Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right.
Good afternoon, everybody.
Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church.
If you could please open up your red hymnals to page 409.
Hold the fort.
Page 409.
Hold the fort.
Oh, my comrade, see the signal waving in the sky.
Reinforcements now appearing.
Victory is nigh.
Hold the fort, for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace, we will see the mighty host advancing
Satan leading on.
Mighty men around us falling.
Courage almighty.
Holy men around us falling.
Courage almost gone.
Hold the fort, for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace, we will see the glorious banner
Waving here the trumpet blow.
In our leader's name we triumph over every foe.
Hold the fort, for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace, we will.
On the last fierce and long the battle rages,
But our help is near.
Onward comes our great commander.
Cheer, my comrades, cheer.
Hold the fort, for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace, we will.
All right, brother Rick, would you please open us in a word of prayer?
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much. We can gather here tonight in your house.
Dear Lord, we thank you so much.
Pastor Thompson's here to preach a message for us tonight.
And Lord, we're so grateful.
Bless our time together tonight.
And bless the message.
In Jesus' precious name. Amen.
All right, if you could open up your hymnals to page 289.
289.
Does Jesus care?
And yes, He does.
Jesus cares.
Does Jesus care?
When my heart is pained too deeply for mirth and song,
As the burdens press and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long.
Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.
Does Jesus care?
When my way is dark with a nameless dread and fear,
As the daylight fades into deep nightshades,
Enough to be near.
Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.
He cares.
Does Jesus care?
When I've tried and failed to resist some temptation strong,
When for my deep grief I find no relief,
Flow all the night long.
Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.
He cares.
Oh, Jesus cares.
When I've said goodbye to the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks,
To Him does He see.
Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.
Great singing, everybody.
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Sure, I mean, I was about to say Sure Foundation.
Bible Believers Baptist Church for our Wednesday service, and this will be my first week doing a Bible study,
so I'm excited about that. And not ever, but at this church.
Anyway, if you need a bulletin, would you just lift up your hand? I think the bulletins have already been handed out here.
If you need a bulletin, all right, thank you. On our front cover, we have our verse of the week.
It's Isaiah 25 verse 8. It says, He will swallow up death and victory,
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces,
and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken it. And when the Lord speaks it, it comes to pass. Amen.
On the inside of our bulletin, there's a short message that's fixed, I think, from the last week,
where we had the wrong church name in there. But anyway, if you have any questions,
any spiritual questions for me after the service, or if you've never been baptized,
and you'd like to be baptized, or, you know, and if you've never been saved and you want to be saved,
please feel free to come talk to me. I'd like to show you, or just answer any questions you might have
about our church or about what we believe. And we do have a WhatsApp group
that I think almost everybody is in, except for Brother Rick. I'm just going to call him out right now.
He has still not downloaded it. That'll be like Facebook for him. He'll have to figure it out.
But yeah, once everybody gets that figured out, that's how we kind of communicate. It's like a bulletin board
messaging system. So pretty soon you guys will get used to it, and then you'll be able to, you know,
communicate very easily back and forth. And, you know, if there's some kind of need that comes through.
I don't want to start a separate prayer request group right away,
but we might end up needing to do that just for prayer requests on Wednesday nights.
So if we put all the prayer requests in there, that's what I usually do at our church is they get,
our prayer requests get put in the prayer request group. It's a separate group than our regular soul winning group.
So then you can just put whatever prayer requests you have in there. And then whoever's doing the prayer requests,
which will be me if I'm here or whoever's doing it, then you can just read them off and then pray.
So it works pretty good for our church. And if there's people that are,
just have an email address, we can also try to put them on the email mailing list
if they don't know how to use that, that app or whatever. So anyway,
our service times here at Bible Believers Baptist Church, in case you didn't notice,
we have some new signs out there that look really nice. And our service times are 10 30 a.m.
for our preaching service, 3 30 p.m. for our second service on Sunday evenings.
And then there's soul winning in between those services about 1 30,
1 15 or something like that. And Wednesday service is 6 p.m. for the Bible study.
And we are a family integrated church. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services.
We do have a mother baby room that is up the stairs and to the left there.
And we don't have the sound pumped in there yet. And I'm sure we're going to spruce it up more as we go along.
But I know Brother Josh has already picked up the stuff to to get the sound and everything and a monitor so they can still watch the preaching.
So that'll be installed here in the next couple of weeks, more than likely.
So but at that point, then, when there's children in the service and they become really distracting or disruptive,
parents can just take them back there. Moms only, though we don't we don't have a dad baby room.
So it'd have to be the moms only at this point. But anyway, so please, no unattended children.
And also the rocker chairs are for pregnant nursing mothers or elder elderly only.
And please just help us keep the building the way we found it as much as possible.
Sometimes messes happen. But if everybody would just gather their their things and just kind of look at the lay of the land where they were there,
where they sat, then maybe just throw the trash out. Just helps it make it easier.
It's a big building with I know we have some volunteers that help clean it up and I appreciate that.
But if we could just all pitch in and help, it makes things makes life a lot easier on those that are cleaning.
So thank you for that. And if you would please silence your cell phone at this time and or put your phone on airplane mode for the rest of the service.
And then if you need assistance to your vehicle, we have a couple ushers.
We have a few ushers here and they have a little badge that says Usher on them so you can notice them really easily.
But they'd be happy to walk you to your car. You know, sometimes we get ailments and things like that.
But there's also, you know, the when it gets dark, you know, earlier, you know, ladies out there walking out there by themselves.
I mean, I don't know if this is a dangerous neighborhood or not. Doesn't seem like it is.
But you just never know. But we just offer the service. So and then please.
Oh, yeah. The online donations are are coming soon. It's just taking some time.
I don't even know if anybody wants to do that, but we'll try to make it available.
And there's a lot of stuff that's on my to do list. So slowly but surely we'll get it done. Our own Web site, things like that.
So and if you look over on the right page, there just shows the number of salvations so far.
And it's not counting what happens Sunday. So I think you guys had three salvations. Is that right? On Sunday.
So praise God for that. So so that is great.
