1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,880 Good morning, Calvary Chapel. Amen. 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:04,480 It's good to see everybody this morning. 3 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:07,800 Please turn in your Bibles with us, please to chapter James, 4 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:14,080 chapter 4 and we are going to be reading from that area. 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,200 Just want to welcome everybody that's here this morning, 6 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,360 everybody who's here for the first time. 7 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,760 Those of you who can just continue to come and be a 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,040 blessing in the house. We thank God for all of you and 9 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,560 of course those who are listening on any platform and 10 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:32,520 those behind prison walls, we thank God for you always. 11 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,040 Thank God for all of you. I do want to mention really 12 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,960 quick though, before we do get into the word, yesterday we had 13 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:46,240 a blessed time in a session with the Gideons that is led by our 14 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:47,280 brother here. Fred. 15 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,400 I don't see it. Fred, you here, right There he 16 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:49,960 is. There he is. 17 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,080 Wave your hand again, Fred, so everybody can see you. 18 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,680 He's a tall brother so he can. He's got a tall reach, but 19 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,960 really blessed us yesterday with a session on conversations. 20 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,760 And basically it's about how do you start a conversation to talk 21 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,640 about the gospel with someone, which is really important. 22 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,080 A lot of people, I hear a lot of people always say, you know 23 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:11,920 what, I'd love to go out and talk about the gospel. 24 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:13,840 I'd love to talk about, you know, run the people, talk to 25 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:16,400 people about the gospel. I just don't know how to start 26 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:17,440 it. You know, how do you how do you 27 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,720 get that conversation started so I don't feel awkward. 28 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:26,320 And yesterday we got a lot of really good information on why 29 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:32,440 we do it and a good bit of ideas about how to start those 30 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:34,800 conversations and how to do a testimony. 31 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,120 I mean, it's, it's one thing to just give your testimony, but 32 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,240 it's another thing that it's given in a way where people are 33 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:44,400 really impacted by. Sometimes you only have a few 34 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,240 minutes to give a testimony. Sometimes you have pretty much 35 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:48,920 all day. But how do you do it? 36 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,320 How do you frame it? They did a really good job 37 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,800 yesterday talking about those things. 38 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:58,200 So the next time that comes, comes up, if you will, the next 39 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:00,520 time that comes up, if our brother would be gracious enough 40 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:05,400 to do it again. I would highly recommend that if 41 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,920 you're able to get there to sign up and come to that. 42 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,840 I think you, I think you really enjoy it and I think you'll get 43 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,440 a lot from it. OK, OK, so let's pray and go 44 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:15,840 into the Word of God. Amen. 45 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:24,120 Father, once again, we are so gracious to be in your presence, 46 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,880 and we know that we're in your presence because you said we're 47 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:33,480 two or three gather in your name, that you'll be in the 48 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,200 midst of us. There's a lot more than two or 49 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,080 three people here today that's gathering in your name. 50 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:46,040 So we thank you, Lord, for being among us, being with us, and 51 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:48,280 even more important, those of us who are believers. 52 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:53,560 We thank you for being in US. I pray, God, that you would 53 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:59,080 speak words that would resonate with all of us today, that you 54 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:04,720 would help us to understand your heart concerning these passages. 55 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:12,600 Lord, open up our eyes and open our hearts in the seed that goes 56 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,960 forth. I pray that You would plant it 57 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:24,680 deep in our hearts that we won't forget what we hear, but that 58 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,720 that seed would bring forth fruit and that fruit would be 59 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,480 evident in our lives and that it would have impact on others who 60 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:41,120 see our lives. Father, we love You and we so 61 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,360 need and want to hear from You today. 62 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:53,800 Holy Spirit, fill us afresh, give us wisdom, give us 63 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,160 knowledge, cover us with your grace. 64 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:06,400 In Jesus name we pray, Amen. So our, our, our passage today 65 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,280 that we're going to focus on is going to be chapter 4 before we 66 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,880 go there. We finished last week at verse 67 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:21,839 17 and we got through just one or two of those of the items or 68 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:28,320 the attributes of what would be considered godly wisdom. 69 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,800 We talked about the worldly wisdom as being, you know, that 70 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,040 which is self seeking and bitter envy. 71 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,560 But now we're going to go into talking about in verse 17 he 72 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,720 talks about, and this is 1st 17 of chapter 3. 73 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:48,080 I'm sorry to make that clear. He talks about the attributes of 74 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,360 what would be considered godly wisdom. 75 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,040 And before I do that, I just want to mention because when you 76 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,480 read James, and we talked about this a number of times, but when 77 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,520 you read James, it's almost like you can come away feeling like 78 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:07,400 you just got spanked. OK, let me speak for myself. 79 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,880 When I read James, I come away feeling like I just got spanked, 80 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:15,760 like I just got corrected. You know, I'm sure part, I'm 81 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:17,840 sure a lot of that's true and it is true. 82 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:20,040 I mean, definitely for myself, I had to do a lot of repent and 83 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,320 reading James. But I want to say this, we 84 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,720 started out, if you remember when we talked about chapter, we 85 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,160 went back to chapter 1 and before we even started James, we 86 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,360 went back to Exodus chapter 34 and we talked about the 87 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:39,640 attributes of God, the way he introduced himself to Moses. 