Motives Matter

Today we're going to be in James and the motives matter is my

corny title. We'll be in James 13 to the

sorry James three 13318. You mean there isn't a James 13?

Oh, I'll announce it next week. I had an announcement, but I'm

running out of time, so we'll, we'll talk about it next week.

And so James 13. So 2 places we're going to be

James three, Sorry. And we'll also be in Acts 16 if

you guys want to put your finger there.

So who is wise and understanding among you by his good conduct?

Let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your

hearts, do not boast and be be false to the truth.

This is not the wisdom that comes from above, but it is

earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be

disorder and every vile practice.

But the wisdom from above is first pure and peaceable,

gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial

and sincere, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace

by those who make peace. So Lord, I just lift up this

time. I lift up everybody here.

And Lord, that you just would be in our midst, that you'd be

speaking to our hearts, teaching us your word, guiding and

directing us that you'd be putting, putting people in our

paths throughout the, the weeks and especially this time of year

or that we could just pour into or that you would give us words

to speak. And I pray this in Jesus name,

Amen. So Friday I was here and doing

my study and got all done with the study.

And Faye was still finishing up some craft stuff around here and

getting kitchen stuff organized. So I was scrolling and I, I saw

sand points. They had their board or their

council meeting and it was on YouTube.

So I'm like, well, I'll just see what's going on in Sandpoint.

Some some fun things just because the one I happen to

watch, they're they're going to make this, they're going to take

down the metal over here and widen the sidewalk is their

their plan and put guardrail up and that's kind of fun.

But the the board meeting and then this was not my plan, but

you will find that it really attaches to this study was about

if you guys don't know, we had a individual enter the girls

locker room that was not a girl at the YMCA.

Now the YMCA was stuck in a spot that Sandpoint has passed a law

that or made an ordinance that they're supposed to allow that

and kind of put them in a in a bad spot.

So this meeting was about the and, and there was a bunch.

There was probably, I think there was 10 people talked and

10 of them talked and said that we need to change that law.

And one person stood up and was definitely on the other side and

had a prepared statement. This Wednesday, they're going to

meet again to decide if they're going to repeal the law and what

they're going to repeat. What they're going to say in the

law is they're just going to mirror whatever the state of

Idaho says. And the state of Idaho has no

standing on it right now. They may have a standing in the

future, but right now they don't have any.

So Sandpoint has went past what the state of Idaho has.

I'm not this is not a political thing.

This is a kind of a duh, right of that This is we protect, we

protect those weaker than us, right.

And girls locker room at a YMCA is a place we want to be known

to. We want that's a that should be

a safe place. So so my encouragement to all of

you, I won't be here because I'm in the tri-cities.

But they didn't have time to organize and so one showed up.

I believe they're going to have time to organize.

You have an elected, you have elected officials that are going

to do the right thing, not because it's right, but because

they think it's what keeps them elected.

All right. We don't, we don't unfortunately

live in a country anymore that is ran by people that have

standards. We have people that want to get

elected. So because of that, I encourage

you to go to the meeting and have something to say.

We did have two from here that actually stood up and had

something to say at the meeting. And that was cool, right to see.

I mean, I totally it was the kind it must.

It was kind of a God thing because I was just literally

scrolling. I had no idea the meeting went

on. I didn't know that any of our

people spoke and it was it was cool to see.

But I encourage you guys to go and protect, protect the youth

of the of town of the town, right?

Anyway, So but that will lead into this and it really matches

up and it doesn't match up because I made a study to go

with that. I saw that after I did this

study. So verse 13, who is wise and

understanding among you by his good contact.

Let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.

So I like this because James kind of is setting everybody up,

right? He's he's doing this.

He expects everyone to raise their hand and says, well, I'm

wise and understanding and maybe even elbow the person next to

him ago. You need to listen up.

He's going to be talking here. But obviously it's a setup,

right? Being wise and understanding is

something that only comes if we really are like David, a man

after God's own heart, a woman after God's own heart.

And is that I want to do what he wants me to do.

I'm wise and understanding. Having knowledge and the ability

to see things clearly, make good judgments and tell tell right

from wrong, while also grasping the ideas from others and

applying them with fairness and humility.

And what that grasping ideas from others is, our goal is to

reach the lost, not prove to the loss they're lost, right?

And and proving to the loss they're lost is pointless,

right? There is no now now sharing with

them in a way that they understand their need for a

savior is a different conversation, but making sure

that's our goal is that we are aimed at saving others.