And if you look down, you can see the July ties and offerings that have come in and the attendance from last.
I guess it was the weekend I was here. Forty nine and forty eight. And then we had 20 on the Wednesday service upcoming events.
If you're wanting to go, what is it, three hours from here to Spokane or something like that.
But Pastor Anderson's preaching there. Six thirty p.m. And he's also preaching at our home church in Vancouver,
Washington at six thirty p.m. on July 20th, July 20th through 23rd. So Red Hot Preaching Conference.
If anybody wants to go to that, it's still time to go and get involved in that if you want.
And it's goes from the 20th to 23rd will be a lot of good preachers.
There are a lot of it's called red hot preaching because it's so hot in Sacramento and the preaching is hot, too.
So you might get a little uncomfortable, but you know, I mean, if you just look if you just if you just read Ezekiel, Jeremiah and those books.
I mean, there's some pretty red hot preaching. Those Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, if you read all three of those back to back,
you know, if that's how you read your your your Bible in order like that, you can come out pretty feeling pretty rough after that.
So preachers preach hard messages in the Bible. So a lot harder than the ones that I can preach. I know that.
Anyway, there's also a Toronto soul winning trip that's coming up and we do have details about that if anybody was interested in the preaching schedules on the back.
We'll have all the birthdays for July in the notes and anniversaries for this month coming up.
I think Alicia Miss Alicia emailed him to the person that does our bulletin. And so, yeah, the I think the everything's right in the preaching schedule.
Right. I think we've got the right people flipped in the right places. So, yeah, everything.
I don't think I have any other announcements other than that. But let's go ahead and sing another song and then we'll take up the offering.
All right. Two oh four. Go ahead and turn everybody. Go ahead. Turn your hymnals to page two hundred and four.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Two hundred and four.
Oh, soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see.
There's light for a look at the Savior and life more abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting, He passed and we follow Him there.
Over us in no more half dominion. For more than conquerors we are.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
On the last. His word shall not fail you. He promised. Believe Him and all will be well.
Then go to a world that is dying. His perfect salvation to tell.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
All right, we will receive our offering right now.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for today, dear Lord. Thank you for your love, grace, and mercy.
I just pray you bless the offering. Dear Heavenly Father, bless the message.
In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, if everybody could open up their Bibles to James chapter 1.
James chapter 1. James chapter 1 reads,
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and abradeth not, and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flowers of the grass he shall pass away.
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth.
So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.
For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.
And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will beget he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Pure religion, and undefiled before God, and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Brother Rick, would you give us a word of prayer?
Dear Lord, thank you for this Bible reading, and we pray that you would give Master Thompson great power in preaching at this chapter.
In Jesus' precious name, amen.
Amen, all right. Well, we're in James chapter 1, and so we're starting off. Is this, does it sound weird? It sounds weird to me. Is there like an echo?
Okay, I'll try to quit moving.
Anyway, I do have a lot of verses to go through, and I want to give a brief overview of the book of James.
And to me, the book of James is like the proverbs of the New Testament.
So obviously you've got the book of Proverbs, and that transcends either testament in reality, but it was written in the Old Testament.
But I kind of look at, this book has a lot of wisdom in it, a lot of godly wisdom, a lot of wisdom just for the Christian life.
And so we'll be going through that. I'm not sure if I'm going to preach one whole chapter every time, but I'm going to do my best to get this one done tonight.
But there's a lot of wisdom, there's a lot of Christian living wisdom, and how to be an effective Christian.
Because, you know, in this time, now more than ever, we need to know how to be effective Christians, because there's just a lot of light is dying in this world.
And we need to be able to proclaim not just, you know, we need to proclaim the truth, the true light that came into the world, Jesus Christ.
And it teaches us how also, a big theme in it is teaching us that good works should accompany our faith, and that we should show our faith by our works.
Actually in chapter 2 it covers that. But some people take and twist some of the passages in James like faith without work is dead.
So they'll say, well, see if you don't have the works and you're not really saved. But that's not what that verse is saying.
And I'll cover that obviously in James chapter 2 next week, but that's not what it's saying.
Because if you had, so you have faith and it's dead, it's still faith. It's just not doing anything.
So if you have faith and you keep it to yourself and you never do any good works, well, then how would people see your faith?
How would they know? Like how do they know Abraham was faithful? We have lots of Bible stories of him being faithful.
And obviously good works is not a test for us to see who's good and bad.
Because Mormons walk by your house and try to offer to cut your yard or unload a U-Haul or things like that.
But that doesn't make them, does that mean that they're good people just because they do good works?
No, because they're doing it for an agenda and they're actually a cult.
So anyway, that's next week. I'm jumping ahead of myself here.
But the book of James is written by James, of course, the brother of the Lord. This is what I believe.
Not James the Apostle. So there's, you know, in the New Testament there's a lot of people that have the same names.
Like there's like 18 Marys. No, there's a lot of Marys. Mary's a popular name. It's a common name.
But Miriam is actually, you know, the form, you know, where they got, Miriam is actually what it is in the Bible.
You know, obviously in the Old Testament Moses' sister's name was Miriam.
But anyway, James, there's a few people named James in the Bible and I just want to make sure that people understand that it's not the James the Apostle.
So, and of course, you know, I believe there's a lot of really good circumstantial evidence to see that this is the truth about the matter.
But of course it is still, there's no specific verse that says this was James the Lord's brother.
But I believe when we look at some of these verses you're going to see that that is probably the most plausible view.
Now, tradition says it was also James the half brother of Jesus Christ as well.
So, but I don't base my opinion on commentary, what tradition says, because tradition can be wrong.
You know, tradition, you know, has a picture of Jesus with long hair wearing a dress.
So, I mean, Jesus didn't have long hair and a dress. That was a picture that someone made 500 years or whatever, 500 years after Christ had already lived on this earth or whatever.
So, anyway, so let's look at a couple of verses and I want to show you what I'm talking about when it comes to James.
So, I'm just going to have you turn to Acts chapter 1 verse 13 and I'm going to read Matthew 10 to as you go there.
It says in Matthew chapter 10 to, now the names of the 12 apostles are these.