88 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:50,880 And he used words like merciful, gracious, patient, forgiving, 89 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,040 kindness and goodness. He used words like that to 90 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:02,360 describe who he is. And I think that's important 91 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,760 that we just remember that because as we go through these 92 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:10,880 scriptures, and though it may sound like it's a, a, a, a, a 93 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:18,440 strap or a belt coming to meet you to spank you, God is not 94 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:20,760 standing. He's not this God that just sits 95 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:27,160 in heaven on a throne and points down to all of us and say, yeah, 96 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:28,840 I got you for that. I'ma get you. 97 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,120 I'm judging you for this and I'm judging you for that's not who 98 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,520 our God is. He is not an angry God who is 99 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:42,600 just constantly looking for ways to condemn you or judge you. 100 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,200 That is not who He is. That's not who He is. 101 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,120 And sometimes even the world would try to describe him that 102 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:50,960 way. But that's not who He is. 103 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,400 He really isn't. He showed us who He is by 104 00:06:55,400 --> 00:07:03,160 sending His Son die for us. He loves us, so He gives us this 105 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,800 truth, all of this truth between Genesis and Revelations. 106 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:12,160 He gives us this truth to show us how much He loves us. 107 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:20,040 This is truth in love because He's a loving God. 108 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,960 So I want you to see Him that way and I want you to experience 109 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,200 Him that way. So as he gives us these 110 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,880 commandments or these instructions, and as he talks to 111 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:38,560 us about things in our hearts, please no, it's not from a place 112 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,320 of anger or condemnation, but it's a place of love. 113 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:50,800 His heart breaks for us. He describes himself as being 114 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:59,400 like a like a hen, a mother hen that covers her children, that 115 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:04,640 covers her chicks. His word covers us. 116 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,280 It's our protection, our direction. 117 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:10,840 So I just want to put that out there first. 118 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:17,880 So as we go through these things, please sense his love in 119 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,160 this truth. So in verse 17, he says, but the 120 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:26,920 wisdom of God, the wisdom that is from above is first pure. 121 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,680 We talked about pure means without being tainted is without 122 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:34,480 defilement. He said it's not only pure, but 123 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:39,440 it's peace loving, peace loving. It's gentle. 124 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,520 God's love is gentle. His wisdom is gentle. 125 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,240 It's not harsh, it's not abrasive. 126 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:52,880 It's not coming, coming about, you know, coming towards someone 127 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:56,640 attacking or coming with brutal force. 128 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:02,520 He's gentle, He's gentle as I was thinking about that word 129 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,360 gentle. And you know, the Lord tells us, 130 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,280 he said let your gentleness be known to all men. 131 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,160 So we are to be gentle. And it's the way that we we 132 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,240 relate to each other, particularly those who are in 133 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,280 the House of faith. We relate to each other with a 134 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,240 gentle spirit. Even when someone falls into 135 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:24,800 sin, the Bible tells us in Galatians one that we restore 136 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:29,480 such a one with a heart of meekness, gentleness. 137 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,440 We don't come out of attacking, We don't come out and come 138 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,240 deniming, pointing fingers. We come with a heart of 139 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:41,280 meekness, gentleness. Now something came across my 140 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:44,720 mind as I was looking at that word gentle and it was the some 141 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:46,520 of you want to remember it. It's probably going to tell our 142 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:51,280 age, but back in 1989, I know, I know as soon as I said that, 143 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,120 there's a lot of people that say, OK, that's not me. 144 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:00,560 Back in 1989, there was another commercial that Charles Barkley 145 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:06,240 did and the commercial was about, it was Nike commercial. 146 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,440 And this Nike commercial was about rebounding. 147 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,280 And Charles was, you know, the, the, the pitcher was Charles 148 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:16,280 rebounding the ball. I mean, throwing the ball up, 149 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:18,960 rebounding at Duncan. I mean, all these aggressive, 150 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,680 aggressive moves because Charles was trying to convey to 151 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:25,480 everybody that, yeah, you got to be relentless. 152 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,800 And Charles was a very good rebounder. 153 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:29,360 He was on, he was, he was undersized. 154 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,640 He was only 65. And he was rebounded against 155 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:36,320 guys that were like 68697 foot. And he was a very, very good 156 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:40,520 rebounder. But the commercial was a mockery 157 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:51,240 of the scripture in Matthew 5. It was in Matthew 5 there was a 158 00:10:51,240 --> 00:11:01,120 scripture that says blessed are the meek or the gentle, for they 159 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:12,640 shall inherit the world. And Charles said, well those who 160 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:18,320 are meek may inherit the earth, but they won't get the rebound. 161 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:25,720 Charles, you're wrong. The meek does inherit the earth 162 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:31,600 and it rebounds all the blessings and all the favor of 163 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:39,480 God because it's the commandment that tells us that it's the meat 164 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:43,200 that won't inherit the earth. Then that's who will overcome. 165 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:50,000 But it was a mockery. But he also goes on in the same 166 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,040 verse. It says willing to yield. 167 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,240 It's not about in other words, you know, being stubborn, even 168 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:58,960 if you think you're being stubborn about, you know, the 169 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:04,600 will of God or or something that is godly, not being able to to 170 00:12:04,680 --> 00:12:08,080 to yield. It's basically just can come 171 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,320 some from from somewhere else in your heart. 