Recognizing God's Goodness: The Source of Our Transformation

"Let no one say when he is tempted I am being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one so James starts off in this verse by saying let no one say there's something he doesn't want you thinking say saying feeling he himself tempts no one but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin sin when it's fully grown brings forth death do not be deceived my beloved Brothers every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or Shadow due to change of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." [00:00:11]

"Perhaps Perhaps it goes like this I mean that one thought that occurred to me is how all of this fits together is is the fact that well maybe verse 13 stresses what God is not the author of while verse 17 stresses what God is the author of and then you go to verse 18 he's the source of everything good and so he he hones in everything good he takes us to the greatest good in verse 18 I mean if you're working backwards through this you might say the source of man's greatest good is the source of everything good verse 17 and he can never be the source of evil verse 13 perhaps that's how it fits together but I'll tell you this you can tell something in all of this James is concerned with how we think about the Lord that ought to jump out at you he wants us to stop blaming God and start thanking God." [00:02:42]

"Brethren do you know what I really think it takes being thrown into hell for men to really recognize how much God gives them I just sat at my Des desk and I'm thinking what has God given me I looked over and I saw a pair of scissors do you care about having a pair of scissors God Gave You scissors you can cut paper straight I'm sitting there and you know what when I walk out in the woods when I go to Bracken Ridge or I go over to CBO Creek or uh whatever it is anytime I see a cardinal I just think of Christ blood shed for me I'm sitting there in my office and a cardinal flies right in the tree outside can you imagine hell you will never hear a bird sing you'll never awake from a restful night you'll never taste food not even a drop of water you'll never see colors you'll never run you'll never feel feel the Embrace of somebody else putting on a warm sweater in the cold or finding shade under a tree in the heat You'll Never Walk through the grass you'll never come home from a day's work or having been on a trip or God gives us Transportation God gives us father's and mothers and sons and daughters and friends and never I mean he's he gives us everything he gives us fingers do you ever just sit and think about your fingers or do you ever just sit and think about your eyes that you have eyes that God actually made marriage he made he made the differences of the Sexes and what that means to us did you ever just stop and look around I mean he's given us the ability to think so we can make a speaker so that when I speak it's Amplified I mean it's like we have so much we have so much we haven't I mean in the past we had men's bathrooms but they're not as nice as the ones now going back there before was like you didn't know where you were going he gives us so much I mean even the people with the least you look around and there's there's colors and we we have animals and there's just do you recognize if all of a sudden all of it was taken away is that we have so much we just take it for granted our wretched State naturally you know what Romans 1 says although they knew God what they didn't honor him as God and they didn't what they didn't thank him that's man thankless you just try to cross God out suppress God thankless and see the the thing is we just we're thankless and if we do entertain that there's a god well why did God let the Twin Tower fall down why God see the tsunami and why this and that that you see it's God's a taker he takes life he he makes our lives miserable man has this tendency to look at God like that it's like Satan coming along and saying you know God just doesn't want you to have that fruit over there he's he's depriving you he's robbing you that's how man tends to think it's like God's just a taker ohay God has given us so much evil doesn't come from God he's good what this is saying is good comes from God every perfect gift I mean you think about perfect it means the ultimate that that which cannot be bettered and obviously in verse 18 he gets to it but you see the picture here do you know when it calls him the Father of Lights this is not just simply saying that God this is talking about the heaven L lights like the sun and the moon and the stars this isn't just saying that God created those things when it talks about him no variation the old Puritan Thomas Manon said that variation is an astronomical term that idea of Shadow what you have to recognize is this when the sun is at Noonday straight overhead there's no shadow I know underneath you but there's on the sun dial there's no Shadow you cast no Shadow you see the idea here is that God comes down with those rays and he sprays this goodness down from his being in giving giving giving you see the sun the sun sets the sun rises the sun can be eclipsed the sun doesn't how he strike the Earth at the same angle but God his love strikes at the same angle to where there's no Shadow he is a giver parents instill that in your children if you need anything you go to him he's The Giver he's the source he's the help there's no Shadow at all this this is talking to us about our divine son him giving giving giving giving so thankless we are and Brethren how many times have we asked for water and he's given us wine I Isaiah says arise Shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you that's the idea so you're so prone to have hard thoughts of God and James wants to take us right out of that Brethren our s safety lies in God's unchanging givingness that's what we have here what wretchedness Brethren I mean what jumps out at me is what wretches wretchedness that we even have to be told this but we do why you know what we're complainers by Nature aren't you bre We complain about so many things we're unhappy now you just imagine how jealousy and envy fits into all this when God gives so much and gives so much and yet discontent and then Verse 18 like I said God's most perfect gift in James estimation out of all the good that God sprays down in these beams James singles out one thing Above All Else and what is it you see it there this is really where I want to focus my attention right now of his own will he gave us something he brought us forth Young's literal translation reads this way he did beget Us by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures now listen I the the new English translation I just throw it I don't usually use this but I I just thought it it gives good expression here by his Sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth I like that brought forth what does brought forth mean what does beget mean it's delivery of that with which somebody is pregnant it's birth but obviously this is not physical birth being talked about here what makes it obvious firsts well not just the first fruits aspect but the word of Truth this birth happens by God's word this happens by the god the word of Truth The Gospel of your salvation that's how Ephesians talks that's what we're talking about here we're talking about good news we're talking about the we're talking about the best news and what happens this birth comes as a result of being exposed to this word of truth it's you remember how Peter says it how does Peter say it he basically says the same truth anybody remember I'll help you you've been born again how not one way not of yeah not not of perishable but of what imperishable which is what yeah he calls it their the living and abiding word of God and Brethren you recognize what we're talking about here what is this gift this gift is a birth this gift is a spiritual birth we're not just talking about some mere spiritual Improvement here or getting religion or some kind of little moral upgrade or you know how you people make New Year's resolutions it's trying to get their act together it's nothing like that nothing like that at all this is nothing less than a full-blown miracle that God does by his will that's what we're being Paul talks about it like this at one time you were Darkness now you are light in the Lord how do we become light gives a Father of Lights he has a will he Wills to shine that light on us what's the result you get brought forth through the birth canal of his word into the Glorious light and Brethren if you remain the same you recognize Brethren if you remain the same how can it be said that you've been brought forth how can it be said that there's a new birth a baby is delivered from the womb the darkness of the womb of Mama comes out into the light isn't that what scripture says at one time you were Darkness now you're light in the Lord out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light that's the way scripture speaks now brethren we have to really grasp this notice what it says it's God's decision of his own own will he brought us forth by the word of Truth God's not forced to do this he consults with nobody God's will is the reason behind why anybody is ever born again what motivates God you know what Moses said to Israel you remember what he said he said you know what guys you really need to understand you know why God set his love upon you because God set his love upon you he said is not because you were greater in number than anybody else you weren't more impressive you didn't have mighti of your armies you weren't more handsome you weren't more beautiful you weren't more righteous he says he just lays it down to this he said you were the fewest it's because the lord loves you that's the conclusion or you come over to the psalmus says it in Psalm 18 He rescued me why David says because he Delight Ed in me but you notice he doesn't say well because I was handsome I was young and Ruddy and handsome and so he delighted in me he was the least when Samuel was sizing up all the sons of Jesse he didn't start by saying you know he he thought it's got to be this guy and then well okay it's this guy you know what scripture says God loves because he chooses to love God Delights because he chooses to Delight when it's all said and done Brethren that's the Supreme cause don't we read that one day Jesus he looked up to his father you remember that Matthew 11 after that whole incident where he's basically cursing Corin and capernium and Besa and he just says father I thank you you've hidden these things from the wise and The Prudent he says you've revealed these things to babes do you remember what he says next such was your gracious will it's his will why does one guy see and one guy doesn't see in the end what does it come down to God's will that's what James is expressing Brethren this gives us one of the purest and most beautiful pictures of the freeness of God's love so if I'm saved Brethren who gets the credit wait didn't I receive Christ didn't I believe doesn't John 1:12 say that to as many as received him believed in his name he gave the right to become wasn't it me didn't I do that didn't I receive him didn't I believe doesn't it say I did yes so am I am I the initiator am I the ultimate cause a lot of people