The first Simon who was called Peter and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother.
So, James was one of the apostles of the Lord Jesus, but this James that wrote this book is also an apostle, but he's not one of the 12.
So, James the apostle, the son of Zebedee, the brother of John who wrote the book of John and Revelation and first, second and third John.
He is, so this is not that James and I'm going to make that case here.
So, Acts 1, 13 says, and when they were come in, they went up into an upper room.
They were both Peter and James and John and Philip, or excuse me, Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew,
James the son of Alphaeus and Simon, Zelotes and Judas, the brother of James.
So, you got three James in this passage right here. You see that?
And so, one of these is the right one, the one that wrote this epistle in my opinion.
And so, you have James the son of Alphaeus, but then you have Judas the brother of James.
So, Judas, you know, there's a book called Jude in the New Testament, right?
But his name is Judas. That's what the name is.
So, you know, you can't, you know, the title or the spelling or how, you know,
because you have different ways of pronouncing the New Testament names versus the Old Testament names.
And for whatever reason, they just called that book Jude. I'm not exactly sure why, but that's what it is.
This is Judas and these two guys here at the end here of this verse 13 are the Lord Jesus Christ brothers.
So, I know the Catholics don't understand this because, you know,
they want to say that Mary is a perpetual virgin that never had children, which is not true.
You know, there's plenty of passages in the Bible like, in one instance, Jesus is preaching and it says,
hey, your mother and your sisters and your brothers are outside wanting to talk to you.
And then he says, who is my mother? Who is my brother? Who is my sister?
So, why would he say that? Why would someone tell Jesus, hey,
your brothers and sisters are outside if he didn't have any brothers and sisters?
See, the Catholic Church wants to make Mary a goddess unto her own.
And so, they basically just took these goddesses that they worshipped in the Roman times
and in the Greeks and the Pantheons and just stuck it inside the Catholic Church,
like they do with all the saints and all that kind of stuff.
So, but if you're not, if you're like, well, it doesn't really say that that's Jesus' brothers.
Well, let me read on here. It says, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication
with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren.
So, what's that mean? His brothers. So, it's probably his sisters also, I would guess.
But she had several children and Judas and James are the names of two of them
and two of those people are writers in the New Testament.
Although short books, they are still writers of the New Testament.
So, look at Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter number 6.
And again, I'm just kind of laying the groundwork here.
Like, why does it matter, like, which person wrote it?
Well, I mean, we're in a Bible study, so, you know, I mean, I like studying stuff like this.
I think it's interesting. And it's good to know what you're talking about.
What do you say? Well, which James was it?
And then, like, you have three James in the same passage.
You know, it's like, okay, so who is this James?
Okay, so Mark 6-3 says, is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James?
You see that? And, and Joseph and of Judah.
So, James, Joseph, Judah and Simon.
So, there's all of his brothers right there.
And then, if you look at James and Judah, those are the same James, like I said,
that I believe are writers in the New Testament.
It says, and are not his sisters here with us?
And they were offended at him.
So, they didn't want to believe in Jesus, of course,
because their Messiah was something that they were just confused about who he was
and where he came from and all kinds of different things.
But I'm just making this point to show you that he did have brothers.
It says it right there in the Bible.
Now Jude, if you'll turn to the book of Jude, Jude chapter 1,
the only chapter in Jude is one chapter.
And verse number 1, it should be easy to find.
It's the first book before, it's the last book before Revelation.
And it says, Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of who?
What's it say?
Brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Jesus Christ and called.
So, see it says Jude, so he's telling us who he is.
He's Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.
So, I've already showed you a few verses where it mentions them in the same sentence
as brothers of Jesus, right?
Now turn to Galatians chapter 1 verse 18.
Galatians chapter 1 verse 18.
No.
No, don't pay for it.
Anyway, so Galatians chapter 1 verse 18, the Bible says,
Then after three years, this is Paul talking,
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter
and abode with him fifteen days.
But other of the apostles, so there's other apostles, right?
Other of the apostles saw a nun save James the Lord's brother.
So, right there it tells us in Galatians chapter 1 verse 18 and 19
that Paul went up to Jerusalem, he saw Peter, he was there fifteen days,
but he didn't see any of the other apostles save James the Lord's brother.
So, what does that tell you?
That James the Lord's brother was also an apostle.
And how did he meet that qualification?
Well, he saw the risen Christ, you know, and he wasn't necessarily a believer.
Maybe, we don't know when he became a believer,
but we know back when they're outside trying to talk to him,
they probably weren't believers in him at that point.
And, you know, his brothers really didn't believe in him until later on.
So, now just turn one chapter over into Galatians chapter 2 verse 9.
Galatians chapter 2 verse 9.
So, there is two apostles named, there's actually three apostles it sounds like named James,
but one's the Lord's brother, one's the apostle John's brother,
and then James the son of Alphaeus.
And then Galatians 2 verse 9 says,
When James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars,
perceived the grace that was given unto me,
they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship,
that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
So, now this James, although it's listed with John and Peter,
because Cephas is Peter, this is not James, John's brother.
And I'll tell you why, because at this time, James, John's brother is already dead.
He was killed by Herod, and I'll go to that verse here in just a minute,
but I want you to notice here at the very end it says that,
so Paul, where did Paul go? He went to the Gentiles, right?
And then it says, they unto the circumcision.
So, who was James, Peter, and John, who was their main ministry to?
It was to the Jews, to the ones that, you know, the twelve tribes of Israel,
you know, so there's this transition period that goes on,
and, you know, at first, most of the people getting saved are Jews,
and then it kind of transitions to the Gentiles.
A lot of the Jews didn't want to hear, obviously they rejected Christ,
and so turn to Acts chapter 12 verse 1.
I'm almost done with the beginning intro,
and I'll get right into the main bulk of the book of James,
but I kind of just want to show you why I believe that this is James, the Lord's brother here.
So, Acts 12, 1, the Bible says,
Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church,
and he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
So, this is early on in the new church here,
and Paul, although Paul is already saved at this point,
you know, he did kill James, the brother of John,
but there was another guy named James that was the leader of the church.