So defining another term there is our conduct.

It it's how we behave, how we manage our, our emotions, how we

how we direct our actions and our behavior.

Like James talked about, if we could tame our if we can tame

our tongue, well, our tongue, our communication with the

world, right is is supposed to be in this in this meek way,

having meekness of wisdom that it talks about his works in the

meekness of wisdom, which is living humbly and gently with

patience and respect for God, making good choices through his

Spirit and showing true wisdom by loving others and reflecting

Christ in a day and our daily life.

So meekness of wisdom is not just words in action.

It is Paul and Silas and Thyatira are the best picture

that I found of what this looks like.

And and it's really one of those Paul Paul obviously being Paul

had had wisdom about him. But whenever you talk about what

does meek, what is meekness, you know, we one of those lines,

meek, meek and mild. And it makes it sound like

meekness is weakness. And I'm sure you've all heard,

you know, that that meek is power under control.

But what does that look like? And when we go to Acts 16, this

story, it's it's a longer passage, but Acts 16 starting in

verse 16, going all the way to the end, it says, and we're and

this is Luke speaking and it says as we were going to the

place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of

deviation, divination and brought her owners much gain by

for fortune telling. She followed Paul and us crying

out, These men are servants of the Most High God, who

proclaimed to you the way of salvation.

And she kept doing. She kept doing for many days.

Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the

Spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out

of her. And it came out of her that

hour. But when her owner saw that

their hope for gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and

dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers

and Silas sorry. And when they had brought them

to the magistrates, they said, these men are Jews, and they

are, they are disturbing our city.

They advocate customs that are not lawful for our for us as

Romans to accept or to practice. The crowd joined in attacking

them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave

orders to beat them with rods. And when they had it inflicted

many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the

jailer to keep them safety safely.

Having received this order, he put them in the inner prison and

fastened their feet in stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas

with prayer, praying and singing hymns to God.

And the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was

a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were

shaken, and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's

bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw

that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about

to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul cried out with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for

we are all here. And the jailer called for lights

and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down at Paul

and Silas feet. When he brought them out, he

said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be

saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the

Lord to him and to all who were in the house.

And he took them that same hour of night and washed their

wounds. And he and he was baptized at

once, he and all his family. Then he brought them into the

into his house and set food before them.

And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had

believed in God. But when it was day, the

magistrates sent the police saying, let them let those men

go. And the jail reported these

words to Paul, saying, the magistrates have sent to let you

go, therefore come out now and go in peace.

But Paul said to them, They have beaten us publicly uncondemned

men who are Roman citizens and have thrown us into prison.

And do they now throw us out secretly?

No, let them come themselves and take us out.

The police reported these words to the magistrate, and they were

afraid when they had heard that they were Roman citizens.

So they came and apologized to them, and they took them out and

asked them to leave the city. So they went out of the prison

and visited Lydia, and when they had seen the brothers, they they

encouraged them and departed. So that is a perfect picture of

meekness, right? So Paul starts off and he gets,

he gets annoyed and I it's always kind of funny.

So there's a, a girl following behind him telling him that, you

know, this is, this is the prophets of the most high God

and he's and there received salvation.

But you got to know that this had to be mocking, right?

This was, this was a spirit mocking them trying to demean

their ministry. And, and Paul just like one of

us, sooner or later he got annoyed with her and then he

casts out the demon. So Paul in in the first part of

the story casts out a demon and then the next part of the story,

he, he is beaten with rods by the magistrate.

So if this isn't this kind of meek wisdom, right, knowing when

to use Jesus's power. And so then as you go through

this story, you just get to see Paul over and over again showing

this meekness, right? He gets to prison and he, I

mean, they've been beaten. This was not like some friendly

beating, right? This was, they were stripped and

beaten and then they were taken to prison and put in stocks,

which is stocks as you know, their, their feet are clasped

together and they're, they're locked into place like you've

seen in medieval times, right? And they're singing to Jesus,

they're they're praising him. And why are they doing that?

Because, because they understand they're where God wants them to

be. And how do they know that?

You know, how do I know when I'm going through suffering that I'm

where I'm supposed to be? You, you and Jesus are having

conversations, right? You, you're at peace in where

you're at in the world. It's it's that story I was

telling you weeks back about being willing to fail for

Christ, right. My job is to do everything as

unto the Lord and not the men. And if I'm doing that, if I end

up in stocks, then I can praise him because I'm doing what I'm

supposed to be doing. There's, there's nothing that

says that doing what I'm supposed to be doing doesn't end

up in prison, doesn't end up, doesn't end up in, in, in

poverty. None of that is, is there.

