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Chapel Service

 

Special Edition

 

 Orange Show Speedway

May 21, 2016

 

“The Book Of James”

A People of the Word – James 1: 18-27

 

www.BeyondCheckeredFlags.com

 

Bob Butcher

 

 

We are moving up to part two of the Book of James.

 

I am sure that you have already figured out that James is a pretty simple and straight forward message that doesn’t necessarily take anyone else to help you figure what the bottom line message is.  If we simply sit down and spend a little quality time with the Lord by asking Him to reveal what we need to understand in James, we will get it.

 

As I stated last time: James is a power packed book containing over 40 different commands on how to “live and do the Christian faith.”  Yeah, I said that James is not only relevant to his day, but also today, and the future of all mankind.  It is rock solid, period! 

 

God speaks His Word through His servant, or Prophet as He did through Isaiah 55:11:

 “My Word always accomplishes what I desire, and they’ll complete the assignment I gave them. My Word will never return to Me unfinished.”

 

The live video link for this message from James part #2 can be found at either:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO-VNxFlSRw&list=PLYrt1KvkFowEL_sik0Pow-ayNExUnTgF4&index=2

 

http://cothcommunity.com/pr-02

 

*I urge you to take the time this week to view this and obtain the full version and complete understanding.

 

Everybody, without exception, no matter how old you are or how young you are at this moment, has been shaped by something no matter how poor or wealthy, or where you live.  You have been shaped by something… the good, the bad, the ugly or pretty …but by something.  That includes “your wiring,” your environment, your culture that you live in, or by your actions, or actions of others.  It is very important to understand that something is shaping yours and my life every day.  Something is shaping how I perceive others, how I perceive God and even myself.  Whatever the case in your life God would like to reshape your path and heal, redirect or bring you to understand your need to rethink and change for the best.

 

Part 2 | A PEOPLE OF THE WORD    

Scripture: James 1:18-27

 

18 By His sovereign plan He gave us birth through the Word and message of truth, so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.

 

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

  • Now there’s a message for Isis and all the others today. Unfortunately, the Koran and others rejected God’s Son and His perfect sacrifice to solve the human gap between God and man’s ways that he sees as right in his own eyes.

 

  • Did you know that anger is actually a second step emotion? It’s tied to a perception, or belief, or injustice we perceive.  But what comes out is anger.  Simply try a traffic situation for example.  Hey, just ask Kathy about traffic and me! Yeah, I still get thoughts back to my racing days.  But, isn’t it amazing how traffic lights an instant fire in us? 

 

  • So what is it in side us that produces how we act on the outside? Generally, while it may be different in each of us; but maybe the bottom line is when someone crosses our will. We use anger to get our way.

 

James is going to give us three (3) things that God wants us to learn that the Word of God does for us, to us and in us:

  1. The Word of God humbles me. (Humility is getting and thinking the right perception about yourself. It’s being balanced about yourself …NOT that worm mentality lie that every human has bought into.) So the Word of God shows us who we REALLY

 

21 So get rid of all the moral filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has implanted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

22 But be sure you live out the message and not just merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!

23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who looks at his own face in a mirror.

24 Don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like, and what sort of person he was as he looked within his heart. 

25 But if you look carefully into God’s perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will blessed in what you do as you live it out.

26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your faith is worthless.

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, especially widows and orphans, and keep oneself from being polluted by this Godless world.

  • Many commentators say James 1:27 is a summary of the entire book.

 

James only had the Old Testament law and not the 66 books of the Bible like we do today.  James sort of quotes Psalms 1: 1-3 as he explains himself here.  “Blessed is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; meditating on it day and night.  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off.  And in whatever he does, he is going to prosper.”

 

  • A follower of God LIKES for Him to tell him how to live. A man who is yielded to God enjoys His Word and likes being instructed how to live.  That’s humility because it admits that “I don’t know how to live correctly and God does and I am going to trust what He says.”