Now, skip down to verse 17.
That James was not the pastor of the church in Jerusalem,
but this guy I believe was James the Lord's brother.
Look what it says in verse 17.
But he beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace,
declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison,
and he said, Go show these things unto James and to the brethren,
and he departed and went into another place.
So, there's James mentioned, you know, he died in chapter,
or in the same chapter, the other James, John's brother.
So, Herod killed him.
So, again, that James is dead.
The James that's the pastor in chapter 15 of the church in Jerusalem is James the Lord's brother.
That's what I believe.
That's what I believe the Bible teaches.
So, let's get into James, the actual book here.
So, with all that stuff in mind, just understanding who it is that's writing here,
and remember how Jude, in that first sentence, he's like the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look what James says in his first verse.
It says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To what? The twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.
Greeting.
So, he's writing this letter, and it's addressed to the twelve tribes,
and so, what did it say in that verse that I turned to before?
That he was supposed to go under the circumcision, right?
Those guys that stayed in Jerusalem, Peter, James, and John,
they were the ones that were supposed to reach the circumcision.
Paul went to the Gentiles, right?
So, now James is writing here, and I believe, obviously, like I said, that he is the Lord's brother.
So, and then it obviously says, to the twelve tribes.
Now, does that mean that this doesn't apply to us?
No, of course it applies to us. It's in the Bible.
And, you know, when Jesus died, the veil was rent and twain.
And we are all one in Christ Jesus.
So, whatever tribe or tongue or wherever you come from, everybody is equal in Jesus Christ.
So, even though Jesus said to go to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles,
that was just because he wanted to gather together the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And ultimately, they basically turned their back on the things of God.
And the Jews are blinded to this day. That's what the Bible says.
So, they, and for the most part, are blind and will not receive the gospel.
It's a very rare thing, even though people still call them God's chosen people.
But it's hard to be a God's chosen people if you spit on the ground three times
every time the name Jesus is mentioned, which is what they do.
So, they're taught from a very early age not to believe in Jesus
and say many blasphemous things about him.
But that's not saying that no Jew could get saved.
You know, someone that calls themselves a Jew, they can still be saved, obviously.
We believe that they could be saved.
I know we get accused of saying that we hate Jews and want them killed and all this stuff.
And that's just not true. That's not true.
I've never preached anything like that. I never will.
But, here's the truth of the matter.
Who was persecuting the church in the book of Acts?
It was the Jews.
They were the ones, the Romans were actually helping them.
So, when Paul was getting killed by all the Jews, you know, they were beating him to death,
a Roman centurion went down and grabbed him and snatched him up and took him up into the castle
and it was like, then he was going to beat him and then he realized he was a Roman citizen
and that wasn't a good idea, but he did still save him, you know.
Paul was a Roman citizen, so he had rights that other people didn't have.
It's kind of like being an American citizen where if someone hears from a different country,
they don't have the same rights as we do as American citizens.
So, you can kind of see how that is.
But, anyway, let's look at verse number 2.
The Bible says,
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.
So, in this life, you know, the Christian life, it's not easy and we're going to fall into diverse temptations.
It means different types of temptations, right?
Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
So, and can God try our faith?
Absolutely.
He tried Abraham's faith, didn't he?
I mean, he got to the point where he was about to plunge the knife into his son's own body
and then he was like, just about to do it, and he's like, wait, hold up, and then he stopped, right?
So, God did try Abraham.
Now, this is, and people get confused over this, and the Bible is actually going to explain this for us,
but trying of our faith is something that God is going to allow to happen by other people.
You know, hard things are going to come into our lives
and we're just going to have to realize that that's what that is.
It's a trial of our faith.
And, you know, what are you going to do when everything is going against you
and you feel like God's forsaking you even though he never will?
You know, when you're going through a hard time, you know, that's when God's going to see,
well, what is this person really made of?
And sometimes he tests us and you're like, well, I don't really think that's right.
Well, he's God, so he can do what he wants, but he's doing it to help us.
So, when we go through trials, when we go through temptations,
when we go through these things, see how it says worketh patience.
Now, have you ever heard people say don't pray for patience?
You know, I've actually prayed for patience before,
and I know that me and my wife have both done this before,
and I'm telling you, when you do that, it's a bad idea because everything will go wrong
because really patience, and I'll just give you the definitions of patience,
patience is the suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil
with calm, unruffled temper, endurance without murmuring or fretfulness,
patience may spring from the constitutional fortitude from a kind of heroic pride
or from Christian submission to God's will. That's a long definition, really.
But what does it boil down to? Well, when you're going through affliction,
when you're going through pain, when you're going through toil,
when you're having calamity in your life,
and calamity is when everything is crashing down around you.
You know, I mean, think about Job.
Job had like all these things happen to him in the same day,
and then he just kind of finally, he just was like, all right, I'm done.
I'm shaving my head, and you know, he's just like, you know,
naked came out of my mother's womb, and naked did there shall I return.
He didn't have anything left. His children died.
His wife said curse God and die. He was having problems with his marriage.
All of his riches were gone.
Everything happened to him in one day, and that's an extreme case.
That's probably not going to happen to you as a Christian.
But why is the book of Job in the Bible?
Well, the book of Job is in the Bible to show us what things we could suffer in our lives
and how to respond to it the right way.
It's not, you know, Job said, you know, he said,
I'm not even going to, I'm not going to curse God.
You know, he said, you sound like one of the foolish women.
That's what he told his wife. He's like, hey, you know,
and give Job's wife a break, or give his wife a break.
I mean, she lost all of her children in one day.
She went through all the same things he did, you know, pretty much,
and she was, you know, she kind of failed that part of the temptation, didn't she?
Because that's not a good thing to say.
But, you know, he stayed married to her.
In the end, Job came out like gold.
You know, when we go through that refining fire of our lives,
and maybe you've been through those things, and you're like, man,
and what it's saying here, it worketh patience.
So patience is not, you know, not having a bad temper,
because that's what most people think that that means.
But patience is being able to, once, when you're going through hard things,
that you're not going to lose your Christianity,
you're not going to turn your back on God,
you're not going to lose your cool over everything that happens,
or act like, you know, everything's all over, and you quit church.
