Lost & Found (Week 1)

Amen.

Good morning.

Forrest Coleman, lead pastor here at Multiply.

If I've not met you, welcome.

Glad that you're here today.

And I would love for uh you to um just have a wonderful morning with us, and would love to get to know you and your family more.

Myself and about a hundred other folks uh launched and began the work of Multiply Church almost two years ago now.

Um and I'm thankful that you're here today as we're finishing up our series, Growing Pains, on the book of James.

The title of today's message is Tested.

Everybody say tested.

Uh you might remember your transition from middle school to high school, high school, maybe to college, that um, you know, things weren't really that hard in school, but you know, it got a little bit more challenging as the years went on.

Now, I was not the best student ever, kind of like an A B student.

I know that's hard for some of y'all to believe, but um, I remember the transition from middle school to high school when you started to actually have like real tests and had to write papers.

And I remember uh this one time I was taking a test in a class and I'd studied and felt like I knew the material pretty well, and so the teacher started the test, and so I'm working away at the test, and I feel like I'm doing pretty good.

I'm taking time on my answers, and I'm being thorough, and I I get done with my test and you know, put my pencil down, and I look up and I see all these other people that are continuing to work, and I'm just sitting thinking, like, I've done good here.

All these other idiots are still working on their test right now, so I'm kind of kicked back, waiting.

And uh then the teacher says, Well, hey, uh the the test, you've got five more minutes.

Remember to do the front and the back.

And I realized that I, as I turned the sheet over, had not answered any of the questions on the back.

So I'm feverishly filling in bubbles, probably C C C C C and all the answers, and I'm the one looking like an idiot at the end as I'm rushing, everybody else is done.

And you can imagine how well I did on that test.

Not so good.

You know, um it's good to know the material, but you gotta finish the test.

It's it's it's good to know the material, but you actually have to finish the test.

And as we are looking at the book of James and we're closing up with the last two chapters, I'm reminded of the fact that in the Great Commission that we're supposed to be ones that teach not just to have knowledge, but what the Great Commission says is that we should teach to obey.

That we should know God's word, and we should know it to the point where we're actually living it out.

And it's not just about having the head knowledge, but truly for us to know God's word.

And that's why it's said that we should read our Bible, but also let the Bible read us.

That's why we get together and do these things called small groups every week, where we go through the passages that are in the scripture that we're talking about in the message, and we see that how those things, not if they apply to our life, but how they apply to our life and reflect on God's word.

See, we've been in this book of James, and James is the half-brother of Jesus and was this prolific leader in the early church, was a leader of the church of Jerusalem, and so wise because he grew up and around Jesus.

And so as we walk through the passages and the different chapters in the book of James, we've seen how the teachings of Jesus are mirrored in this book of James, that he grew up hearing Jesus, knowing Jesus.

And so as we look through the passage in the scriptures today, we're going to see the fact that James is on the same page as Jesus and what he shares with us.

And these last couple chapters are jam-packed.

And they in each of the sections, there's a few zingers that have really roasted me over the years.

And that when I would go back to and taking a look at them and this truth from God's word, that not just to know it for the head knowledge's sake, or because you're taking a Christian class, but so that you would actually live out God's plan and his purpose for your life.

And James in chapter 4 kind of kicks off with one of these really challenging scriptures that uh just resonate in my mind and has for some time in James chapter 4, verse 6.

James 4:6

He gives grace generously.

As the scripture said, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want the creator of the universe, our Almighty God, to be opposed to me.

I don't want the Almighty God to be putting up roadblocks in my life because I'm walking out in an arrogant way, a prideful way, and I've lived in it enough years now that when I hear somebody who's being arrogant or prideful, I kind of wince because I think, mmm, pride comes before the fall.

And I really hope that something bad doesn't happen to this person, but they're on a bad trajectory because they're living out in an arrogant way.

We enjoy when our the most famous athletes that they have an arrogance about them or an edge, but then we see the total of their life, and sometimes life doesn't pan out how it started for them.

See, James starts by telling us to have a humble heart.

Because if we don't, then we'll get into a mindset of being arrogant and seeing other people in that same way, even when it comes to our spiritual life.

That's what he goes on to say in verse 11.

Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters.

If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law.

But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you, because it does.

Verse 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the judge.

He alone has the power to save or destroy.

So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?

Jesus put it this way in Matthew 12, 36.