read verse 12 and they don't read verse 13 you ever noticed that what does 13 say well it says something like this who were were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God in other words of the will of God you believe you received because it was the will of who not man it's a sovereign thing Brethren so the question of the hour is this when we read of his own will he brought us forth by the word of Truth let me ask you this who's the US Brethren statements like this ought to make us step back and ask what is Christianity what is the church how did we get here Brethren any idea Christianity is mainly the result of something that I do or that you do is always completely utterly hopelessly wrong the true church is not a result of our efforts ultimately I mean we need to put away any thinking that the Christian church is initially that it's ultimately the result of our action our decisions or the Brethren or we got to put away the idea that Christianity is some sort of Duty and I know there's some of you that come here you feel like I got to go there it's like you got to keep doing this why it's it's a duty to come here each week just kind of hoping the service won't be too long Brethren true Christianity is always the activity of God carrying out his will we need to stop and ask sometimes how did the church ever come into being and you know what what I recognize is this when you have James and this guy was a leader at Jerusalem and he's speaking to the scattered tribes likely scattered through the persecution that came about from Steven likely people that were scattered from Jerusalem who he had previously pastored let me ask you something where did those people come from a lot of them you know what a lot of the people that he's writing to undoubtedly were converted at Pentecost there were 3,000 you got why I mean this is close proximity to that James was there early you got these people the reason I'm bringing this up is because Pentecost resonates with james8 and Brethren Acts 2 think about acts it turn them turn to Acts 2 we're talking about something that is so important this has to do with where Christianity comes from where the church comes from how does it how does it how does the church even survive to this day how is it that that these these Galilean fishermen came down from an upper room and and somehow this thing has survived at this very hour I mean Acts too Brethren this is something so entirely different from what so often passes for Christianity in the minds of most people regarding the nature and the life of the church what do you have in Acts 2 I'll tell you what you have you have these guys and all of a sudden they come down from this upper room and they've had tongues fire experience and they come out on the streets and they begin to proclaim the mighty works of God and they're doing it in tongues and you got these people from all over the world and they're hearing this in their own tongues and and they think that they're drk and so what happens Peter Peter a Galilean fisherman who who wasn't so impressive not long before this denying the lord and there there he is in all of his weakness and all of his whatever and he's he's out there and he begins to speak and he begins to tell them about Joel and that this is a fulfillment of the prophecy he talks to them about this prophet and then he goes on and he talks about another Prophet it calls David a prophet there and he quotes he quotes David from psalm 16 and then he quotes again from what Psalm 110 it's so so he's dealing with the the outpouring of the spirit he's dealing with psalm 16 the resurrection he's dealing with Psalm 110 the fact that he ascended he's seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high this is what's happening but Brethren so often people are ignorant they're ignorant about what Christianity is you get people that well they're living this sinful life and suddenly I don't know something happens they get their conscience is bothering them they recognize enough of the truth and they start coming to the church they start coming they feel like it's a duty they got to they got to work this thing out people ignorant they constructing their own ideas in their head they fa face death they realize something about hell their misery they're disturbed by the thoughts of what might happen and they try to smooth over the conscience and the brush away the fears with a turtle little bit of church going but brethren in the end is this biblical Christianity is this what we find or is it more like James 1118 and what happened in Acts chapter 2 see what I see when I look at James 1118 is I see that worked out this is very concise form but when you go to the day of Pentecost it's like this is where it all happens this is where it all started Brethren what happened those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 Souls what does it mean to become a Christian do you know it me means to be added what what does it mean to be added it means if you're added to something it means before you were outside that something now you got added to their number and to what the ring of who well in Acts 247 it says the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved you see that have you wrestled with this question 3,000 added that day added to the ranks of the saved they passed from being outside to being inside what happened to them do you know because the reality is what James is doing you recognize what James is saying there in 118 is very emphatic about these people these people are the first fruits of the Lord these are the ones dedicated to him these are the ones set aside you remember what a first fruit was it's that it's