And, you know, I've seen people go through some pretty hard things,
and a lot of times you'll see that the first thing they try to do is quit on God,
like he, you know, he's the one that it's all his fault or something.
And that's just not the right attitude to have.
You should, instead of not going to church, you should go to church.
Instead of not reading your Bible, you should read your Bible.
Instead of not praying, you should pray.
So, when you go through these things, it worketh patience.
It says, but let patience have her perfect work,
that you may be patient, or perfect, excuse me, an entire wanting nothing.
So, what is the purpose of having trials in our life and trying our faith?
Well, it helps us to deal with those things better.
And the other thing it helps us do, is it helps us to help other people
that are going through similar things.
Because, you know, one of the worst things that I know happens,
you know, in church is people lose their children,
or people have children that are sick.
Those are some of the hardest things that I deal with,
with someone who's had a miscarriage that's, you know, really far along or something.
That's terrible. It's awful.
Or a child born with, you know, really bad physical issues and things like that.
Some kind of, you know, genetic issue or something.
And those are things that are hard to deal with.
But, you know, we should just, if you've gone through something like that,
you've gone through that trial, well maybe, you know,
and I'm not saying God did that on purpose or something like that.
We live in a fallen world, in a sinful world,
and, you know, bad things are going to happen when sin is running amok.
And, you know, one day we're not going to have to worry about any of that.
But what I'm saying is that, like, if you've gone through a trial,
maybe you can use that to help somebody else that goes through that trial later on.
Maybe you can comfort somebody.
Like, I'll never have a miscarriage because I'm a man, number one.
And number two, you know, it's just not going to happen.
You know, I don't have the genetics for it.
But, obviously, my wife could have had one, but she never has.
So, it might be easier for someone that's gone through that
than for me to comfort someone because I just don't know what it feels like.
You know what I mean?
So, our experiences and our lives are there to help other people, too.
And, you know, as hard as those things are,
but God wants us to be able to minister to each other.
He wants us to be able to help each other.
And so, it says to be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
He wants us to become perfect Christians.
And that doesn't mean that you're walking on water
and that you can raise people from the dead or something.
It's talking about that you're complete.
That's what perfect means.
You're like the complete package.
You know, you're well-rounded in the ways of the bot.
You have a good understanding of everything.
You do everything that a Christian should do for the most part.
Nobody's perfect, obviously, as far as being sinless and all that stuff.
But we can get better.
And sometimes the trials of our lives help us to get better in those ways.
Keep your finger in James here or a ribbon or a bookmark
and then turn to Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5, verse number 3, the Bible says,
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations,
also knowing that tribulation worketh patience.
So, I mean, it's hard to glory and have this great joy
when you're going through a hard time in your life,
but that's what the Bible says we should do.
And obviously, that's not the first feeling that comes upon us
when hard things happen in our life, is it?
But the Bible's here to guide us and to help us to do better in our life.
Why is this verse here?
So that we know that when we are going through tribulation,
when we're going through a hard time,
when we're going through sadness and loss of life
and all the many things,
at some point, we're going to lose everything.
We're going to lose everybody we love,
every object we own, everything.
We're going to lose it all in this life.
But we have a life to look forward to in heaven.
But we need to understand that we're going to lose it all.
And it's hard.
And when we lose and we keep losing, it does help us to grow.
So say you lose a loved one.
Well, the next time you lose a loved one, obviously, it still hurts,
but it's not going to be the same as the first devastating loss of your life.
You know what I mean?
So the first person that dies that you really love and really cared about
and really close to, and I don't know when anybody else has gone through,
but when my grandma died, it devastated me
because we were really close.
But I believe she's in heaven, and I believe that she's going to heaven.
But it really affected me badly.
And I just know that there's lots of people,
and I know that people in this room have lost people, and it's hard.
And nothing really can prepare you for that hurt and loss.
But when we've lost people, then we can comfort other people
that have lost people as well.
So hopefully that makes sense to you.
Let's look back at our text at James 5 verse 10.
So just know this, that we're going to lose it all,
and our life on this earth is hard.
It's really difficult, because knowing that truth,
knowing that you amass all this stuff,
you look around and people just care about all this stuff,
all this wealth, you can't take it with you.
Your kids are going to fight over it.
Your kids are going to fight over the house.
Your kids are going to fight over the wealth,
and that's just the way it is.
It stinks. Hopefully that doesn't happen.
Everything's all laid out, so you know who's getting what.
But even so, I've seen people,
I know when my step-grandma died,
one of her sons went in and took all of her precious jewelry,
all the stuff that she'd been saving for her whole life,
which that stuff was supposed to be divvied out to all the kids equally,
but he just went in and stole it when he knew she was dead,
so he could sell it or whatever.
I mean, what a piece of garbage.
But that's just, you can't worry about that kind of stuff,
because once you're gone, it's gone.
I don't want to see my kids fight over anything like that.
That would be terrible, but you see it happen.
Who knows somebody in here?
Who knows somebody that you saw their family go
after the wealth of somebody that passed away?
I mean, it's just weird, and it's too bad.
But you know, life is more than the things we have in this world.
We should be storing up things in heaven,
and storing up riches in heaven as opposed to storing them up here.
But anyway, verse 10 in James 5, it says,
Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord,
for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
Behold, we count them happy which endure.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job,
and have seen the end of the Lord,
that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
So he alludes to Job.
This is kind of a saying that comes from this verse.
They're like, oh, you must have the patience of Job.
And it's usually about somebody's bad temper,
or they're going through something hard.
You have the patience of Job.
I used to have a boss that would say that.
I have the patience of Job.
Like when he's dealing with people that are messing up at work or whatever.
But he really didn't have the patience of Job.
But anyway, so yeah, I mean,
but Job is the example of someone that endured a lot of loss,
a lot of heartache, and in the end,
God gave him double back of everything that he lost.
Everything, except for his kids.
But he did get, so he had ten children that died,
but he got ten more.
And here's the thing, you can't ever bring that child back
once they pass away, but you can have more.
