternity.

You understand?

We're not.

Not political allies.

Our faith.

And the same goes for Joe.

The reason why both those men are still breathing has little

to do with the presidency.

And the office has more to do with God's patience.

That they would come to Christ and lead their family

and children to Christ.

Now wants to be very careful

about the rhetoric that we listen to in times like this.

I've said it for a while now

that this election season is going to get crazy.

It's apparent it is right.

And I don't want to be lectured by either

side of the aisle talking about civility and kindness to each other.

They've they've ruined that already.

I want us to make sure

that we view the events of this world

through a biblical worldview.

That we, as Scripture instructions,

pray for those in leadership.

That we trust God to set up and depose

at his discretion.

We live quiet lives.

Seeking the best for our nation

so that it might go well with us

is what the Bible says.

I do not want

this church

to sacrifice our biblical worldview

for the events of the political arena.

You've got to be very careful.

My clear.

My clear. Yes.

Father, I thank you

that you are patient with all of us, not wanting any of us to perish,

but want all to come to repentance.

I thank you for President Biden's life.

I thank you for former President Trump's life.

I think that you continue to be patient with them,

not wanting them to

perish, but want them to come to repentance

and their families as well.

For you continue to put people around him

who will speak truth, the truth of your word, into their lives.

As you put people around us to speak truth

into our lives.

Father, you guard us from turning patriotism

into a false sense of godliness.

It's just not biblical.

Father, we pray that we honor

you first and honor each other.

All up and down the political spectrum.

And, father, we collectively

thank you for the lives that were spared.

But lift up to you the families of those of the lives that were lost.

And when we see the outcome of of hatred and fear

as this, it.

We just pray for those who are

who have

to live in the aftermath of it. Now.

And God, I pray that you would raise up your people

around those hurt and families to lead them to you.

Through them you bring comfort

and the peace that passes understanding

as they align their lives with you and your kingdom.

Father, I pray you help your people not get stupid

in this election cycle.

Did you give us a mind of

clarity and a faith?

And of a worldview

that reflects your kingdom first.

Oh, God.

Now, as always, may your kingdom come and your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

It's a different kingdom.

And it's so vastly different

than anything we've seen.

May it come, Lord.

In your name I pray. Amen.

In James chapter four,

he ended that, that portion of scripture

with the warning against independence from God

in in the theme of making plans and setting your agendas

without submitting them to God's sovereignty, without first saying,

Lord, your will first.

Here's what I like, but your will I submit.

I submit my plans to you.

And he says it's arrogant of us

to make our plans without first submitting our plans to God.

And it was it, it was.

It's really geared, to all of you over planners and hyper control freaks.

Right?

Did any of you

remember that message from Scripture during this week?

Any of you?

Not many of you.

Some of you. Did any of you.

Are you married to someone who wished they would have remembered that

this week?

and so James develops the idea of the need for complete

dependance upon God as he begins chapter five.

Chapter five continues that theme of complete dependance and submission to God,

and he addresses it in the issue that is most likely

to entice the individual to live independent from God.

And the one thing universally

that entices us to live independent

from God are riches,

wealth.

When one has plenty of money and all of us might be saying,

well, I don't fall into this one, so I'm good here, right?

I'm plenty of money.

It's just not having money.

It's the desire, the overwhelming desire to get more,

make more, hoard more.

It presents a unique difficulty and barrier

to a life of discipleship and following Jesus.

This is what he

says in James chapter five, verses one, two and three.

Now listen, you rich people weep and wail

because of the misery that's coming on you.

Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

Your gold and silver are corroded.

Their corrosion will testify against you.

And eat your flesh like fire.

You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

Pretty strong warning here. Yeah.

Very Old Testament sounding.

Let me be very clear.

James is going to talk about the wealthy

and those who hoard the even the little they have.

But the Bible does not condemn Rich.

The Bible does not condemn riches.

The Bible does not condemn wealth.

Riches and wealth and abundance can be.

But it's not necessarily an indication and evidence of God's favor.

It can be evidence of God's favor, but it's not necessarily so.

The Bible says that God makes the the rain to fall on the just

and the unjust alike.

He pours out his he. He allows both

on the on the just and the unjust.

And certainly

just because someone has great wealth does not mean they have the favor of God.

Right? Right.

Some of them even on islands.

And they certainly don't.

God's favor.