What it means is I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

The rest of it's God's problem. And that's really where Paul and

Silas are in this. And then the reason that the

that the guard is going to or the jailer is going to kill

himself is because losing a prisoner was reason enough to

have a jailer killed. You know, that's they were

supposed to keep the prisons that well.

So if they lost a prisoner, they could be killed for it.

Well, all the doors were open and none of the prisoners left.

And this showed a power that Paul had to the jailer, right?

That's, that's that moment, right?

Because he's, you got to figure that Paul and Silas were wrongly

accused and in prison. But I doubt everybody in the

prison were upright, nice people, right?

They, they didn't stay, they didn't stay in prison because

they, they wanted the jailer not to die, right?

They stayed in prison because Paul and Silas, there was

something about them right there was there was a restraining

force, whether that was God wouldn't let him leave or

because they had a respect and they saw what just happened.

But regardless it it made an impact on on the jailer.

So, so far with this, with this meekness of wisdom, Paul has

cast out a demon, been beaten, doors have fallen off their

hinges and all the doors have been opened.

And now the jailer in his entire family has been saved because

Paul and Silas were beaten quietly, because that wasn't

their time to stand up. And then when it was time, they

they tell him, right? But my favorite part of this

story of what that looks like is they let Paul allowed himself to

be beaten as a Jew and he was Jewish, but we all know that he

was also a Roman. And being a Roman, so being

anything else in the Roman Empire, your your rights were

limited. But if you were an actual Roman

citizen born into being a Roman citizen, you had rights like an

American has rights. And if if those rights were

violated, those that violated them would be in all kinds of

trouble. They could they could get the

same punishment. So when they beat Paul and

Silas, who are both Romans, without due process, the

magistrates put their neck on the line.

And this is when they, when they, when Paul says no, you,

you tell them, you tell them we're not going out secretly.

They put us away. After they beat 2 Roman

citizens, you tell them to come in and release this publicly.

Now the magistrates at this point had to be completely

panicked because if Paul wanted to, he could basically report

them and they're going to jail. And so they tell it, you know,

they come and they you know, you can picture the the group coming

with their hats in their hands, trying to get this guy to just

we're really sorry are bad. Can you just go though?

I will let you go and you can just go and, and pulses and

they, you know, they say and they took them out and asked

them to leave the city. They didn't tell him to leave

the city because they didn't have any, they didn't have any

ability now, right? Paul was the one in complete

control at this point. And what did he do with that

control? He he went and talked to Lydia,

which was the reason that he had ended up in Thyatira in the 1st

place. So now the magistrates know that

she's he's they're friends and he went and talked to the

brothers and so now they know that they're friends.

So Paul has in in essence said, so these are my friends and I'm

letting you off the hook. But if I would like to come back

at a later date and put you on the hook, I can.

So I'd leave my friends alone. That's this is that picture of

Paul showing the power of being submitted to what the Lord wants

to do in your life. It isn't it isn't that that

there wasn't. I mean, you know, we, we glance

over inflicted many blows upon them, right?

This was not a nice moment in their life.

You know, it's it's, you know, when we talk about Steven being

stoned, you know, that's that's not little rocks thrown at

somebody. That's big rocks thrown at

someone's head, right? This is it's it's not, it's in

words. It doesn't really describe how

bad this beating was. Being beaten with rods is not.

Something that I mean, this is broken ribs, broken arms, broken

bones, right? This is, this is broken things.

This is not, oh, they're a little bruised.

But Paul was submitted to what the Lord had for him.

And because of that, he affected this whole town and, and took

care of the other believers in that town even in his absence.

But what if we come at it from another direction, right?

If we if we don't do it that way, if we're not submitted to

Christ and and we don't allow the Holy Spirit to guide us,

then we have our motives are wrong, right, Because I'm out

for myself, I'm out for what I can do.

Verse 14 But if you have bitter jealousies, selfish ambitions in

your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.

You know, when we look at others and want what they have and we

have ambitions to move upward outside of the will of God, just

like with David and his brothers.

Don't think for a moment that the Lord's fool, right?

When when Samuel saw David's older brother, he said, ah, the

Lord's and this must be the Lord's anointed.

And the Lord said, no, don't look at the outside.

I look at the inside, right? So it doesn't matter how good

someone looks on the outside, the Lord's seeing their inside,

right? And that's especially in this

time of mega churches that we have the ability to have that,

that, that there is the ability to have 5000 people in a room

and then 2000 people in in other rooms watching you on video.

And that that we are, we live in that time.

That doesn't by definition mean that that that isn't, isn't

biblical. But don't for a second think

that the guy standing up front because he's standing up front

is right with Jesus. He might be, but don't don't

ever just automatically right watch the man see what he's

doing with that right. If you look at a great picture

of what this bitter jealousy and selfish ambition looks like is

the story of Cain and Abel, which once again, I don't think

I'm bringing out any like new new things.

We've all heard the story Genesis 4 three through 8.

In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering

of fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the first born

of the of his flock, and of their fat portions.

And the Lord regarded what Abel and his regarded for Abel and

his offering. But for Cain and his offering he

had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his

face fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are

you angry, and why has your face fallen?

If you do well, will you not be accepted?

And if you do well, if you do not do well, sin is crouching at

the door. It's desire is contrary to you,

but you must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother.

And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother

Abel and killed him. So Cain was jealous of Abel and

let it take root. And it became bitterness, right.

And the, the thing we want to watch out for, and this is when

I look at Cain, I think of so many people that say, I worship

the Lord the way I want to. And, and that's just that's Cain

was I worship the Lord the way I want to.

I bring him what I want to bring him.

And the Lord wasn't impressed, right.

And when you go, one of my favorite things about the book

of Exodus is Exodus is a, a community that we always think,

well, they were, they were Israelites and they knew stuff.

I didn't know anything, right? They didn't have anything

written down and 400 years they had been in Egypt.

How long has America been 300 years, 250 years.

Do we remember what happened at the do we do we we have we have

it all written down and are we anything like the country that

was formed? So now think of think of Israel

in Egypt for 400 years and how tweaked to their thoughts of

what God was like were. So then when Moses showed up

after the burning Bush and started laying out how the God

of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob wanted to be worshipped.

This was not a debate, right? This was this is how to do it.

And when we look at Cain and Abel, that was basically there

were, there were things God, God had told Adam and and I'm not

not that we were Privy to those conversations, but there were

conversations that that Adam and Cain and Abel and God had had.

And in those conversations, there were sacrifices, and the

one Cain brought wasn't on the list.

But Cain wanted to do it his way.

Do we? Do we get that way?

Do we want to do it the way we want to do it?

And when we do that, it puts us on the wrong side.

Verse 15 says this is not wisdom that comes down from above, but

this is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

And Cain is a picture of earthly, unspiritual and demonic

stuff, right? And it it comes down to what

Jesus says in Matthew 12. If we're not for him, we're

against him. We're being led by evil.

If we're not being led by him, he at verse 30 in chapter 12 of

Matthew, he who is not with me is against me, and he who does

not gather with me scatters abroad.

That doesn't mean we are possessed by a demon.

Because if you were filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus, you, you

can't be possessed by a demon, but you can be led by one,

right? We can be deceived and lied to.

We can be running the wrong way. You know, it's, it's always tell

people you're always think of it like this, like, did you ever

play play soccer and end up kicking in the wrong goal when

you're a kid because you're heading the wrong direction,

right? You think you're doing good, but

nobody's defending because you're you're going the wrong

direction. And and that is something when

we think that I have something to offer when, if at any point

in this story with Paul, if he thought he had the power to do

it, he'd have blown this whole thing.

But if you watch Paul, Peter, James, John anywhere, they're

they're they're talked about what they are are submitted to

the will of God in their life. David, what he was, was a man

after God's own heart, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite,

which we've talked about. And in that moment, what he was,

was a man that was trying to to ignore God, right?

It wasn't that he murdered somebody because David had

already murdered somebody. Wasn't that he had adultery and

David had many wives and concubines.

So it wasn't adultery. What was it about that?

It was the time that David, when I don't want to hear it, I want

to do it my way. And when we do that, we end up,

we end up kicking in the wrong goal.

We're going in the wrong direction because I am either

led by God or I am ignoring God. There is not a there is not a me

and God. It's that whole thing about

Jesus is my copilot that doesn't work right.

Jesus is driving the car and I'm in the trunk.