And so he didn't double his children.
That would be a lot of children for his wife to have.
But he did get ten more children.
And God blessed Job in the end
because of how he dealt with the things that were thrown at him.
He's the example, you know, it's like you have the Proverbs 31 woman
that is the example of the best wife, the best mother,
the best Christian woman you could be.
I think that Job, except for Jesus, of course,
Jesus is the greatest man that ever walked the face of the earth,
but Job is the example of someone that we should look to
when we're going through trials, when we're going through tribulations,
and how he dealt with it.
You know, that God loved him.
And even though Job didn't know what was going on and why it was going on,
he still just said, you know what, I'm still going to worship God.
I'm still going to love God.
And yet, even though if he slays me,
yet I will trust in him, is what he said.
So we go through trials, we go through hard things,
and it talked about the prophets suffering affliction and impatience.
And, you know, people that preach the word of God,
people that, you know, in the Bible, in the Old Testament,
even in the New Testament, I mean, what happened to John,
the last prophet in the Old Testament?
He got his head chopped off. Why?
Because he was preaching hard against sin.
He was preaching against the king.
He was preaching against Herod.
He was preaching against his wife.
He was preaching that he stole his brother's wife and married her,
or him, or he married her, his brother's wife, excuse me, yeah.
I hope he didn't marry him.
But anyway, but he, yeah.
So he basically stole his brother's wife,
and then they're just like out in public like it's no big deal,
and he's just ripping on them for it.
And that's why he ended up getting killed.
And people are like, well, do you have to preach the way you do all the time?
It's like, well, I mean, I'm a Baptist, so how do Baptists preach?
Well, you know, who do we have to look to as an example?
Well, John the Baptist, you know, his middle name is the last name Baptist.
I mean, we're not supposed to preach like John?
I mean, so, you know, people get mad when we preach against sin,
but it's just like that's what the prophets did in the Bible.
And, you know, they suffered for it.
So we're going to go through the refiner's fire.
The Bible says all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
So if you're living godly, if you're living a right life
being a Bible-believing Christian, at some point you're going to suffer for that,
whether that's from your family calling you a cult member,
your family calling you crazy or whatever,
like, oh, you go to church three times a week?
It's like, yeah.
Like, what else is there to do?
Sit around and watch Wheel of Fortune?
I mean, what do you want?
I mean, there's nothing on TV. It's garbage, right?
So I'd rather be in the house of the Lord three times a week,
you know, getting edified and, you know,
fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ,
praying with each other, you know,
sweating souls and, you know, ripping on sin,
preaching righteousness, preaching edifying sermons
that help people in their Christian life.
So that's what I would rather do.
But anyway, let's look back.
I should have had you hold your place in Rome.
I'll just read these verses for you.
I'll have you turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1.
2 Timothy 2, 1.
But in Romans 5, 4, it says,
And patience, experience, and experience hope.
So patience is where you're able to go through something,
and when you go through that thing,
then it gives you experience in going through that.
The first time I got heavily persecuted by, you know,
I mean, I've gotten persecuted lots of different times
for lots of different things,
but the first time I went through where people
were harassing me and threatening to kill me
and murder my family and blow up my church
and all this other stuff,
that was a lot, that was pretty rough.
I just never experienced anything like that.
My phone just ringing off the hook and being threatened
is pretty crazy.
Now it's just like, I don't even care.
Oh, you're going to kill me? Okay, whatever.
It's like, but that's what I'm talking about,
like, because that feeling of anxiety you get
when someone threatens you, it can just be a verbal threat,
and people say, well, words never hurt,
but words do hurt.
I mean, Elijah the prophet, you know,
he got a letter sent to him by Jezebel
after he killed 450 prophets of Baal.
He killed them, and he was like, you know, victorious,
and he's, you know, he's, you know, calling fire down,
and, you know, he just gets this great victory for the Lord,
and then some lady, some witch sends him a letter
and says you're going to be dead by this time tomorrow,
and he was like, ah!
He just like takes off, right?
He just runs for the hills, and it's like 450 guys, no problem.
One woman with a painted face, ah!
You know, I mean, she was a witch, so she was a bad person, too.
I mean, really evil, but, you know, I mean, he was,
when you get that type of persecution, though,
when someone says they're going to kill you,
I mean, you take it seriously,
and especially people that have no conscience,
I mean, you think about psychopaths, do they have a conscience?
No. Ted Bundy, did he have a conscience?
No, he was just a sick individual.
So, I mean, when you have people like that threatening to kill you,
you're kind of like, well, I should probably take this one serious, you know?
It's not like out of the bounds of the realms of things that psychopaths would do, right?
So, but my point is, is that when you get that,
when you learn to have patience in your afflictions,
in your tribulations, in your hard times, in the storms of your life,
because we're either going into a storm, in the middle of a storm,
or coming out of a storm, that's the reality of it, isn't it?
We're up on the mountain, we're down in the valley.
I mean, and it's nice to be out of the storm, right?
And then you kind of forget what the storm was like.
You're like, ah, you know, and then the next one comes,
and you're like, eh, it's not so bad.
You know, some thunder and lightning, it's not as bad as the last one.
So, you know, you go through that, and it gives you that experience.
And when you have that experience, you have hope, because you know what?
I got through it last time, and I'm going to get through it again.
That's the hope, right?
And it says, in hope, make it not a shame,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us.
So, you know, no matter how hard we have it,
we always know that God will never leave us nor forsake us.
And even if we're going through a hard storm,
we're like, why are we going through this, God?
We don't need to know.
We just need to know how to deal with that storm.
And how do we deal with it?
By just trusting in our God, realizing we have the Holy Ghost,
realizing there's some kind of purpose for it,
and just realizing as Christians, we are going to get persecuted.
So, you know, and people that try to be persecution-proof,
you know, you're going to get punished.
You know, so like, what would you rather get?
Rewards in heaven for being persecuted,
or punished for just forsaking God,
because you don't want to go through those types of things anymore?
I mean, which one are you going to choose?
You know, because nobody likes to get punished.
Children don't like to get punished.
Adults don't like to get punished.
But persecution, you get rewards for.
And then you can leap for joy and be like,
Ooh, you know, I got some rewards.
Someone told me they're going to kill me today.
Yay!
You know, you guys might not be dealing with stuff like that,
but, you know, and your persecution might not be what Elijah,
or what Job, or what any of these other people in the Bible went through,
but you're going to get it.
Whether that's your family telling you you're a weirdo,
cult member, which that seems to be the way the devil works,
you know, and that's why when some people,
you know, it talks to the parable of the sower or the seeds,
you know, some people, it went on stony ground,
and then when persecution arises, then by and by they're offended.
The first time someone says, What? You're a Jesus freak?
What do you believe in Jesus?
And they laugh at you at work or something.
It's like, and then they're just like, Oh, no, I'm not.
And then, you know, they stop serving God.
And that's lame.
We've got to get some roots and get grounded and get rooted up,
built up in the faith, and don't be, who cares what they think?
You know, who cares what some bozo that you work with says about,
you know, what you believe in?
It's like, Yeah, I do believe in Jesus. What's your problem?
You should probably believe in Him too, or you're going to go to hell.
2 Timothy 2 verse 1 says, Thou therefore my son be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men,
who should be able to teach others also.
Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
So we are soldiers whether you like it or not, woman or man, boy or girl,
we are called to be soldiers of Christ.
And you might not have a sword, you know, our swords and shields and our armor,
those are all spiritual things. Nobody can see them.
But you're supposed to still put them on and endure.
It says endure hardness. What do soldiers go through?
I mean, have you ever watched any of those World War II films
where it talks about just how bad everything was
and, you know, maybe you've watched a movie or something that has war in it.
I mean, war is a horrible thing.
And times where they're just in some muddy trench for days and weeks
and haven't taken a shower.
That's my worst fear about it.
It's like, I just want to be able to take a shower, right?
But, you know, you're in these like tropical places
and you probably smell like the worst ever
and then you're in mud and, you know, then people are shooting at you
and bombing you and killing your friends.
It's like, you know, he's saying endure hardness as a good soldier.
As soldiers, we should be prepared to go through a hard time.
It says no man that warth and taketh with himself in the affairs of this life
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
If you're safe today, whether you like it or not, you're a soldier.
So what kind of soldier are you? Are you a coward?
Are you going AWOL?
Or are you going to run into the battle for your Lord Jesus Christ?
And I'm talking about spiritually, okay?
Not physically.
Let's go back to James chapter 1.
Look at verse 5. The Bible says,
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God that giveth to all men liberally.
If any of you lack wisdom.
So sometimes we lack wisdom.
But hey, the good thing is that if we lack wisdom,
the Bible says let him ask of God.
Hey, guess what? God is our Father.
And you know, I don't know what your father was like,
but you know, my father liked to do nice things for me
if I asked him the right way and asked him for things that made sense.
You know, if you're like, God, please give me the mansion on the hill on a Ferrari.
It's like, yeah, I mean, is that what you need?
To go kill yourself in some Ferrari or to try to pay for a house tax?
Just the taxes alone on a mansion
are probably going to be more than most people's house payments, right?
I mean, we need to be wise in what we ask for, right?
But if you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally.
So what you have to do to get wisdom? Ask.
That's all you have to do. Just ask.
You're like, I'm so stupid, I wish I just knew this.
Ask God for it. That's what it's saying, right?
Ask God that giveth to all men liberally and abraighteth not.
He's not going to hold back the blessings for you.
It's like, we're just like, well, I'm just dumb.
I didn't pass high school and this and this and that.
What does that have to do with anything?
The wisdom that comes from God, you know, he's going to give that wisdom to you
and so maybe you do lack skills in some area.
Well, ask God to give you wisdom and apply yourself to knowledge.
Apply yourself to that wisdom and God will give it to you.
Isn't that what it says?
It says, and look at the last part it says,
and it shall be given him.
What do you have to do? Ask.
And what's going to happen? He's going to give it to you.
Wisdom.
And wisdom are things, you know, we need to know things in this life,
not just religious things, not just the things of the Bible,
which are really important, but there's other things that we need skills in in this life.
Work skills, people skills, all different types of skills,
and that takes wisdom.
You know, people go to school for years to be a doctor.
Why do they have to do that?
Well, because it takes a lot of wisdom to be able to be a doctor.
It takes a lot of knowledge and hard work and learning to get that.
But, you know, what's awesome about God is that he just gives it to you.
You know, and so if you're lacking somewhere in your wisdom,
when it comes to the spiritual things, then just ask God and he'll help you.
If you're having trouble wrestling with a passage in the Bible that you just don't understand,
ask God, help me understand this.
And maybe he's not going to help you understand it right then and there,
but he is going to help you understand it.
So, you know, if you have the Holy Spirit inside of you,
God will help you understand hard passages too.
So just ask God.
And it says,
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven from the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
So, you know, do you really want it? Well, ask.
And when he will ask for it, ask in faith.
Don't waver.
So this is one of those things that people are like,
I just don't know what the will of God is for my life.
Well, the Bible tells you what the will of God is for your life.
So you don't realize, should I pray?
I mean, does the Bible say to pray?
So like, do you need to ask God, well, should I pray or should I not pray?
There's just some things you don't have to ask for.
Should I go to church? Yes.
Should I read the Bible? Yes.
Should I pray? Absolutely.
Should I go soul winning? Yes.
Should I pray for the soul winners? Yes.
Should I help around the church? Yes.
I mean, God wants us to do all these things that you don't have to,
like some people are like, I just need to know what ministry God's leading me towards.
Just do what he says.
I mean, what do you mean ministry?
You know, the main ministry of the church is soul winning.
And you're going to hear that a lot from me because it's just the truth.
And that's how God's going to build this church right here.
On the back of soul winning, hard preaching.
And, you know, it's funny people, you know, we have such an easy gospel message
because the Bible says it's easy to get saved.
It's as easy as just eating a piece of bread, drinking a cup of water, walking through a door, you know.
And then people are like, you guys are making salvation too easy.
It's like, because it is.
But the problem is that people, they want to go their own way.