He said, And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.

The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

See, Jesus and James are both using this courtroom language to show how big of a deal it is for us to hold other people to a standard that which we can't even hold ourselves.

That we should be people who are ones that aren't just judging others, but out of a humble heart that we would be ones that speak the truth and love.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 5, 37.

Just say a simple yes, I will or no I won't.

Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Here's the thing our words are a window.

Our words are a window into our character, into our life, what the overflow is.

You remember last Sunday we talked about how our words are overflowing out of our heart, and that the tongue that that it's a fire, it can it can torch your whole life if you let it.

Isn't it interesting?

Isn't it interesting that we judge other people and then go talk badly behind their backs and in doing so are no better than them?

That we sometimes tend to distort the truth to our own advantage, give ourselves a leg up.

But see, our words, it's a window into our hearts.

It tells us about the real truth of our character that we're not supposed to be haughty and stuck up and holier than thou, but instead that we should embrace humility.

We humble ourselves lest we be humbled.

By who?

The judge.

See, God is rarely talked about as the judge in his character in our everyday Christian walk.

Jesus is just this hippie guy with long hair that just says, I love you, love you, Jesus, I love you.

He has a lamb around his neck at all times, walking around with a sheep.

This is the image of Jesus that we have given the world.

But what we know the fact is that God is the ultimate judge.

Because one day there will be a judgment, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And there's going to be a judgment, and so you are not the judge.

Your final rulings, they don't matter.

Even an earthly judge can charge you, could put you away for life, and it's a blip in comparison to eternity.

That's what James says this next, as he's warning us about the arrogance of wealth and of self-confidence and of this haughty spirit.

In verse 13, he says, Look here, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to a certain town and we'll stay there a year.

We'll do business there and make a profit.

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?

Your life is like a morning fog.

It's here a little while and it's and then it's gone.

What you ought to say is if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.

Otherwise, you're boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.

And then this passage that just haunts me in verse 17.

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

This is one of the most haunting passages for me in all the scripture.

And this is really gonna upset some of the judgmental believers in the room, some of the look through the through through through down your nose at someone, kind of Christians, because here's the thing.

We want to do is to make make Christ and to make following Jesus in Christianity into this laundry list of thou shalt not.

Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not drug, sex, rock and roll.

What you want to make this list, but what the truth is that even the things that you know that you should do, the good that you should do, and you don't do it, then that's sin as well.

That little, that little moment, that little spark that happens every once in a while, it says, man, I should really help that person that's in need.

I know my neighbor's going through a tough time, but you know, I'm busy.

That person at work is going through something right now, and I know I should stick up for them, but I don't know.

See, it busts up the paradigm.

Because our following of Jesus and our righteousness isn't just based on this list of thou shalt nots, but the reality is that we have more sin than we even realize that we have sin.

We sin in more ways than then we realize.

We have a religious spirit.

Oh, I'm good, you know, God, there's nothing I need to, you know, confess about.

I'm not, you know, done this or that, I'm not cussed, I'm not not all this laundry list of things, all the while that there are things that you have not done that still puts you in a place where you have sinned against God.

That's why we need Jesus as a Savior.

We have more sin than we realize that we have sinned, and in doing so, we need the Savior Christ.

We cannot earn it ourselves.

This is why Jesus couldn't stand the Jewish leaders.

Yeah.

Because they followed all the outward rules, but their hearts were filled with darkness.

The gospel is the only thing that can save us.

Let me back it up for just a second.

Verse 14, it tells us that our life is like a morning fog, a mist, a vapor.

That happened this morning.

As I was driving to church this morning from my house, I pulled up to the building and I was sitting at the stoplight, and the fog was so thick this morning, I could not even see the building from the stoplight.

Couldn't even see it.

I was literally pulled.

I was like, isn't this interesting that this fog right now is I can't even see the building?

And I assume it's now gone.

I assume it's now past.

And James likens our life to a fog or a mist or a vapor.

Just like this very morning.

Now you guys know that I lived in Somerset for some time, and uh if you head from here to Somerset on the way down there, you're gonna see on the drive over to the side of the road, you're gonna see a business from this verse, and it is James 14, 14 vape shop.

Now, I'm not a Bible scholar, but I don't think this is what that passage was talking about, okay?

I don't think that's the vapor that this passage is speaking of.