And so we have to be very careful

to assume that because there is

financial monetary abundance.

It's the proof of the favor of God.

That's not it.

The Bible doesn't necessarily condemn the rich nor wealth,

but it makes a very clear dividing line on the

on what God God does approve of and disapprove of.

And what the Bible condemns is not wealth.

What the Bible condemns is the hoarding of money.

It's being selfish with finances.

It's seeking a life of ease rather than a life of investment in the kingdom.

That's what the Bible condemns.

Jesus had poor followers and Jesus had wealthy followers.

You think about Zacchaeus.

Joseph of Arimathea.

Barnabas. Very wealthy. Lydia.

Very wealthy individuals who followed Jesus.

But they were also very generous

with their wealth.

And so we have to recognize

that the Bible doesn't condemn riches,

but it condemns how we.

How we use and invest our riches.

When it's selfish hoarding that's condemned,

when it's an investment in the Kingdom on behalf of those who who don't have.

That's why it's given.

And we have to acknowledge that riches present

a significant and unique obstacle to the kingdom.

We have to acknowledge this.

It may be a blessing from God.

Oftentimes, it is.

But when that blessing is in place, that blessing

actually presents a very unique difficulty to kingdom living.

The Bible is pretty clear about this.

Matthew 19

Jesus said to his disciples, truly I tell you, it's hard for someone

who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

For why?

Because they think that their security is based on their wealth

and not in God's sovereignty.

And they put the kingdom

of this world ahead of the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for someone of the rich to get into the end of the kingdom of God.

So you gotta be very careful

in our pursuit of financial security,

stability and wealth.

First Timothy six

for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Some people, eager for money have wandered

from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Notice he's not talking about people with money.

He's talking about people who love money.

And isn't it true that you can be poor and be in love with money?

Right? Right.

And you can be rich and be in love with money.

He says it's that heart's love.

And when that heart's love is is

is financial gain, is is hoarding it

to your comfort

at the expense of the kingdom and those without.

Then it becomes a real issue and very difficult

to live as a disciple of Christ.

I want us to notice.

So in in this passage, you're James.

James is addressing people with money.

James is addressing wicked people with money.

He's addressing the wicked rich, not just the rich.

Does that make sense?

See, here's what money is.

I've said this before.

Money is. Money is is amoral.

It has no morals.

Money is not ethical.

All money does

is illuminate the heart of the possessor.

It's all it does.

It just. It just exemplifies it.

It expands it.

It shows it.

In other words, if I am stingy and poor

when I'm rich, I'm just more stingy.

Does it make sense?

It doesn't change anything.

It just exempt. It just elevates it.

If I'm generous with the little I have,

if God gives me more, I'm just going to be

really generous.

Does it make sense?

And so James isn't talking about people with money.

He's talking about when money makes you wicked.

You start hoarding it

and the abuse of other people because you have it.

He's talking about when

you put your earthly kingdom ahead

of the heavenly kingdom financially.

Become prideful and arrogant,

seeking luxury and ease.

And he says to you,

following this camp, he says, weep and will.

Very Old Testament prophet stuff weeping, wail

because he says,

in the kingdom that's coming.

What he says is all that wealth that you've worked for,

that you stored out for yourselves, that you saved and hoarded for yourself.

All of that will be revealed as corrupted,

eaten by moths, and corroded.

And what he's doing is he's using he's

using the riches of his day to say it's all passing away.

Now, the riches of today might look different than what they looked

at James's day, but his point is this all those things

that we that we try to hoard for ourselves,

to create a life of security and ease for ourselves

at the at the expense of the kingdom and others,

without all that stuff is going to be destroyed one day.

You can't take it with you, is what he says.

Now the three areas of wealth in James's day

was food, clothes and gold and silver.

Gold and silver, we understand.

But food and clothes.

Yet those were signs of extreme wealth in James's day.

And what James is saying is, wherever you're wherever that treasure is,

it's all going to pass away in the next kingdom.

So he says, all those food that you've stored up.

I mean, back in the day, these were the original preppers, right?

Like they were ready for anything.

And he says all that hoarding that you're doing

is all going to be corrupted and rotted.

It's going to do you no good.

Even though you've

hoarded it, thinking that that was your security,

he says.

And secondly, those close rich people had a lot close back there.

I don't know if you're old enough to remember Imelda Marcos

with her 7000 pairs of shoes, or however many they had.