the best it's the first it's that which you bring and it's dedicated to the Lord the owner no longer has any rights to it it's totally his what does it mean to become totally Christ to be dedicated to be a first fruits like I say this is emphatic do you recognize what he's saying the only ones that are the first fruits the only ones are those who by God's will have been begotten by the word of truth they're the only ones and you see this worked out here what's it mean to become a Christian brethren we have to wrestle with these things what happened to them because the reality is same thing better happen to us has it happened to us I mean I I know this what happened that day the Lord did it why because it says the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being sa well that that connects perfectly with James doesn't it of his own will he begot us and here it says he's the one doing it he's the one adding these people and James says God brings us forth by the word of Truth Now if we go to acts two any sign of that I mean like I said got simple gilean preacher by the name of Peter and he's saying something cites a prophet cites psalm 16 cites Psalm 110 and you recognize what happens as he's speaking there's a crowd of people much like you you're listening this isn't it just the craziest thing that God designed it that a guy would stand up and talk and you actually come here each week and you sit there and listen I mean say same kind of thing happened that day a guy's talking people are sitting there and listening why are they listening because the guy's saying something is it worth hearing I don't know that all depends on what the guy says and what's he saying well he starts saying hey you know what you're seeing right now this is a bunch of drunken galileans this is what Joel talked about out he starts talking there's your word of Truth the prophets said this the prophets prophesied this this isn't C catching God by surprise this is exactly what God Said was going to happen and he starts you know what he does he starts bringing out facts he starts hitting the people right between the eyes remember word of Truth word of Truth yeah Brethren the Bible is an honest book you got you got truth in here this is the truth the Supreme truth and he's hitting them right between the eyes with it and he says in the end you guys you need to face this the solid facts of this book this is history folks where did the church come from I that's it those people in Jerusalem were suddenly confronted they're confronted by what what could they say what could they possibly do something astounding began to happen there that crowd was confronted you know what began to happen the phenomenon of James 1:18 Peter didn't stand there and debate limited atonement with these guys he didn't say well you know you guys all need to go up to that upper room and have a tongues of fire experience like we all had it's none of that he quoted the prophet Joel he quoted another prophet he expounded scripture as a certain fact of history you know what he said in Acts 2:22 men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested to you by God with Mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and forn knowledge of God you crucified and killed by the hands of Lawless men God raised him up loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it objective facts you know what Peter did he worked out his argument he laid it out doesn't matter your background your sins you've committed your ethnicity personality psychological makeup you know what he did he hit these people right between the eyes whether they were tall or short whether they young or old he hit them between the eyes with these facts the word of Truth Jesus of Nazareth you truth Jesus of Nazareth is a historical figure he's real and there he is he came he did certain things he announced himself to be somebody somebody says hey why should I believe such things on what grounds truth Brethren truth it is imp you know what we are so deceived we come into this world and the he the deceiver of the whole world we're under his power we walk through this life we're deceived we think things are the way they are and they're not that way that's how these people were what do you think it means to repent it means to rethink it means to change your mind something's got to happen you come face to face with this word of Truth and you've got Minds that have been deceived by sin and the devil and this world's outlook on things and suddenly you're confronted by it truth you ever been hit by truth to where it rocked you it thrilled you it threw you off balance suddenly these people are like brothers what do we do like we're in trouble here you suddenly get hit by the truth and you recog ni this isn't this isn't a circus and I I'm headed to what some ethereal Delight in the end and everything's going to be good and I just hope it all works out and hopefully I've been good enough and suddenly they're hit by it the realities are quite different than you thought and suddenly what there's life so how did all this happen well they're confronted by this they begin to they begin to think God said God has revealed certain things about his son Jesus I mean this book it's taken up with what his life this is where Peter was he talks about Jesus Jesus Christ is the fact he's the center he's the primary truth and in the midst of all of this they're confronted by this Jesus you ever been confronted him by Christ through the word of Truth to where suddenly God caused you to Spring forth into life suddenly your eyes are opened suddenly you see things entirely different they line up with truth Brethren that's our task hold forth this word of Truth why did God send his son you know the vast majority of people don't know we're down on the street Saturday here's a young couple walk over to them I start talking to them about that they have no idea no idea what it takes to get to heaven no idea how good you've got to be no idea whether they have been or not listen you live you walk you talk in the midst of this world the truths expressed in the gospel happened in your world they happen here this has to do with you this can't be avoided by just talking about science or medical advances or anything like that Brethren do you recognize there's none righteous not a single one we're coming face to face with death and after that the Judgment there is really a god there's a heaven and a hell you can't avoid these things everybody's got to face the fact of the Lord Jesus Christ and it doesn't matter who you are Brethren this is the kind of thing James is hitting us with this reality people really do get born again one of the things that blew me away when I first got saved is I I couldn't believe it I walked through this world for 25 years of my life as a nominal Catholic never recognizing that there were actually people in this world that were born again I did I I I couldn't believe it what I've been just living my life and all the Wild and all the fun and living like there's no death and there's no there there's no God to give an account to in the end and just suddenly seriously there are people who were spiritually Alive walking around me and I didn't I didn't even understand it Brethren you have to ask yourself this if I come face to face with the word of Truth and he who said I am the way and the truth and have been I so confronted by this that in my confront ation with it something akin to a second Birth has taken place something so radical so lifechanging has that happened is that's what James is saying of his own will he begot us and it's always through the word there it is Brethren the thing is what you have to recognize like when I was lost like most Catholics superstitious I had this over on my dresser not this one but I had a Bible on my dresser thinking that somehow it would ward off evil I never read it I just thought it kind of emanated a an evil rejector or like if you put it under your pillow somehow it was you know was m magical Brethren that's not what's being talked about here the word is not a good luck charm you recognize what's going to happen you've got to read it or hear it preached you've got to be confronted by it you've got to think up you've got to begin to ask questions about it rethink repent change people don't want to think give me the bottle give me the drug give me the thing it's too painful to think people are desperate all the time to evade the facts what does the spirit move us to think about Brethren those people in Jerusalem were made to think about what they were hit between the eyes with the Lord Jesus Christ and that they had been rejecting him yes they killed him but you would have too don't make them more guilty than you you've been rejecting him just like they have if you're sitting here lost that's I mean that's what they were hit by they were given these objective historical facts about this person and what happened they were cut to the heart how'd that happen well because see this was more than just their own involvement and their own decisions and their own actions God was at work something was happening inside them something was happening to them Brethren have you ever been cut to the Heart by the message of truth I recognize somebody like Timothy grew up under a God the grandmother and God you know children coming up like that they may not experienced that kind of thing but these were these are primarily adults sitting here rather than this is the mark of the true message and the True Church the true people of God I'm shaken I think in my thinking Jesus Christ all of a sudden is taking a position in my mind that he never took before I saw him as unimportant and low and d suddenly he's the chief position suddenly first thing we have to face brethren in this word of Truth is the person of Christ his life his death his resurrection the spirit opens my eyes to the relevance of Christ and the relevance of Christ to me suddenly this all matters what he did how he lived what he did on that cross it matters to me I I come to recognize I'm involved in this this has to do with with brethren we recognize that Christ is at the very center of all of God's plan and all of his per purposes here and I've been rejecting him it you're awaken to this Brethren think and what happens as they're thinking it leads to conviction and you know what you start telling yourself I'm not a good person I'm not what I thought I was there's fear there's concern Brothers what are we supposed to do that's what they begin asking like we're we're afraid we're convicted we need help we're in trouble have you opened the word of Truth and I listen don't down play this of his own will he begat us through the word of Truth something akin to that needs to be a reality in your life or you're not one of the first fruits this is what happened on that day of Pentecost men and women never face the facts of the word of Truth most people they will not take the time they will not go here they continue lost in darkness and misery of sin all the while not begotten not brought forth not knowing where they're going not understanding not understanding life not ready to die always afraid truth oh God has given us a source of Truth Peter's sermon alone can't account for what happened on that day how did it happen how do you become C to the heart is because