172 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,720 And it's just about being stubborn. 173 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:14,880 But the Bible says be willing to yield. 174 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:18,240 Be willing to yield to hear someone else's viewpoint, be 175 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:22,360 willing to hear to hear someone else's ideas or strategies. 176 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,440 And as long as it lines up with the word of God, it doesn't have 177 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:30,200 to be my way, doesn't have to be your way, but to be willing to 178 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,400 yield to these things. And then of course, over and in 179 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,240 the next line it says have full of mercy and good fruits. 180 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:43,120 Well, God tells us that we are to be merciful, are to be 181 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,400 merciful. And again, you know, he, I 182 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,720 believe that James gets a lot of these things from the Sermon on 183 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:52,560 the Mount because the Bible says that it's the merciful, you 184 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:55,680 know, that will obtain mercy. Those who are merciful will 185 00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:59,760 obtain mercy. So here he says the spirit or 186 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,840 the wisdom of God is to be full of mercy and good fruits. 187 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:09,000 And and that's true because it's wise to be merciful because 188 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,880 that's the heart of God. It's for us to be merciful. 189 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:16,760 And I think I said last week that there is no time that we 190 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:21,720 are more like Christ than when we are merciful because he is so 191 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,240 merciful. He is so merciful when he shows 192 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,480 it all the time. And then the next one, he says 193 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,120 without partiality. Well, James talked about that 194 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:35,560 back in chapter 2. He talks about that we should 195 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:38,600 do, we should have our ministry or, or the ministry of the Lord, 196 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:43,720 our faith in the Lord without partiality, without showing 197 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,680 favoritism to anybody, to one versus the other, but to love. 198 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,920 And then also says without hypocrisy, that means without 199 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,440 pretense, without pretending to be somebody else, without 200 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:02,080 pretending to be something else, but to be genuine in our faith, 201 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,920 to be genuine in our walk with Jesus. 202 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,240 Sometimes people can have pretense where they are one way 203 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,840 in front of one crowd of people, but then when they come to the 204 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:17,560 church family, they're another way and either one don't 205 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:22,080 recognize the other sometime because it's pretense. 206 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,160 And he says we should, we should be without hypocrisy. 207 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,240 And then verse 18 says that now the fruit of righteousness is 208 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,280 sown in peace by those who make peace. 209 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:38,640 And again, now someone's really upset. 210 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:45,400 And again in the in the sermon on the mound, Matthew 5 and 9, 211 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,720 he says that it's the peacemakers that blessed are the 212 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:53,720 peacemakers for they are the children of God, the 213 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,400 peacemakers, those who make peace. 214 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,560 And it's almost like in this particular verse here is almost 215 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:04,200 like a picture of one who is sowing seeds of peace. 216 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,840 Wherever they go, they're sowing seeds of peace. 217 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:13,800 It's not creating confusion, it's not creating a conflict. 218 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:19,960 It's not creating fights. It's showing sowing seeds of 219 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:22,800 peace wherever we go, wherever we go. 220 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,800 And we talked last week that we're not talking about peace at 221 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:29,400 any cost when I tell my peace that any cause, in other words, 222 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,440 we're not going to cover up sin. We're not going to cover up 223 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,680 unrighteousness. We're not going to, you know, 224 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,200 we're not going to put things under the carpet in order to try 225 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,640 to have peace. That's not godly peace. 226 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:48,640 That's not godly peace. We desire purity and holiness 227 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:57,120 over fake peace. So we sow peace wherever we go. 228 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,760 So now we come here to verse to chapter 4 and verse one. 229 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,400 And he says here, where do wars come from? 230 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,040 Where do wars and fights come from among you? 231 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:18,080 Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war 232 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:25,240 and your members? So he's saying that when we have 233 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:30,080 these fights, where do these fights in the church come from? 234 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,960 Something to think about. When we have fights in the 235 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,480 church, where does that come from? 236 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,320 Why are people fighting in the church? 237 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:47,280 People fighting bars, people fight on street corners, people 238 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:52,080 fight in the world. But in church, these fights 239 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:57,320 coming from, and James says they're coming from that place 240 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:04,520 in your heart that desires pleasure, that place in your 241 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:11,359 heart that's warring against the Holy Spirit. 242 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:17,520 So that's like our natural man, our sinful man in our hearts is 243 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:23,319 warring against the Holy Spirit. I want what I want. 244 00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:25,560 I mean that isn't that what envious, envious. 245 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:30,680 I want that and selfish ambition says I will do whatever it takes 246 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:36,840 to get that. So these fights that is first 247 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:42,320 start in our hearts begin to spill out and we now fight with 248 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:47,120 other people. And James is saying when we have 249 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:52,360 this selfish ambition in our hearts or we have this envy in 250 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:57,360 our hearts, that's where wars come from in the church. 251 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,040 People who don't want to yield, not willing to yield, people who 252 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,040 are not full of mercy, A heart that's not full of mercy, a 253 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:10,400 heart that's not full of good fruits, a heart that's not 254 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:14,680 gentle, a heart that's not peaceable, a heart that's not 255 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,680 pure. That's where these fights come 256 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,360 from, these arguments and these conflicts. 257 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:24,080 He, he mentions the word pleasures here. 258 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:27,560 And these pleasures mean selfish, worldly desires and 259 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,800 gratification that cause conflict that are contrary to 260 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,440 God's will. So you see our our fights in the 261 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:40,560 church or even the fights in our families, those fights are less 262 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,800 about the issues that we agree or disagree with and it's more 263 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:46,440 about what's going on in their hearts. 264 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:52,440 It's more about that operating in the flesh and not in the 265 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,600 spirit. It's our it's, it's being 266 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:58,200 carnal. It's being carnal and it's 267 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:02,720 dealing with someone else out of a heart of carnality as opposed 268 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:07,000 to by the Spirit of God. If I have a disagreement with 269 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,200 you, we're both believers. Should we not be able to, with 270 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:13,680 love, sit down and talk this thing out? 271 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:16,680 Can I not share my heart with you? 272 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:21,840 And can we not disagree on, on, on, on on the direction that we 273 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:24,440 may be going or the way that we may want to do this? 274 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,120 But but what? Shouldn't we be about the same 275 00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:30,120 thing? And that is pleasing God, and 276 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:32,160 that is being true to the word of God. 277 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:34,120 Shouldn't we be about the same thing? 278 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,520 And if that's true, then fights should not divide us. 279 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,240 If that's true, fights should not divide us. 280 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:51,960 But if I am so, if I'm so dug in about just having it my way, my 281 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,520 selfish ambition, just having it my way, and you not getting your 282 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:02,320 way because of my envy towards you, then that's when things 283 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,480 blow up into a fight. A discussion now becomes a 284 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,320 fight. And fights eventually will 285 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:15,680 divide because one person got people they want to run to and 286 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,840 get on their side, The other person got somebody they want to 287 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:22,320 run to and get on their side. Now you got splits, James said 288 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:27,320 That should not be going on. That should not be happening, He 289 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:28,480 said. You lust. 290 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:35,760 And you do not have you murder and you covet and cannot obtain. 291 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,440 Now, even in the earlier churches they had fights, they 292 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,640 had bickering. And even in the early churches, 293 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,800 there's a number of different examples, you know, not only in 294 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:52,000 Corinthians, but also in Galatians and Philip 295 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,800 Philippians, there's examples of conflict, people having 296 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,280 conflict. But I just want to read this 297 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,480 scripture from First Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 3. 298 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:08,520 It says for you are still carnal, for where there are 299 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:15,800 envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and 300 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:20,280 behaving like mere men? And what that mere men means 301 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:26,000 like the natural man, the man who's operating out of his flesh 302 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:29,240 as opposed to operating out of the spirit, mere man. 303 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,920 We're supposed to be spirit filled believers and in doing 304 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:42,680 that, that allows us to be able to speak and to act with the 305 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:49,600 heart and the mind of Christ. And then I want to read for you 306 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:55,480 second Timothy. I'm going to start at verse 22 307 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,840 verse. This is verse 2 verse start. 308 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:03,120 I'm sorry, chapter 2, verse 22, it says flee also youthful us, 309 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:09,520 but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and what peace with those 310 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:13,840 who are who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 311 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,480 And then it says, but avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, 312 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:21,400 knowing that they generate strife. 313 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:27,760 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle, be 314 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:35,280 gentle, able to teach patient. So Paul, so James is in 315 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:39,720 agreement with Paul that the characteristics of someone who 316 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:44,640 is walking in the Spirit should be different than someone who's 317 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,520 walking in their flesh. See, this is a result of walking 318 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,640 in the flesh. When we have these disputes and 319 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:54,560 these fights and these wars in the church, it means the heart 320 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,600 is not right. Galatians tells us that there's 321 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,600 a difference between those who are walking in the Spirit and 322 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,520 those who are walking in the flesh and Galatians. 323 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:10,600 Chapter 5 starting there at verse 19, he says Now the works 324 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,480 of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, 325 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,600 uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, 326 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:24,680 jealousies, outbursts of wrath and selfish ambitions. 327 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:30,440 While that's of the flesh dissensions, heresies, envy, 328 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,080 murders, which we're going to talk about in a minute. 329 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:34,440 He's going to mention that in a minute. 330 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,640 Drunkenness, revelries and the like of which I tell you 331 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,360 beforehand, just as I told you in time past that those who 332 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:46,560 practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 333 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,920 So that's why when we walk and when I'm, when I'm walking in 334 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:55,120 any of those things, that means I'm walking in my flesh when I'm 335 00:23:55,120 --> 00:24:00,880 being selfish, when I'm having these outbursts of wrath out of 336 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:06,120 frustration, when I'm, if I'm causing dissensions, if I'm, if 337 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:10,880 I'm, if I'm speaking heresies from the word of God, I'm not 338 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:15,120 walking in the spirit, but I'm walking in my flesh. 