And, you know, we love to make Christian versions of everything, right?

The sports, the softball team, those kinds of.

I don't think that was what was intended, but again, I'm not a scholar.

I'm just saying this that we're here today, we're gone tomorrow.

Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6, 31.

So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat?

What will we drink?

What will we wear?

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers.

But your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else first and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

And then he says this so don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today.

Our life is a fog, it's a mist, it's a vapor.

James goes on to warn us about riches.

And he says, Look here, you rich people.

Weep and groan with anguish because all the terrible troubles ahead of you.

Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.

Your gold and silver are corroded.

The very wealth you're counting on will eat away your flesh like fire.

This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.

It's not a sin for us to be rich, but Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6, 19, don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths can eat and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.

Store your treasures in heaven.

Where moths and rust cannot destroy, where the thieves do not break in and steal.

And then this verse wherever your treasure is, there your desires of your heart will also be.

See what we invest in, what we utilize our treasure for, it goes ahead of our heart.

That's why God calls us for us to be generous to Him.

And it's it asks for us to live a generous life.

Because God knows, and Jesus knew, that our wallet, that it would have to go first for our heart to follow.

That what we invest in, what we spend our time in, that the things of this world, that one day it's going to pass away.

See, in the kingdom of God, Jesus taught us that the divisions between wealth, social status, that they are demolished in God's kingdom.

They are torn down in God's kingdom.

And he warns us of having this arrogance that our wealth that we create in this life, that we're going to believe that it's going to go on forever.

But we know that our wealth one day is going to rot just like we are.

So the house, the car, the career, the boat, one day it's going to rust.

One day it's going to rot.

But where is eternity?

Where is eternity in this whole picture of our life?

And what are we thinking about?

And how do we think about the most important things in our lives in light of all the earthly trappings?

And for us, that we would have our hearts and our minds set on heaven.

That even in the mundane things of life, in our wealth, in our poverty, that we would have an eternal perspective and invoke eternity in our mindsets about what we do because there is a coming judgment.

There's a coming judgment.

That the judge is going to rule, and that we are to endure to the end and recognize the fleeting nature of this world.

And it should produce in us a patient endurance and a heart towards prayer and God, which is what James tells us.

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return.

Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring.

They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

You too must be patient.

Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.

Don't grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you'll be judged.

For look, the judge is standing at the door.

Jesus put it this way, so simply and plainly, Matthew 24, 13.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

If you're in Christ and truly in Christ, you're going to endure all the way to the end.

In the good times, in the bad times, you're going to have your heart and your mind centered in on the truth of the gospel.

That all the riches in the world cannot buy your way into eternity, but instead a humble heart before God.

A humble heart turned towards prayer, turned towards seeking Him, turned towards humility.

And as we walk out this life, and as we try our best to overcome the challenges and the trials that we face, the hurts and the wounds that we have, we need each other as followers of Jesus to encourage, to lift up, to hold up each other, to pray for one another.

And as James is about to tell us produce a healing.

Verse 16 that just is just stuck in my mind for a long time.

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Elijah was a human as we were, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall and none fell for three and a half years, then he prayed again, and this in the sky sent down rain, and the earth began to yield crops.

Last year we went through and talked about the work of Elijah and how he called down fire from heaven and he raised a young boy from the dead and he walked with God.

And this passage right here says he was a human just like you and just like me.

But that if we confess our sins, and if we pray for one another that it's gonna produce a healing in our life.

And there's a promise here in James that if we confess our sins, and if we are prayed for.

By a brother and sister, then we will be healed.

And I'm not just talking about the healing that comes from a medical issue.

I'm talking about woundedness.

Deep woundedness that you may be carrying right now.

Because of something that someone did to you and sinned against you, said about you, made plans about you, took away from you, and it's left a wound that needs to be healed.

Or maybe it's the fact that right now there's there's this sin that you just cannot stop doing, and it's entangled you, and you tried to kick it and kick it and kick it.

But what you need by this passage is that you need to confess it to a brother and sister, and in doing so, you'll receive healing, and that wound will be healed by the mighty power of God through the work of his people, and then we can endure to the end.

We can endure.

Bring it all back together from where we began in the book of James.

See, James put it like this in the first couple books, first couple verses of this book.

In verse 2, he says, Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

So let it grow.

For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

And what we talked about in the beginning of James, this word perfect, it means to be whole, to be full, to be filled, to live an integrated, full, not divided life.