as Joel is opened up as Psalm 16 is opened up and he's telling him that's not David David's body is right over here it's corrupting in the grave this wasn't talking about him and God seated him at his right hand there it is Psalm 110 Brethren I'll tell you in the end this is what accounts for the church this is why she exists to this day God's in it God does it God energizes it his power he breathes life into her that's the only explanation something is happening by his will to us it happens to us have you ever been aware of that had listen so often people get this idea that they need to become religious oh some big fearful thing and prison is before them or there's a war and they're in the Foxhole or you know you got different things Christianity is often something people take up like a hobby that's not what we're talking about here what we're talking about is something God does by his own will to us have you ever been aware that God has been doing something to you from outside of You by a power greater than you that's what we're talking about here this is Christianity it is a supernatural thing is a miraculous thing that's what we're faced with happens by his will Christianity happens to me I remember that I'm going along and Brethren when it started happening to me I actually said at one point God leave me alone let me go back and enjoy my sin the way I did before something was happening to me and at first I wanted to try to escape it it wasn't I wasn't feeling good under that he was stripping away all the self-righteousness and it it it was it hurt it was uncomfortable and finally you get to the place what do I do Lord help me and Brethren the thing is though many things are commanded to us we are to we are commanded to strive to enter in we are commanded to repent we're commanded to believe we're commanded to do all sorts of things but brethren in the end it's the power of God coming upon you and changing you you have to have an encounter with the word of truth and the Christ in that word and God meets you there that's what happens why'd God send his son to die why'd God preserve it all in a book for me to read does this have anything to do with me I mean you got to get to the place where it's like you're confronted by this this word of Truth isn't about any old truth doesn't teach us about calculus this is the truth the Supreme truth of all of history why Jesus Christ and you know I'm talking to the young couple on the on on Saturday and it's like no it doesn't it doesn't even compute and that's how I was for 25 years just walking through my life if you would have come it was like I wouldn't have wanted to talk to you out there on that sidewalk cuz I an agenda it was some kind of pleasure it was some kind of I'm going to go get drunk or do something don't talk to me I don't want to know about this when what happens God comes in and he makes it all come alive to me when a man becomes a Christian he's just suddenly conscious he's being dealt with from outside God's doing something there's no ex often times we can't explain exactly what's happening or why it's happening but but we know it's happening this is the reality folks and so we need to put these questions to ourselves have you faced God's word and been concerned been jolted have you read scripture and come to realize things about yourself that you never realized before have your eyes been opened Jesus is not what you thought Jesus Is Not So unimportant as you thought God's not some pushover but holy holy holy like we saying has that have you been confronted by him how much have you really thought about him who is this we begin to think think Brethren the world has this idea that Christians are idiots and don't think they're the great thinkers the freeth thinkers Brethren that's not what our Bibles tell us our Bibles tell us that if anybody has thought it's Christians they're thinking and they're rethinking and their mind something is happening in the mind Brethren the issue is this have you ever read God's word had it really grip you you may say oh I read my Bible but that's not what I'm asking you have you been moved by it have you been thrilled by it has has has it radically changed your thinking has God done something has has it caused I mean have you come and you've been confronted by this book where you suddenly why am I going to die what is life all about who is this Jesus why did he come why did he die do you have an encounter with a living God in the truth that something like that you begin to feel things and ask questions that you never asked before judgment what is that all about why have I been so careless you recognize that this crowd they were the same people that were crying out for him to be crucified not too long before this and now all of a sudden they're saying to these Galilean fishermen not quite the people you get were no gals not quite the people you go to to ask for help and yet they're just cut to the heart God is doing something they it's like it doesn't matter that it's Peter or Thomas or any of these other guys what matters is they've been hit by this truth of who Christ is it's knocked them over they're cut to the heart and now they're looking for help brethen this is what God does in the midst of all of it is this is the essence of Christianity Breen it's not you and I just dragging ourselves into this service and doing everything and trying to make something happen and feeling nothing and God's not here and God's no there's no reality and God's some abstraction far out there and far bre that's not true Christianity we don't want that we don't want what man can do we want what God can do we want God to put together a group of