I don't know who who has a lot of clothes.

These who were.

I don't know who that would be.

Maybe it's you. I don't know, hoard.

Have you ever seen, by the way, just look through your closet and think.

What don't I wear anymore?

I get rid of it and you're like, oh, I can't get rid of it.

You know, like, we've got way too much stuff.

And he says all those clothes

that you have, those that you've hoarded, moths are going to eat them.

What good is that? Do you.

And then he says this, which is just amazes me.

He says that gold and silver is going to be corroded.

Gold doesn't corrode.

Does gold corrode?

What he get what he's saying is that we saved.

He saved even those things that you are convinced are never going to be

destroyed, can never be devalued.

Even that is going to be corroded in the coming kingdom.

And the more you seek in this life to build that and to hoard that

at the expense of the investment of the Kingdom and the help of the poor,

the more you are going to be revealed as a wicked heart

in the last days and the coming kingdom.

Essentially,

every sign of wealth

will pass away and will be worth nothing

in the coming kingdom.

And he says there is such severe judgment

for these people

who hoard wealth, who live their lives to build wealth in this world.

He says one.

There's such severe judgment on those

who take advantage of others in order to build their personal wealth,

and two, who ignore the poor

to protect and hoard their own wealth.

Severe judgment.

So we've got to be very careful about our desire

for more.

I just note the horror that's coming.

The judgment

over greed.

Verse three.

There, corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh

like fire.

You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

That sounds like why?

Like that's the fire was reserved

for, like, the really evil people.

And at this point, you're reading the book of James, like, okay,

I want to get back to the other Jesus,

like, who loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life.

I want to go back to the Jesus that that I've come

that might have life and a life in all its fullness.

I want to get back to that. Jesus.

We got to deal with this.

This, this this is important

for people want to be disciples of Jesus.

For those who are bound by greed and bound by gains,

realize what's coming.

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers to ever grace this planet.

He said this.

I've kind of translated some of his old words into words.

We understand a little bit better.

But he said this better to weep here, where tears are wiped

by the grace of God, than to have eyes wiped out in hell.

And what James is saying is,

all these riches that you store up for yourselves tend to neglect

to the kingdom of the neglect of of of other people will testify against you

because you've stored up treasure on earth

rather than in heaven.

He's talking about a biblical worldview,

and it's so easy to slip

into a worldly worldview.

On the day of Judgment.

What we have hoarded

will reveal that we've lived lives

of arrogant independence from God,

and he warns us.

James addresses are storing up wealth on earth

rather than storing up treasure in heaven.

And it's a very Old Testament theme

these last days.

And in the Old Testament, the idea of the last days,

it created two things.

And in people one.

It was a threat to the rich.

The last days.

But two,

it was joy and consolation for the poor.

The poor thought, I can't wait for the day of God

like finally joy and consolation

and place in my misery on this planet.

The rich had a very different view of the last day,

because they knew they'd be called to account for their hoarding

and their neglect of people and kingdom.

And he goes on verses 4 or 5 and six.

Can I keep going? Yes, sure.

All right.

You're ready.

Look,

the wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed

your fields are crying out against you.

The cries of the harvesters

have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

This should make sense to us in the Central Valley. But.

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.

You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

You have condemned and murdered the innocent one

who was not opposing you.

In our vernacular,

he said, it is very, very, very important

to pay your bills on time.

Don't keep money

owed to others in your account so you can build your personal wealth.

Pay them what they're due.

Don't look for loopholes

to get out of your bills.

If you've received service from someone,

pay them fairly.

Understand?

Pay what you owe.

Pay for the work that's been done.

Don't look for ways to get out of it.

Don't look for loopholes for the government to pay your debts.

Pay your bills.

Don't withhold timely payment

so you can keep the money in your account to build your wealth a little bit longer.

When it's due.

Pay your bill.

God takes money

and the use of money very seriously.

You understand?

Okay, based on that response, I think I need to start over

because I don't think you got what I'm saying.

So, James, four ends.

Do you understand what he's saying here?

Yes, yes.

Listen, this is why it is so difficult.

And the road is so narrow

for those who want to be apprentices of Jesus.

Because we are not let off the hook easily.

You understand?

I'm so thankful for God's

mercy and grace, for the times I've got it wrong

that he is patient with me, not wanting me to perish,

but want me to come to repentance.

I'm so grateful for his mercy and grace,

but this is the expectation.

And then in between 6 and 7, James refocuses

like he kind of makes a shift here, and he shifts from warning

to encouragement, which is what every great leader does.

A great leader can lower the boom and can give a correction

and the discipline, and then followed that up with some encouragement.

Every great leader can do this, and James does.

And so he he says, okay, so here that was the warning.

And now I want to give you some hope. Okay.

And so in verses seven, eight and nine he moves the focus from this earth

to, to, to that kingdom, to that world, to that eternity.

And this is what he says now be patient then, brothers and sisters,

until the Lord's coming.

So he assumes Jesus is coming back.

See how the

farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop,

patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.

You to be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near.

Don't grumble against one another, brothers and sisters,

or you will be judged.

The judge is standing at the door.

He's close.

He shifts from the immediate world to the coming kingdom,

and he challenges us.

He challenges those who have been focused only on this world

and only on our personal kingdom.

In this world, to change our focus.

To the coming of Christ again.

That gives hope.

And I know, I know what what some would say.

Like you get a call about Jesus coming back to him in 2000 years.

How long are you going away right?

Like 2000 years. But.

But that's you.

That's a worldly worldview.

It's not a biblical worldview

because a biblical worldview says

the Bible says that a thousand years was like a day to God.

So it's been like two days

and God's coming even two days.

It's not two days isn't a long time to wait.

There's a just keep it patient.

You've waited two days.

Big deal.

And he uses a farmer as the example of patience.

This ought to make us again.

We're the Central Valley, California.

It ought to make sense to us, since to us there's farmers all around.

But think about what James is suggesting.

He says, be patient.

Now, wait.

When you go through trials, tribulations, difficulties, hardships,

when stuff isn't happening, just wait.

Like the farmer, here's what the farmer does.

The farmer doesn't give up.

Just because he's planted a crop and doesn't see the harvest in the next day.

Like what kind of farmer would they be

if they expected the harvest?

The very next day?

Not a very good farmer, right?

They'd be out of business.

And I mean, how many of you would like me when when we were little.

How many of you actually planted seeds in a little pot or in a garden outside?

Any of you plant little seeds?

Yeah. It was it was amazing.

Like you knew something magical was happening somewhere.

You planted the seed in the pot, and you covered it

with the, you know, the little the little potting soil.

And he didn't press it down too hard, but firm enough so it felt secure and snug.

And then you watered it a little bit, too,

but didn't want to overwater because it might drown to sea.

But you really didn't understand

how a sea would drown because not like an animal or something.

But you just just can't drown the sea. And so.

And you did all that, and then you walked away, and two hours later, you did what?

You went back to look right, like,

oh, did not turn right

because you knew it was coming,

but it didn't happen right away.

You go back the next day, nothing.

The next day, nothing.

And you just had to wait.

See, what he's saying?

Here is when we were going through it

and some of us are going through it,

you have to wait and be patient

like a farmer

and keep working.

In your affliction, in your difficulty, in your disappointment,

in your loneliness, in your trouble, in your singleness, in your hopes and dreams

that aren't coming to fruition, in your fears.

You just have to wait.

And you have to do the long, hard

work of waiting patiently,

even when the harvest seems a long way away.

Just like the farmer,

it's Isaiah 4031.

Those who hope in the Lord renew their strength.

They'll strong wings like eagles. They'll run or not.

Grow weary their walk and not faint.

Notice the longevity of this.

There are times when we are sworn through life. Man,

just on the thermals of the sky.

And just loving it and going fast

until we can't fly anymore.

But we run

and we run and we run fast or run hard

and cover a lot of ground until we can't run anymore.

And we're forced to plod

along, step after step, right,

then left and right and left.

And it's a long, hard road.

The Bible says when you adjust your perspective

and are patient waiting on Lord, you can walk and never faint.

The idea is to wait on

God and do not lose heart to be strong in patience.

The correlation of a farmer

to the life of faith.

The farmer waits with the reasonable

hope and expectation of a great harvest right?

Just like the person of faith,

the farmer, which a long time

and continues working while he's waiting right?

Just like the person of faith.

The farmer is dependent upon things

that are outside of his control and power, right?

Just like the person of faith,

the farmer has to wait in the midst

of changing circumstances and conditions,

just like the person of faith.

The farmer has to stay encouraged and continue waiting

because he knows what he's waiting for is worth it.

Just like the person of faith.

The farmer has to wait

because the farmer has no other option but to wait.

Just like the person of faith.

What's your option?

To rush God's hand?

Good luck

here.

The farmer waits

because it doesn't do him any good to give up.

Just like the person of faith.

The disciples said, Lord, to whom will we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

It doesn't do me any good to give up. Now.

The farmer, which, because he knows

how seasons and harvests work,

and the person of faith

has got to know how the seasons

and harvest of God work.

The lesson is when you have to wait.

Wait?

Well.

James says, don't grumble.

Don't.

When you're waiting.

Don't grumble.

Do you know what he means when he says, don't grumble?

Yeah, he means don't grumble.

You don't gotta get into the deep Greek here

when you're waiting.

For the harvest.

And it ain't showing up.

Don't grumble. You.

And isn't this our default,

Yeah.

Let me just give.

Especially you married people or parents sitting next to kids.

A piece of.

I sure don't start doing this to them.

Don't start like.

Are you listening?

This is our default.

When things don't go our way, we're in a waiting pattern.

We grumble naturally.

We grumble against the circumstances.

We grumble about other people, and sometimes we grumble

about God.

Don't grumble.

And don't be around people who do grumble.

Don't return their phone calls.

Don't return their text. Unfollow them on social media.

Get away from them because when you are around grumbling, you will become a.

It. Life has become so much better.

When I.

I drafted my life.

Some of you needed the drama,

your life with people and social media.

A whole nother message.

While you're in the holding pattern,

whatever holding pattern or sowing season you may be in currently.

Imagine when God finally brings in the harvest.

Just imagine.

I know it's tough right now.

I know you're in a waiting pattern right now.

I know you're in a holding pattern.

I know you've planted your wait and wait and wait.

Just imagine when God brings the harvest.

You're when he comes in.

And some of you may not ever read that harvest until eternity.

But imagine for a moment.

Imagine what God delivers.

Imagine when God shows up.

Imagine when God brings the harvest.

Imagine for a moment

when that day happens,

how embarrassed and ashamed you will be for having ever

doubted him.

Just wait patiently.

I know I am well past my time,

but I said it in the first service of Satan.

The second service is David White's fault.

Because he took over ten minutes to do communion.

I had him on my stopwatch, on my phone.

And so it's his fault that you're going to get out late.

You understand?

Great job with communion, by the way.

Dave loved it, but he's never met

a mic or a platform he didn't take to, and so on.

And so so I'm gonna I'm not I'm not grumbling, John.

I'm speaking the truth in love. And so.

And I'm just warning you not to grumble against me because he went long.

That's all I'm saying.

Brothers and sisters, as an

example of patience in the face of suffering.

Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

As you know, we can't just bless those who have persevered.

You've heard of Joe's perseverance

and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James reminds us of our spiritual heritage.

Says, this is the cloth from which your faith has been cut.

And God so honored the Old Testament prophets of old and even.

They suffered and had to wait.

And if they did, why not us as well?

Yeah.

And he's he says

you've seen what the Lord finally brought about.

Not immediately,

because he's full of compassion and mercy,

and he uses job as the example of any Bible since, you know, job,

man of incredible wealth

and ease and comfort, lots of huge family and all this family members.

But his wife died

and all of his riches, everything was stripped away and taken away.

Even his own health.

And he was just left there to suffer.

And God's compassion and mercy

were not immediately apparent in the beginning of job's story.

And in fact, the only thing that seemed to be apparent

at the beginning of job's story was the cruelty of God.

And it's the same in yours.

In my life, we've all been through those seasons where we start

the journey and we think, why God, why don't you?

Where were you?

Why did you allow. Why didn't you change?

Why didn't you intervene?

What's going on? Right.

You don't see his mercy and compassion at the end of the story.

The only thing you perceive at the beginning of the story of

is what looks very cruel to you in your eyes.

Right?

And yet, James says, be patient,

because our God is a God of compassion

and mercy.

And when we understand

that God is a God of compassion and mercy, he has a good purpose in mind.

It changes our perspective while we painfully

wait.

Right.

Even with Joe

went through hell.

Because of the forces of hell

at the allowance of God.

Yet he was a better man after than before.

Yeah.

He was good at the beginning,

but he was better after

a better character, more humble,

more generous, more gracious,

more grateful, more blessed.

And when we know what the beginning of the trial,

the tribulation, the winning, that God has a good purpose

in mind, at the end, we can endure it patiently.

How did James start his letter? Remember?

Recall it.

Consider pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you endure troubles,

tribulations, and trials, because you know God's doing something good.

And when

I know that up front, I can wait patiently.

May not be fun.

Most time it's not.

But we can be patient because we know

that God has good purpose in mind.

And this, my friends, this my church, this

my brothers and sisters, is where faith must be put into action.

Because we can say that we have faith that God is doing something good

and will bring about a harvest.

We can say that all I want, but until we put it into practice by waiting

patiently without grumbling, we have dead faith.

You understand?

And this is why James tells us faith without works is dead.

Doesn't matter if you say we believe, we have faith

that God will bring about something good

unless we're able to wait patiently without grumbling,

we prove ourselves to have that faith.

We can't just say we believe God is working together for a good purpose.

Unless we wait patiently during the process.

The faith we profess is dead.

Faith.

Listen,

this is part of what it means

to be an apprentice of Jesus.

And it flies in the face

and it runs counter and contrary.

It is the flip side

of everything we've been raised

to believe and do.

And it requires

this incredible, persistent, patient faith

in a good, good God who is a good, good

father who is full of compassion and mercy and grace

for those who will simply submit and place their lives at his disposal.

James, a pretty good book, isn't it?

The Bible's a pretty good book, isn't it?

Yeah.

If any of us dare say we believe it,

we're compelled to practice it.

Why don't you pray with me, father?

Thank you.

You are a good, good father.

We are full of compassion and mercy.

You are trustworthy.

You're liable.

You are profoundly powerful and sovereign.

You have put some of us in holding patterns.

You've asked some of us to wait a long, long time.

And some are getting very weary and very tired

and waiting and waiting and waiting.

Father, help us to wait longer

patiently, because we know

that you're doing something good

and the harvest is on the way.

We know that.

And even if you choose to withhold

the harvest till eternity, we will rejoice still.

And having received it, there,

as all the prophets of old did,

of many of the saints in Hebrews 11 have

they were better than this world?

You gave them their reward in eternity.

Thank you that that's our promise.

Friends, some of you

have been waiting and our waiting.

I want to challenge you to place yourself

as an apprentice of Jesus right now, in.

And just tell Father.

Father, I'm tired of waiting.

But I will continue to wait.

Give me strength so I can soar,

run and walk and not faint. I'm.

My hope is in you.

And I will wait patiently without grumbling.

I will not only speak my faith,

I will live my faith.

Give me to ask him.

Say, father, give me a vision of the harvest that's coming.

Give me a vision of when you deliver.

Of when you step in, of when you intervene.

Of when you move your hand.

Give me a vision of it.

Because right now, God, all I see is the weight.

And I need to be pulled

to a higher vision.

Give me a vision of what your harvest will look at, like

because of your mercy and compassion.

Give me that vision

so I can wait with patience

without grumbling.

God, I speak over this church

that you would give us a vision

of the harvest that's coming for those of us who are waiting,

give us a vision of the harvest that we had.

Wait patiently with great expectation.

God, I pray over this church

that we not grow weary.

There are so many who are ready just to cash in the chips.

I pray they wouldn't do that.

You give them a vision

of when you step in and intervene.

That we would wait without grumbling.

Father, I thank you.

Thank you

that what you do and allow is motivated by your mercy.

Compassion.

Help us to trust you here.

And live lives are so contrary.

And counter and flip side to the culture around us

that your name would be great.

In the name of Jesus we pray these things.

Amen.

I love you,

and I love the chance we have to go through the Bible together.

The last section of James five is going to take us two weeks to get through,

and so read through it and see what the Holy Spirit prompts in you.

And then let's we'll talk about it together next couple Sundays.

I'm preparing right now for the next year are going to go through.

And I'm super excited about it because you're going to see in this next series

the cycle that every one of us goes through, every one of us.

We're going to go

through the book of judges.

There's a lot of stories in the Book of Judges.

It's like a rated R book, but I promise to preach

it is PG 13.

Most of the time.

Right.

But let me leave you with this.

The Lord God loves you

and sent His son for you.

He is so in love with you and all he asks is that you love him back

and you respond to him in the freedom

of the expression of that love.

He is a good God

and you can trust him.

Hallelu.