That the wounds that are inside of you right now, that they're healed, that you can be made perfect, not because of anything that you've done, but because of the finished work of the cross to Christ Jesus, because he did it on your behalf.

And he wanted to heal you of the wounds and your relationship with him, to be patient and to endure to the end, to endure with patience, and in doing so, you receive not just the judge, but the justifier in Christ.

That Jesus finished walk work on the cross, that he went in your place, so that you would be justified, so that when Jesus is hung on the cross and you receive what he did in your place, that as you stand in front of the righteous judge one day, he doesn't just see your sins, he sees the blood of Jesus covered over you, and you're justified, and you're forgiven, and you're made whole.

This happened this last week, it's Thursday.

We've been uh doing this Bible study, K-State football team and athletes at K-State.

And on Thursday, we are there, and there's a little bit of mix-up, a little mishap.

Actually, the the entire track team ended up being in the same room because they were doing yoga at the same time.

They were supposed to be doing the FCA Bible study.

And so Daryl and and and Pastor Destinor, who's an amazing pastor here in our community, uh, and and so they're trying to figure out what do we do, and they just said, like, let's just go ahead and do it.

The FCA, the the track coach the previous week had FCA at their track meet, and so they're like, let's just let's just go ahead.

And Destinore, Pastor Destinor, begins to share his testimony.

And it's it's it is such a powerful testimony that I hope that we get, I hope that you get to hear it from him someday.

But what what happened with Pastor Destinor is that years ago when he came to Kentucky State from Florida to play football, he came and came from an unbelieving, Haitian voodoo background home, came to Kentucky State with a brother down in Florida who was running drugs, and Destinor began to run drugs from Florida up here to Frankfurt.

While he was playing at Kentucky State, he had the cars, he had the bling.

The coach pulled him in and said, Hey, Destinor, I don't know what you're doing, but you got to choose right now between whatever life is you're doing right now and football.

And it wasn't that long after that that he got a call from his brother, that his brother had been busted.

Destinor was in the dormitories at K-State, pouring cocaine into the toilets and flushing it down right here in Frankfurt.

And uh, Pastor Gil Finley came to his dormitory who ministers on campus and he spoke with Destinor and he led him to Christ in the dormitory years ago.

And now he's a pastor in our community.

God has done amazing work in his life, and he's sharing this testimony with all these students, all these athletes that are in the room.

And he says, if you want to receive Christ like I did, if you want to experience salvation, if you want to come to know Jesus, I want you to stand up.

Six students stood up to receive salvation on Thursday night.

They didn't even know they were gonna be there, they didn't even know they were gonna hear from him, but they received the finished work on the cross for the justifier.

And I wonder today, right now, if there's anybody in the room and here today that needs to receive the same gospel, the good news that Jesus loves him, died for them.

But that's not it.

I also wonder today in this room if there's anybody in this place that needs to be healed of a woundedness and a brokenness.

And in just a second, we haven't done this in a while, we haven't done it in here, in just a second.

A few of our team members are gonna come up to pray.

And this morning, if you need to confess so that you can receive healing, then today I'm gonna invite you to come up and to be prayed for.

I'm gonna come down there too and pray.

And I don't know who who right now you know the good that you ought to do, that you should receive the healing of God.

And maybe for you it's somebody who needs to receive Christ as Savior.

I ask you for you to come and to be prayed for so that you can receive the finished work of the gospel.

So I'm gonna pray here just a second.

Our team's gonna come forward.

Would you bow your heads and pray with me now?

Father, we pray today is we've opened your word that it wouldn't just be a time of knowledge, but a time of obedience.

That God, it wouldn't just be a time of listening, but it would be a time of action.

Father, I pray, God, right now, all across this room, if there's anybody in this place who has not yet received your salvation, your finished work, that today would be the day that they do that.

Father, I pray, Lord, that if there's anybody in the room right now that has a need, that they need healing for, that God, that they would not delay, but they would come to you.

God, that we would just receive it by way of confession and of prayer.

And God, we just give this moment to you, Father, that you would lead us.

God, you would make us new, that you would heal us and make us whole.

Father, the pains and the trials in our lives, that God, it would produce uh endurance in us and we make it all the way to the end.

So we thank you, Father, as we give this time to you as we worship you in the name of Jesus.

Amen.