339 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,840 I'm doing what pleases me, not what pleases God. 340 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:28,880 But he also says that the fruit of the Spirit, now listen to the 341 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:30,520 attributes of the food of the Spirit. 342 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:34,360 I know one of you, most of you can probably recite these, but 343 00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:40,200 it's love, it's joy. So instead of anger and hatred, 344 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,080 it's love. And it's joy. 345 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,720 Instead of conflict, he says peace. 346 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:52,360 Instead of not having patience, he says it's long-suffering or 347 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:57,960 patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and 348 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,560 self-control. Those are the attributes or the 349 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:06,000 the the fruit of the spirit. When we approach a situation in 350 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:11,240 the church and we are coming from that direction, our hearts 351 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:15,480 are filled with those things as opposed to the heresies and the 352 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,680 hatred. Then we know we're walking in 353 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:23,040 the spirit and we have to be able to hear that about 354 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,360 ourselves and to to sense that about ourselves or to love 355 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:33,640 someone enough to share it, to love someone enough to share it. 356 00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:39,960 And we have to love each other enough to be honest with each 357 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,720 other and say, you know her brother, you know, to me it 358 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,040 seems like you kind of walking in your flesh a little bit. 359 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:54,400 Let's pray, let's pray, let's ask God to help us with this. 360 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,400 So he goes on in here, any, any, any goes on to verse. 361 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:07,280 He goes on to the bottom of verse 2 and he says, yet you do 362 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:13,640 not have because you do not ask. So we're selfish and we you 363 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,400 know, and we're acting out of selfish ambition and we're 364 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,800 coveting and we want these things that we want for 365 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:25,080 ourselves and we want them out of our, you know, to to satisfy 366 00:26:25,080 --> 00:26:28,720 our own pleasures. He says you, you know, you war 367 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,360 and you fight for these things, but you do not have them. 368 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,000 He said, because you do not ask. That was interesting. 369 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,720 You know, now, now, so, so, so James is saying, so even like my 370 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,160 pleasures and the things that I'm looking for, the things that 371 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:50,920 I really desire, my desires. You mean I can have those things 372 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:56,320 if I ask, as long as those desires line up with the word of 373 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,720 God and the will of God. Yes, he will provide it. 374 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:02,960 He says anything you ask in my name. 375 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:09,160 And then he says also that when you pray according to my will, 376 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:16,520 you will have those things. So the question is if are you 377 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,400 praying first of all, And that's what he's dealing with here. 378 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,440 He's now dealing with prayer. So then he goes to verse 3 and 379 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:27,040 he says you do not ask. I mean you, you ask and you do 380 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,600 and and you do not receive because you ask amiss. 381 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:35,240 So the bottom of verse 2 says you know you, you murder and you 382 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:36,960 covet and that murder means hatred. 383 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:41,600 By the way, guys, it means hatred, a very intense hatred. 384 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,000 And you covet and you cannot obtain. 385 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:45,600 That means you can't get satisfaction. 386 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,200 You're not being satisfied. No matter how much you covet, no 387 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:53,320 matter how much you lust for what someone else has, you still 388 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:59,680 can't get satisfaction from it because lust is never satisfied. 389 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:04,400 Lust is insatiable. No matter how much you lust, you 390 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:08,840 will never come to the point of being satisfied because once you 391 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:10,880 attain that, then you'll want something else. 392 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,560 It's never enough. You ask for a job, you say, I'll 393 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,800 be, you know, if I could just have a job making $100,000, you 394 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,960 get a job making $100,000. If I could just have a job 395 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,240 making $200,000, I'll be happy. I have everything I need. 396 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:30,000 You get a job making 200,000, now I need $250,000. 397 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,120 You're always going to be wanting more. 398 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,360 And I'm sorry to say this because I love, you know how you 399 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:39,680 guys know I love basketball, I love sports in general. 400 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:41,840 Be honest with you. I just think that they there's a 401 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,480 lot of good things about sports, but there's also some bad things 402 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,040 about sports. And when I'm talking about 403 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,360 lusting and never really being able to be fulfilled by the 404 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,000 things that we lust for, by the pleasures of the world will 405 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,040 never be fulfilled with those things. 406 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,000 Just recently, and many of you probably heard about it, but 407 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,440 there's a couple of a couple of people closely associated with 408 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,320 the NBA, the National Basketball Association closely associated 409 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:10,840 one as a coach and one as a player. 410 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:18,120 And they just recently were have federal indictments against 411 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,320 them. They're being charged federally 412 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,800 for illegal betting, illegal gambling. 413 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,320 Now you would say, wait a minute, basketball players, 414 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:35,800 coaches, they make millions. Why would they need to get 415 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,760 involved in illegal gambling? Because enough is never enough. 416 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,040 When you lost, it's never enough. 417 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:48,480 When you're looking for worldly pleasures, it's never enough. 418 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:59,080 It's never enough and it always leads to sin. 419 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:05,360 James even told us that over in chapter one, verse 15. 420 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:10,760 He says then when desire or your pleasures, your desire for 421 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:18,120 pleasures, when it conceives, it brings forth sin and sin when it 422 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:23,120 is full grown or when it's complete, it brings forth death. 423 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,480 And that death may not necessarily mean a physical 424 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,920 death. It may mean a death of your own 425 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:36,800 spirit or soul, the death of someone's career, the death of 426 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:42,120 someone's marriage, the death of a lot of different things. 427 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:48,720 It brings forth death because sin is always present with it. 428 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,080 That's why he says here back in chapter 3 when he said that 429 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,600 bitter envy and self seeking in your hearts. 430 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,720 He said those things will bring forth confusion. 431 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,840 Not only just confusion, but also every evil thing. 432 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:08,240 So here in verse three, he says you ask and you do not receive 433 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:12,800 because you ask a misk. So you don't pray. 434 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,800 First of all, you're not praying and you're not asking God to 435 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,960 give you the things that you need, but you're trying to get 436 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,680 them yourself to fulfill your own lust. 437 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,200 And you're not really praying and asking God and trusting Him 438 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,400 to provide for you. We're not. 439 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:34,680 We're not doing that, but instead we want what we want and 440 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:39,560 we want to get it our way. And it says here that first of 441 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,840 all, it says you don't pray, you don't ask God. 442 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:46,240 But then when you do pray, you pray out of your selfish motive. 443 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:50,840 You pray to spend it on your own pleasures. 444 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,440 You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss wrong 445 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,560 motives, that you may spend it on your pleasures, on your 446 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,080 lusts, on the things that you desire. 447 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:11,080 You know prayer. Prayer should not be about 448 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:16,880 wanting God to serve us. And that's exactly what it is 449 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:18,480 sometimes. And we just want to start 450 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:20,400 praying and just put out a bunch of requests. 451 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:21,480 This that this, that another thing. 452 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:25,800 And a lot of those things are really things that just satisfy 453 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,760 us. And we want God to be a Co 454 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:32,320 conspirator. We want to pray for something 455 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:40,040 out of our lusts, out of our desires, out of our wants, and 456 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,440 then we want God to provide it. There's a real simple 457 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,840 illustration of that in the Bible over in Luke. 458 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:55,560 Over in Luke, it's a story about Jesus and the disciples going 459 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,280 through Samaria and the Samaritans. 460 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:00,000 They didn't want Jesus to go through there. 461 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,160 And they told him, no, we don't want you to come through here. 462 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:07,480 And James and John got upset. They got frustrating. 463 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:11,960 They had this outburst of anger and they say, Jesus, Lord, you 464 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,560 want us to just call down fire and burn them up. 465 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,920 And of course what Jesus said was no, you don't know what 466 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:25,520 spirit you're of. But when you think about what 467 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:33,760 they were asking, I'm angry, I'm upset, I'm frustrated, and I 468 00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:41,040 want you to destroy these people because I want them gone. 469 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:42,360 I want something done about them. 470 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,400 Jesus. You want God to be a Co 471 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,920 conspirator in that out of your frustration. 472 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,280 And we do the same thing though. We do the same thing. 473 00:33:53,280 --> 00:34:00,280 We pray for our own desires, our own pleasures, to spend them on 474 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:04,520 our own pleasures. What do we pray for? 475 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:06,360 You know, prayer is such a privilege. 476 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,199 It's such a privilege to be able to pray and know that God hears 477 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:12,719 us. And he promises that he does 478 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,679 hear us because he says his ears are always open to our prayers. 479 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,760 It's what the righteous, the righteous, His ears are always 480 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:26,159 open to the righteous. So he know we know that he hears 481 00:34:26,159 --> 00:34:28,000 us. So it's such a privilege and 482 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:37,480 such a power to have prayer at our that we can have access to 483 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:41,120 such a power to have that. But how do we use that power? 484 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:45,639 Do we pray for each other? Do we pray for our country? 485 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:49,199 Do we pray for our leaders? Do we pray for our children? 486 00:34:49,199 --> 00:34:53,840 Do we pray for people that we're not getting along with? 487 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,880 Do we pray for them? Do we pray for God's will, His 488 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:04,440 absolute will in our life? Do we pray for that or do we 489 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,840 just ask him to do the things that we want him to do? 490 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,160 Do we repent for our sins in our in our time of prayer? 491 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:22,000 Do we repent for the sins of the nation as some of the old 492 00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,320 prophets used to do? But James says that every good 493 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:28,880 gift comes from above. So that's why we pray and we ask 494 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:31,040 God because we want his good gifts. 495 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,640 And sometimes the things that we ask him for, even though we may 496 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,560 want him, doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good thing. 497 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,600 And because of God's foreknowledge, because God knows 498 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:48,280 everything about everything, He knows what's good for us and 499 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,560 what's not. So the question then becomes, do 500 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,880 we trust him enough that when we do pray and ask for these 501 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:59,560 things, do we trust him enough? And do we believe on him enough 502 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:05,480 that if he's denies us those things, can we trust him enough 503 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:11,560 to believe that it's for our good to say, Dad, you know best, 504 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:16,760 Father, you know best, you know what's best for me and can we 505 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,480 accept it? You don't have to acknowledge 506 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:26,360 it, but how many times has someone in here prayed for a 507 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:31,880 relationship that you wanted to have continued but God said no, 508 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,360 it's done, you ain't got to wait. 509 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:40,360 Don't put your hands up. Don't put your hands up someone 510 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:44,880 that you just couldn't live without in your life and you 511 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:48,560 pray God, please give me this relationship. 