That is that, that is, that is the input I get because my input

is broken when I tell the Lord, well, this is how we should do

this. I don't, I don't have all the

facts. He does what I should be telling

the Lord every day is Lord, not my will, but your will be done.

And speak to me and tell me your will because I am a fallen,

fallen human full of sin. My heart is dreadfully wicked.

And if I'm listening to myself, I have all of these things

right. My, my wisdom is, is earthly.

My wisdom is unspiritual. My wisdom is demonic.

Because if I'm using my wisdom, then I'm not in his will.

Paul talks about these people to the Philippians.

And this is not the people we want to be right.

Chapter 3 verse 17 through 20 brothers join join in imitating

me and keeping your eyes on those who walk according to the

example you have in US and that's who we want to be.

But verse 18 for many of whom I have often told you and now tell

you, even with tears, walk as the enemy of the cross of

Christ. Their end is destruction, their

God is their belly, and their glory is their shame with

mindset on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven

and from it we await A Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, right?

Where's, where is our, where's our hope?

Where, where's our desire? Is it in?

Is it in Lord, I need to be comfortable on this earth?

Or is it Lord, I need to do what you want me to do?

And if that means I'm beaten with rods and I'm beaten with

rods, if that means that I'm released and people get saved,

then I'm released. Is it the thing it's facing?

The Giants says if we win, we praise him.

If we lose, we praise him, right?

And and that is our, when we set our focus on our needs and

desires, we will be unhappy. If you try to, me and Faye talk

about it in our in our marriage, in our life as a whole,

everything I have is in my hand, an open palm for the Lord to

have. If I was to try to close my hand

around it, I would lose it, right?

It is. It is on that my wife isn't

mine. My kids aren't mine, my house

isn't mine. This church isn't mine.

There's nothing that belongs to me outside of Christ.

And if I had any point try to make that belong to me, I will

fail. And I will fail because he isn't

willing to let me be selfish. He isn't as a believer.

It is something you signed up for.

You don't get to be selfish and let him and he isn't going to

stand for it. He will bring you to a point

where you have to make choices. Verse 16 says for where jealousy

and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every

vile thing. People of the flesh are carnal

Christians. And Paul talks about that in in

First Corinthians, which is probably the the picture of the

carnal church. As far as just people that are,

whenever anybody talks about the, you know, the early church

and they were the guys, the early church was not.

Yeah, the early church fits right in in America.

So 1st Corinthians 3, one through 3 says, but brothers,

but sorry, but I, brothers, could not address you as a

spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in

Christ. I have fed you with milk, not

solid food, for you were not ready for it.

And even now you are not ready for it, for you are still of the

flesh for a while. There are jealousies and strife

among you. Are you not of the flesh

behaving only in a human way? So whenever we decide that we

haven't figured out that I, I want what I want, we, we revert

back, right? I was me and me and Helen were

talking last week and just I, I made the comment that that Jesus

uses sinners because it's his only option, right?

That's and the thing with that is Jesus uses sinners and that's

his only option, but his option isn't to use you sinning, right?

He wants your heart. He wants you moving in his

direction. He wants you after his heart.

He wants you saying, Lord, what? What do you want from me?

And that, that that meekness that we get from that is that

power under control. He's not using.

I mean, I'm sure we've all heard the story using the Bible to

beat people over the head with it, right?

You know, the fire and Burnstone teaching that is not that is

that is misusing God's power, right?

I mean, like I've said in the past, the Bible has plenty of

offensive things to say, but I'm not supposed to be offensive

just to be offensive. If it's if it's something that

is offensive to the culture and it says it, then I'm supposed to

share it, but I'm not supposed to come up with ways to win an

argument, right? I loved that board meeting I'm

talking about. It was so refreshing because

like I said, I had no idea any of our people were going to be

there. But even the ones that weren't

from from Bridges, everybody said it from the position of

they weren't offended. They weren't, they weren't angry

at the council. They were there to protect

children. That's why they were there was

that they wanted, they wanted the children.

They wanted that. And not even the children.

The children and the ladies in that room should expect a level

of safety. And they were there to say we

should, we should be a town that you can you can feel safe in.

And and that's standing up in right places, right?

Not from my rights, but I'm standing up for somebody else's

rights, right? And that is whenever we talk

about liberty, that's what we want to be talking about.

We want to be talking about we're here to stand up for those

that can't stand up for themselves.

And and that is what God does all through the all through

this. And that was the end with Paul

and him going to Lydia and him going to the other brothers in

the faith of using using that the that the magistrates are now

back on their heels and using that and Sam.

But now let let's be clear, I'm friends because you know, they

were it's a rumor town, right? They were already everybody knew

who Paul was at that point. So now they're watching him and

where he's going. Well, we can't mess with Lydia.

We can't mess with these guys because if we do, right?

So he used his influence to cover others, to take care of

others, and. Romans 12/16 really tells us the

opposite of being a carnal Christian. 12 Romans 12/16

through 18 Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but

give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably

with all. And we will receive wisdom

because we will be able to understand it when we act like

that. Verse 17 of James it says, But

wisdom from above is pure and peaceable, gentle, open to

reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

It is ours to be that. But the only way any of that

happens is if I step out of the way and I say, Lord, whatever

you want to do with my life, I want that done right.

I, I don't, I don't need to look any particular way.

Lord, I need to let you do the work back in back in

Corinthians, Paul's talking to him and says yet among you the

mature, sorry, chapter 2, six and seven.

It says, yet among you the mature we do impart wisdom,

although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of

this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and

hidden wisdom of God, which God, God decreed before the ages for

your glory. So God has ways of doing things

when you you you can pull little sections out of out of the story

with Paul and and go what was going on there?

But when you read the whole thing, you can go so Paul, so

Paul was just submitted to the Lord in his life all the way

through that story and and you got to know you remember Luke's

right, Luke is writing the story.

And so Luke an outside observer. I mean a meekness, Jesus in

meekness. OK, this is sometimes I get

emotional on this one because I can picture being so when Jesus

was about to be crucified and they put a hood over his head

and the Roman soldiers are pumping him and punching him in

the face and saying prophecy, who hit you?

Who else was in that room? I mean who?

Who do you imagine was in that room?

So Jesus was there. There were some Roman soldiers

there. And his angels were there.

Gabriel was in that room because I'm.

I'm putting him there because where would you be?

Michael was in that room. Picture their hands on their

swords. Or just say it.

Clear your throat. Do anything.

We can end this now. But they didn't because Jesus

didn't tell him to. That's that's our job as

believers to be that kind of close to God that we know what

he's saying in every room because we're in our word, We're

praying, we're asking the Lord to give me your words for these

people, right? I mean that, that picture of

Jesus in that moment. And I mean, all he had to say is

I am and you aren't, you know, and that was the end of it.

And but he had a legion of angels, twelve of them that that

could have just wiped out, wiped out Jerusalem.

We're just done. So that's power, right?

But power and control. Jesus had power and Jesus, but

his angels had devotion to their God, even to the point of

allowing that. Do we have that?

Do we have that closeness with him that we know that we know

what he's telling us to do? Verse 18 A harvest of

righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace and we

can only make the peace James is talking about.

It isn't about being soft and wimpy and and milk toast and

quiet. It's about speaking for the Lord

when the Lord wants spoken for, right?

It's it's Lord you need to tell me what to say and when to say

it. My mouth is your mouth, my ears

are your ears, but that's that's a daily thing.

That ain't a Sunday morning thing.

That's a all day every day. That's a be in your word, be in

your word, be in prayer. Philippians 1/8 through 12/8.

Sorry, chapter one, eight through 11.

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with an

affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your

love may abound more and more with the knowledge and all

discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent.

And so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with

the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus to the glory

and praise of God. So see, that's Paul's prayer for

every church that he left, and that's our prayer for each

other. And that's my prayer for you.

That is, that is our desire, right?

Is that we are doing what the Lord wants us to do. 25 years

ago, I gave my life to the Lord. It's pretty awesome.

And there is, there is nothing about my previous life that I

would, I would say, Lord, you know, I really love what I have

now, but can I have a little little of that?

There's nothing. There's nothing I had before.

My friendships are better, my friendships are better.

My my sleep is better. My life is better.

And and it's not better because I took control.

It's better because I gave it to him.

And so we're going to do communion.

And if we're going through communion, I don't know

everybody here. If you want this, it is a really

simple conversation. Lord, I can't you need to thank

you for what you did on the cross.

Thank you that you were willing to take that for me.

If you're, if you're here today and and you're just Lord, I want

to do what you want me to do or spend this time, spend this time

and this song as we're, as we're passing out communion to just do

business with him and say, say, Lord, I want your wisdom.

I want you to take everything and you use it how you want to

use it. So if everybody if the I should

want to come up and we'll we'll pass it out and then we'll take

it together.