And that's why Jesus said those that came before me are thieves and robbers.
You can't, there is no other way.
Buddha's not right. Hinduism's not right.
Yeah, those religions are older than Christianity technically,
but he said those that came before me are thieves and robbers.
There's not many ways to heaven.
And even Bible believing Christians supposedly quote unquote will say,
oh yeah, there's other ways to get to heaven.
It's like, what are you learning?
You know, what are you learning in church?
If you actually believe that, then how, you know, or just like, you know,
what if two homos got married and came to church?
It's like, they wouldn't be allowed here.
Like, what do you mean?
Like, it's an abomination.
I just don't understand why someone would even ask that stupid question.
It's like, are you even saved?
Like, do you believe the Bible at all?
But anyway, so we should ask for wisdom
and there's just some things that are common sense though.
Things that God already told us to do in the Bible,
so there's no reason to pray about something that God already told you to do in the Bible, right?
For let us not think that man shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
So, we don't want to be double-minded in the things.
Do you want to serve God or do you not want to serve God?
I mean, don't be double-minded about it because a lot of people are.
Oh, yeah, I'm going to be in church, preacher.
You know, you get someone saved or you talk to someone else,
someone in there like, oh, yeah, I'll be at church and they don't show up.
I mean, most of the time, they don't show up.
Isn't that true?
Because a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.
You can't even trust whether they say they're going to come to church or not.
Like, if that's you, like, if you're like, preacher, I'm going to be in church.
You know, I mean, but don't say something you can't even promise to do
or don't promise to do something that you can't do
because the Bible says that we're supposed to say, you know,
Lord willing, we'll do this or that.
So, we don't know.
You could get in a car accident on the way over here,
then you're not making it to church and then you lied, right?
So, just be careful about those type of things.
But, you know, I think of the word cognitive dissident
and that's kind of a popular saying these days,
but it's the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes,
especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude changing.
So, you're like, I think it should be like this, but then you act the exact opposite.
You know, I think that fornication is wrong, but you're living in fornication.
You know what I mean?
It's like you can't be inconsistent
and that cognitive dissident is also like holding two different ideas about something
that are different from each other,
but then holding those two things simultaneously at the same time.
So, like in one sense, you're like sin is wicked, sin is wrong,
I shouldn't be doing this, but then you're like, I'm just going to do this anyway.
I don't care because, you know, this is just my pet sin
and God doesn't really care if I do this or that.
And it's just like people have these two conflicting things in their mind,
but instead of making excuses for the sins that you're committing,
why don't you just try your best to get over those things
and just confessing those sins to God
because nothing's going to get God's anger on you quicker
than if you just, you know, you know something's wrong,
but you still want to do it anyway, so you still do it anyway,
but then you act like you have an excuse to do it and you don't.
Like, well, where does it say that smoking cigarettes is a sin?
It doesn't say snorting cocaine is a sin either,
but, you know, do you think that's right?
How about doing mushrooms?
I mean, how about, you know, dropping acid or, you know, are those things good?
Smoking peyote or whatever they do with it?
I mean, those things are mind-altering things.
You know, it's destroying your temple, it's destroying your mind.
You know, pot is like a big deal.
You know, when I was growing up, you had to buy it from people
that were, you know, scummy type people,
but now you can just walk into any store and go pick up joints
or whatever you want to do or whatever,
but does that make it right?
Absolutely not.
You know, it's, they call it dope for a reason, people.
Because it makes you stupid.
Well, I see Joe Rogan on his podcast.
He seems like, no, he doesn't.
He doesn't even believe in God.
Like, why would you think that he's smart?
You know, he's doing all kinds of weird drugs and drinking alcohol,
and some of the things he says are interesting,
but like in reality, he's a God-hater.
He hates God.
He's an atheist, and he mocks God.
He's okay with any other religion except for the religion of Christianity.
So I like when he makes fun of, you know, Catholics and stuff like that,
but like other than that, you know, we should stay away from certain things
we just know we should stay away from,
but don't make excuses as to why you're doing it.
Just admit that it's sin and just ask God to help you.
You know, I used to smoke cigarettes a long time ago,
and it was hard to quit, really hard.
But you got these hyper-spirituals out there that they got saved,
and I never had another cigarette again for the rest of my life.
It's like, you liar.
I never wanted to have a cigarette.
I never wanted to do any, you know, it's just like, shut up, man.
There's things that, you know, they're called addictions for a reason,
because people get addicted to them, you know,
and there's lots of different things that people get addicted to.
You can get addicted to your phone, you know, caffeine.
I mean, not everything is super bad like caffeine,
but, you know, it's still an addiction.
If you stop drinking, if you're a big coffee drinker
and you try to just quit cold turkey like that, what's going to happen?
You're going to get massive headaches, and you're like,
I don't understand why my headaches are so bad.
It's so bad you go through, you know, withdrawals and whatever,
and, you know, I mean, but not all sin is easy to quit doing.
So some is easy, like blasphemy.
I talked about this in a sermon on Sunday.
That was an easy one for me to cure,
because when I read the Ten Commandments,
you know, one of the Ten Commandments that said that,
I was just like, wow, God is not going to hold you guiltless,
anyone that takes His name in vain.
It's like, that's serious.
And, you know, somebody blasphemed the name of the Lord in Moses' time,
and God said, stone on the stones.
You know, it was a serious offense.
If you blaspheme your God, you're going to pay for it.
So that's just, you know, to me, that's a serious sin
that I needed to get out of my life immediately,
because, you know, I didn't grow up in a Christian home,
and I didn't get saved until I was 25.
So you can imagine, you know, I had a lot of bad habits,
bad speech, and all these things,
but as a Christian, we should learn to clean those things up.
Obviously, you're never going to clean everything out of your life,
but don't be double-minded and just say,
well, I'm just doing this because I think it's okay,
and God will be okay with it when you know you're wrong about that.
Quit doing that.
Just admit it's wrong.
If you're still going to do it, whatever,
but try to quit doing whatever it is that you're doing
that you know that you need to get right in your life,
because that should be our goal,
is to be the best Christian we can be when our life is over.
.