512 00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:53,720 Meanwhile, it was the worst thing possible for you and God 513 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:56,480 knew it. Even when we didn't. 514 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:03,880 And that's just one example of ways that we want what we want, 515 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:08,160 but we need to trust God that what he gives us is going to be 516 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:11,840 the best for us. And then in verse 4, adulterers 517 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:15,480 and adulteresses and he and he, he's basically saying, you know, 518 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:21,080 those of you who are spiritually unfaithful, he used to use that 519 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,680 word adulteresses or, or, or adulterers to refer to Israel 520 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,840 back in the time when they were, you know, going after other gods 521 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:33,000 and going after idols and, and doing the things that the 522 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,120 nations were doing. God would say, you committing 523 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,240 adultery, you're playing to harlot. 524 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,200 We are to be married to him. We're married to Christ. 525 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:47,600 We are Christ's bride and when we begin to go after worldly 526 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:53,080 things world and have worldly idols go after worldly gods, he 527 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:56,680 says it's being a it's, it's Daughtry. 528 00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:02,160 It's a it's Daughtry. And he feels that that's the 529 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:07,240 that's the sensitivity of God to feel like that betrayal, to feel 530 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:12,440 that betrayal of us going after a God who provides everything 531 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,200 for us, that's done everything for us. 532 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:19,320 And then we go after worldly things. 533 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:21,800 And he even takes us a step further. 534 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,440 He says, do you not know that friendship with the world is 535 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:29,080 enmity, meaning hostility? I'll will with God. 536 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:33,960 Do we not understand that, that when we go after or want to be 537 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:38,240 friends with the world now, friends, we're not talking about 538 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:43,160 just knowing somebody. Remember, friendship is someone 539 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:47,880 who had we share values, we have an understanding, we have the 540 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,480 same interests and all those things. 541 00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:57,920 That's friendship. Acquaintances is I know who you 542 00:38:57,920 --> 00:39:00,480 are. And every now and then we may be 543 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:03,280 in contact with each other. We may come across each other, 544 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,760 we may see each other out in the streets somewhere, and we 545 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,400 acknowledge each other when we see each other. 546 00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:13,160 I know you, but that's acquaintance, he says. 547 00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:18,480 If you're a friend, that means you're sharing values and you're 548 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,880 sharing desires of the world, then you're an enemy against 549 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,560 God. We can't serve 2 masters. 550 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:29,480 We can't serve the world and God too. 551 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:35,320 You can't do it, he says. We either love the one and hate 552 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,640 the other, or we hold to the one and despise the other. 553 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,000 But we cannot serve God and Mammon. 554 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:49,080 We can't serve God and the world and the riches of the world. 555 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:50,880 We can't, we can't do that. God said. 556 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,720 That's not what we are called to do. 557 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,080 So he said if you're friends with the world, then you're 558 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:02,960 you're hostile against me when you're friends with the world. 559 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,560 And then he goes on here. He says whoever therefore wants 560 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:11,840 to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 561 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,840 We make ourselves an enemy of God. 562 00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:19,920 God doesn't call us an enemy of who he is, but we make ourselves 563 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:31,280 an enemy of God first. John over in chapter first, John 564 00:40:31,280 --> 00:40:35,120 chapter 2 talked about the fact that, you know, he says love not 565 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:39,880 the world nor the things that are in the world, because all 566 00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:42,040 that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes 567 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:44,440 and the pride of life. Those things are not of the 568 00:40:44,440 --> 00:40:46,480 Father, but they are of the world. 569 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,640 And we talked about last week how the world is passing away. 570 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:51,000 Those things are going to be gone. 571 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,520 It's only the things of God that lasts forever. 572 00:40:56,160 --> 00:41:00,680 He says, My word will last forever, heaven and earth shall 573 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:08,560 pass away, but my word shall stand forever. 5 Or do you think 574 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:12,840 that the Scripture says in vain the Spirit who dwells in US 575 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:20,560 yearns jealousy, yearns jealousy, longs for jealousy. 576 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,840 In other words, what he's saying here in the Spirit dwells in 577 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:25,120 you. That means the Holy Spirit. 578 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:29,560 God said I put his heart, put a Holy Spirit in you, my spirit, I 579 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:33,960 put my spirit in you. And when you give your love, 580 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:41,120 your affection, your obedience to your flesh as opposed to the 581 00:41:41,120 --> 00:41:45,120 Holy Spirit that I put in you, I'm jealous. 582 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:50,040 I'm jealous because I want that affection to be towards me. 583 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:51,480 I want that love to be towards me. 584 00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:55,600 I want that obedience to be towards me, not this flesh that 585 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:02,320 eventually is going to ruin you. And he's saying, he's saying to 586 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:04,720 us that yes, he actually gets jealous. 587 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:07,400 We've heard that before, the scriptures that, you know, he 588 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,840 talks about being jealous. We've heard those scriptures 589 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,960 before. And in Exodus 20 and five, you 590 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:18,080 shall not bow down to them, meaning, you know, other gods or 591 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:22,400 idols, nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a 592 00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:26,440 jealous God. And then in Exodus 34 and 14, he 593 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:29,040 said, you shall worship no other God. 594 00:42:29,240 --> 00:42:33,680 For the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. 595 00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:37,680 Deuteronomy 4 and 24. For the Lord your God is a 596 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,480 consuming fire, a jealous God. Praise and worship team. 597 00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:44,600 You can come forth, please. He's a jealous God. 598 00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:49,280 So we know that he's a jealous God and the Spirit that's in US, 599 00:42:49,720 --> 00:42:57,000 God said we yearn for you to, or we long for you to show your 600 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:00,560 affection and give you love and affection, obedience to the 601 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:04,720 Spirit that's in you, the Holy Spirit that's in you, and not 602 00:43:04,720 --> 00:43:11,480 the Spirit that is of the flesh. But the good thing is that God 603 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:15,360 has more grace. He gives us more grace that even 604 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,040 when we have done these things, even when we have allowed 605 00:43:18,360 --> 00:43:24,520 ourselves to allow our flesh to have dominance over us over the 606 00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:26,720 things that we think, things that we do. 607 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:32,440 Even when we do that, when we humble ourselves and we turn to 608 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:37,400 the Lord, His grace is there for us to cover us. 609 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:41,680 His grace is there to say, come on back home. 610 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:51,160 Our humility to admit and confess and repent allows us to 611 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:53,440 be restored to the fellowship of God. 612 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:56,000 He never walks away or leaves us. 613 00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:59,360 I thank God that His grace is always there because from time 614 00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:04,520 to time we all will go back and do things out of our flesh. 615 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,760 We all do it and then we acknowledge it and confess it 616 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:13,920 before God and He forgives us. How wonderful it is to serve a 617 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:19,480 God that loves us. He's not looking for our ruin. 618 00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:24,120 He's not looking to destroy us. He's looking to build us up. 619 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:28,120 He's looking to love us. He's looking to cause us to be 620 00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,040 overcomers of the things that will destroy us. 621 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:34,080 He wants to protect us. That's why he gives us His word. 622 00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:39,680 He wants to protect us. And of course, we all know this 623 00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:43,760 scripture, right? God resists the proud but gives 624 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:48,760 grace to the humble. I'm so glad that we don't have 625 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:54,760 to worry about running from him. We can run to him in those times 626 00:44:55,520 --> 00:45:02,720 when we feel or when we know that we have blown it, we can 627 00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:06,640 run to him. We don't have to ever feel that 628 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:11,200 reproach and that shame that's so deep and the enemy will try 629 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:14,320 to make it. It's so bad to make you feel 630 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:16,680 that you would be. You should be ashamed to even go 631 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:18,120 to God. You should be ashamed to even 632 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,120 pray. You should be ashamed to even 633 00:45:20,280 --> 00:45:22,640 talk to him or even look towards heaven. 634 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:24,840 The enemy would want to do that to you. 635 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:30,640 But God is saying no, come to me, I love you. 636 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:35,400 I love you. In fact, I loved you so much I 637 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:41,920 sent my son to die for you, to take what was meant for you. 638 00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:53,060 I loved you that much. I pray that as we go into a 639 00:45:53,060 --> 00:46:02,580 communion, I pray that our sensitivity to the Spirit would 640 00:46:02,580 --> 00:46:08,740 be so that we know when we are beginning to move in our flesh 641 00:46:09,860 --> 00:46:11,860 and walk outside of the will of God. 642 00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:18,560 The way I talk to my wife, the way I talk to my children, the 643 00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:23,120 way I talk to family members or community people or friends or 644 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:28,400 my church brothers and sisters, the way I talk to them. 645 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:32,720 What's in my heart? What's in my heart? 646 00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:37,400 If I get to a point where I can't have agreement with you, 647 00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:41,880 does that mean that I have to slander you? 648 00:46:42,240 --> 00:46:43,960 Does that mean that I have to gossip? 649 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:48,800 Does that mean that I have to destroy your reputation and your 650 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,920 character because we don't see things eye to eye? 651 00:46:53,320 --> 00:47:03,960 No, no, I want the Holy Spirit to be in us so much that we will 652 00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:08,320 come to a point when, when we sense these things, instead of 653 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:11,440 running from God, we run to Him and repent. 654 00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:18,520 Jesus came and died for that Father. 655 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:25,640 We thank you for your word. We thank you that sometimes 656 00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:29,760 these truths can be hard, but yet they sanctify us. 657 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:33,120 They purify us. They mowed us. 658 00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:39,440 Helps to scrape off the things that are contrary to your divine 659 00:47:39,440 --> 00:47:43,760 nature. We want to please you and what 660 00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:48,080 we do. We're so grateful for your grace 661 00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:53,320 and your mercy that you extend to us even when we don't deserve 662 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:54,520 it. And usually we don't. 663 00:47:55,360 --> 00:48:02,320 None of us do. But yet you bless us by giving 664 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:10,640 us more grace and more mercy. I thank you for the sacrifice 665 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:16,280 that you sent through your Son Jesus Christ, that we would even 666 00:48:16,280 --> 00:48:22,560 have the Holy Spirit in us, that we can obey the Holy Spirit and 667 00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:28,080 do what pleases you. In the night in which Jesus was 668 00:48:28,080 --> 00:48:35,200 betrayed, he took the bread, and after he gave thanks He broke 669 00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:37,960 it. And he said, Take and eat. 670 00:48:37,960 --> 00:48:41,320 This is my body which is broken for you. 671 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:51,160 Eat this in remembrance of me. In the same manner He also took 672 00:48:51,160 --> 00:49:00,120 the cup, and after supper he said, This cup is a new covenant 673 00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:06,240 in my blood, which was shed for the forgiveness of sins for 674 00:49:06,240 --> 00:49:11,120 many. That's all of us, and also those 675 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,200 who are to come. It was shed for theirs too. 676 00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:19,080 Drink this and as often as you drink it, drinking in 677 00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:25,720 remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this 678 00:49:25,720 --> 00:49:30,880 bread and drink this cup, we do show His death until he come. 679 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:31,240 Amen.