people that are brought under this conviction and seek Christ th all together lovely and and oh he's there everything and their desire is for him and their life is for him and all on the altar how does that happen because you're born again because you've been birthed this way Everything Changes Everything radical Brethren what do I do do I do I go and say oh you know what it's by his will guess I can do nothing so I guess that's what I'll do I'll just do nothing I need to be saved I'm a sinner yes I born in sin under the wrath of God there's no hope in humanity Only Hope can found is in God and he is by his will so I guess if God's going to do it he's going to have to do it and there's just really nothing I can do Brethren the scripture never comes to such conclusions Jesus never told anybody to do that and these guys when they said what must we do they didn't say that either do nothing Brethren what I would tell you to do is back up a verse in James and go to verse 17 and say if God is this father of lights and he is so giving that I'm going to him I need some things and I'm going to him and if it says that he birs people through the word of Truth what would be the next obvious conclusion do nothing I mean if God is setting himself forth is so giving I'm going to start talking to him and I'm going to give him no rest till I get everything from he's so giving that's how he's setting himself for I'm going to go to the giving God you see if you have this mindset God's just a taker God really doesn't want to save me God is hesitant God just makes it hard I've I've cried out to him before and I got no response you start that's all a lie I said exactly what the devil wanted Eve to think all the lies you know what the truth is he is a giver and a giver and a giver so go to him to get and the place you want to go to him as you're talking to him is keep your face in here because if you're begotten by the word of Truth by thinking by contemplating what's really here go to the gospels go where Christ is revealed go look at the day of pente cost go there if God is a freely giving as verse 17 in in James 1 claims that motivates me to just want to cry out to him this is what James wants us to think God's not holding out on us God's not the author of Bad and the author of sin God is the author of good and perfect things and he is so giving and what I find Brethren is that when God sent his son into this world search those gospels anytime people came to him asking for something that wasn't sin he gave it yes there was a guy that he wanted the brother to split the money with him Jesus a going to have any part of that kind of covetousness but Brethren people that went to him even when they didn't get saved in the end cuz how many lepers were there there were 10 lepers only one came back Jesus gave and gave and gave and the father gives and gives and give this is Christianity it's a message you need to be saved and that God has provided a means whereby that can happen Supernatural miraculous I'm not telling you to be good that's not the message here there's nothing you telling folks to get religious or to try harder brethren we need to be delivered from death and darkness and Damnation and thank God he delivers he is he doesn't just give us trees to shade our yard Brethren he gives eternal life he gives his son he gives the spirit he gives himself oh Brethren this is it if you control your religion Ah that's proof it's not biblical Christianity and the question is do you know this living God have you heard His Voice have you felt that touch of God upon your soul after being in this book that's the question are you aware you've been dealt with by God if all you have is what you do what you think brethen you're not a Christian that's that's the reality that you get from James 1118 it's always the hand of God working through the word of God first fruit Brethren you need to recognize if this has happened to you you are a first fruit that means it is that fruit that that farmer brought before he did anything with the rest it's the first it's the best and God has claim to it it's dedicated to him you're no longer your own if God has done this to you he owns it all but obviously the scripture puts an emphasis on if you've been bought by the blood of Christ that puts you in this very elite group and you're his no longer living for yourself you're a first fruit and so I would just say this may God give us us Grace at Grace Community Church to have all of us living lives of first fruit you know what that'll look like if we're all just dedicated no longer living to self holy to the Lord father I pray that these realities oh we want the real thing we want the book of Acts Lord we want the reality we want you to do what we can't do and Lord we know you have a will and we see it expressed here and we know that in the midst of seeing your will all expressed we see what a giving God you are and it makes me want to be bold to ask you for so much more and you're so willing to give exceedingly abundantly beyond what we ask or think and so Lord I pray that these Brethren would feel great Liberty in their soul to ask you for all sorts of things they would feel great Liberty in their soul and and just a desire to be here when this church gathers to pray to lift up voices to The God Who has a will and does all these glorious things and miraculous things and actually adds 3,000 to the church in a single day oh Lord there's nothing impossible for you and our eyes are open to see the impossible things that you'll do with us and through Us in the days ahead we ask for it in the name of the living Christ amen." 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