 

  • And, here is where God humbles us because it doesn’t let us off the hook. God points at ALL of us and says get rid of our moral filth and evil.  We cannot say “oh, that’s not me” that’s everyone else.  We can lie to others but we cannot lie to God or ourselves.  The truth is poignant.  It hurts to know that I am dead in my trespasses, but God is there to help us change and be covered in truth and true life that both heals and protects us now and eternally.  Yeah, we love to pick apart the Bible and pick what we want but leave out what we don’t like to admit or follow.  Example: we love John 3:16 but the part about the moral filth and evil, not so much; we’ll leave that alone for now.  I’ll pray for the people I know in that boat.  All of us read the Word of God through our individual filter; …our culture, our likes and dislikes, our worldly belief system, or whatever.  And if you say “I don’t have a filter,” then that’s probably your filter!  God wants His Word to filter US, NOT the other way around.  There is a difference in me reading the Word and IT READING me!

 

(try on this section of the live video feed. 

This area will get you going!

It’s only 15 minutes into the message!)

 

James also gets to our point number two here:

  1. The Word of God shapes my life.James quotes Isaiah 1:15-17 here. “When you lift up your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers; I do not listen, because your hands are covered with blood. Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your evil deeds out of my sight; Stop sinning! Learn to do what is right! Reprove the ruthless and seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. Fight for them!”

James is calling the people who are saying they are God’s people to not be like everyone else around them and do the just and right things God wants and is interested in. That’s who God is and He wants us to imitate Him in what we seek and do in our lives.

 

If you study Israel’s history with God it was always INJUSTICE and IMPURITY  (Both impurity sexually and worship ) brought about the fall each time that sent them into judgment by going into captivity to a brutal nation and away from God’s blessing.  Look at what God says in Amos 2:6-7: “This is what the Lord says: “Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions— make that four!—I will not revoke my decree of judgment.  They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals.  They trample helpless people in the dust and deny justice to the oppressed.  Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting My holy name and show disrespect for my moral purity.”

  • What does this make you wonder about America today?

 

Lastly, point number 3:

 

  1. The Word of God sets me free. We automatically look at the Word of God setting restrictions on us. We think that we are missing things, not enjoying the fun and life others are and on and on.  It’s human nature since the fall of man.  In actuality, God has designed the safety nets that we call restrictions to keep us safe, be blessed and protected that are beyond our human imagination which only becomes clear as we allow God to teach us and learn His ways.  Then we all of a sudden love those restrictions and become grateful for the reality of His plan.

 

  • At about 37 minutes into the live video shares the incredible blessing a community like our NASCAR K&N Pro Series West can have if we work toward it. Yes, we can parallel the church …which is actually the subject here.  As you look into this please also look at this in respect to your local home church which you attend.  In what ways can you help your Pastor there?

 

Extra Note on “Religion:”

If you have gone online to the live video I am sure that you have already noted the series is called “Pure Religion.”  

 

Yes, that is a loaded word and invokes all kinds of thoughts and responses.  I know it makes me cringe because of most people’s misunderstanding of the reality of its truthful meaning. 

 

  • You hear people say things like: “Hockey is his religion” in Canada or baseball & football here in America.
  • Or, maybe “he works so religiously on his job.”
  • Then you see the bumper stickers that say “I’m not religious, I just love the Lord.”
  • Plus, on the norm today you hear “religion is the root of all evil and cause all the hate in the world today.”

 

However, the word “religion” actually comes out of the Book of James, so I guess we have to argue with him or God.

 

Here are the significant definitions of the word religion:

  1. A personal set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that provide an “order of our existence”; an explanation of our world; something people turn to for comfort in a time of crisis.
    1. Now you can place any faith system like Hindu, Muslim, Buddhism, etc. and yes, even Atheism fits that category.

 

 

Here are the questions for today”

 

James is asking this question:

 

“If you have had a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ what will your life look like on the ground? How does experiencing a new birth in Christ make a difference in your life?”

 

This text tells us if you have a new and living relationship with God you will have also have a new relationship with His word! Looking into the life of Jesus we see the only man who was able to live by this perfect law that brings us freedom.

 

Q1  WHAT IS MY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WORD OF GOD?

 

Q2  HOW WOULD THIS ONE HABIT CHANGE MY LIFE IF I COMMITTED TO IT?

 

Q3  WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL?