Can take my worship.
Oh, the enemy.
No matter what's going on around me, I'm going to worship.
God, we thank you.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord, for the break.
Alright. Come on, give God a praise.
That's right. Give God the praise this morning.
So good to see all of you all this morning.
Those of you who are online, bless you and welcome.
Those of you who are joining in from Albany State University, so glad to have you with us this morning.
Will you look at your neighbor and tell him, "It's so good to see you."
I know that hour didn't hold you back.
Yeah, the hour.
You know, it's 9:27 for real.
Like, really, you really changed the hour on us?
What a difference an hour makes, doesn't it?
How many of you are tired?
Be for real, for real.
Yeah.
That hour is something else, isn't it?
Well, I'm glad you made it out this morning.
I tell you, God is just faithful and it's just good like that.
This morning, we're going to be talking about faith and what faith looks like and how we can experience faith in our own lives.
That is something that we want to indulge in and talk about this morning.
And before we do so, let us just pray.
You know, it's good for us to pray.
Father, we thank you.
Why don't you do me a favor?
Touch the person next to you.
If they are okay with you touching them—people don't always like that—so, you know, want to be mindful of boundaries.
But if they're okay with it, won't you touch them?
Every now and then, we need a human touch.
Person touching you is just letting you know you're not in it by yourself.
You're not alone.
So, we just thank God this morning.
Father, we praise you and we honor you.
Thank you for this body of believers and thank you for these people that have come together in your name.
Truly, you said, "Where two or three are gathered in your name, you will be right there in their midst."
And so, Father, we just ask that you will manifest your presence.
Make your presence pliable to the person who needs to know you the most.
And so, Father, we just thank you for what you're going to do today.
Our ears are open.
Our hearts are receptive.
But we come to do what you have asked us to do.
We come to obey what it is you put down in our spirit.
We'll work it out through our soul and our body.
And Lord, you'll get the glory.
You'll get the increase.
We'll be happy.
We're going to go just the way you said.
So, we honor you even now, Lord, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you.
Yeah.
If you will, go with me to the book of James.
We're going to start out in James 5.
James 5.
We're going to start out in...
Oh, wow.
I just lost my note.
I literally just lost my note.
Let's see.
Maybe it's not really lost.
It's just me working it.
Okay, we found them.
Thank God for that.
Alright.
I did get nervous.
Yeah, my anxiety just went up like that.
We're going to be looking at the book of James, okay?
Now, the book of James, I want to first start off.
We're going to start off in James 5.
So, you get there, but then I want you to listen to the summary of how the book of James is laid out.
See, the summary of the book of James provides information about the title, the author, date of writing, chronological theme, theology outline, and a brief overview of the chapters.
Now, the author of James is the brother of Jesus.
At first, he does not believe in Jesus.
It's funny.
You can start one way and end up another.
So, James, who is the brother of—he's the legitimate brother of Jesus.
He was several brothers of Christ, and he was probably the oldest based off of the listing in Matthew 13:55.
At first again, he did not believe in Jesus, and he even challenged him and misunderstood his message, according to John 7:2 and 5.
It goes like this:
"But when the Jewish festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers said to him, 'Why don't you leave Galilee and go to Judea so that your disciples there might see the works that you do?'"
He didn't understand Jesus' mission.
And he told him, James told Jesus, "No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, won't you show yourself to the world?"
For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
That is in John 7.
James challenged Jesus and misunderstood his mission.
But later, somewhere between that unbelief and disbelief, he does become a believer of Jesus.
He becomes a prominent person in the church.
That tells me that you can start one way and develop to become something else.
And that is the good news of the gospel for somebody.
Because right now, you may not look like what God wants you to be, to say, and to behave, but keep hanging out with Jesus.
Eventually, there's going to be a transformation that takes place.
And who you are today, you won't look like that in the future if you continue to...
James was one of the selected individuals Christ appeared to after his resurrection.
According to 1 Corinthians 15:7, Paul even called him a pillar of the church, one who went from unbelieving to becoming a pillar in the church according to Galatians 2:9.
Paul, on his first post-conversion visit to Jerusalem, the first person he went to go see—he didn't go up and see the other apostles, he went up and saw James, the Lord's brother—going from what I wasn't to what God wants me to become.
And when Peter was rescued from prison, he writes in his letter in Acts 12:17, he said, "I want you to tell my friends what happened to me, how I got out of prison, and tell James."
It seemed like everybody had to let the big brother know in the church, from unbelieving to becoming a staple pillar in the community of the church.
He said, "Make sure you tell James."
James was a leader in the important council of Jerusalem.
He made major decisions for the church.
Jude even identified him simply as "my brother James."
When he wrote Jude 1:1, he knew James well.
And James was also martyred.
That means he was killed because of his faith.
We're talking about going from what we are not to all that God will have us to become.
This morning, our title is "Faith That Works."
James 5:13-15 says this:
"Are y'all with me? Is anyone among you in trouble? What should they do? Let them pray."
This is big brother James telling us what to do now.
He says, "Is anyone happy? Let them do what? Sing songs of praise."
"Is anyone among you sick? Let them do what? Call for the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well."
May I stop here just for a moment?
Because I'm not oblivious to the fact that some of us did pray for some people that were sick and they still died anyway.
I need to go ahead and address that that's in the room.
We must still believe that what God tells us to do as far as the rudiments of faith, when he says anoint them, call for the elders, let them pray—the prayer of faith—it's not that it didn't work, it's that everybody has a beginning and everybody has an end, and that is the sovereignty of God, and we are all subject to it.
We will yet still do what God instructs us to do.
He says that person is sick, and the prayer that is offered in faith by the elders, after having anointed them with oil, it says the Lord will raise them up—not we will raise them up, the Lord will raise them up—we just be obedient to what the Lord asks us to do.
If they have sinned, they will be what? Forgiven.
Are y'all reading?
Therefore, because of what he wrote, everything prior to, he says, "This is what we must do. For this to work in our congregation, for this to work in our community of believers, we got to confess our faults where? One to another and pray for what? Each other so that we may be what? Healed."
This is how God works amongst us.
So when you're in your small group and you're hesitant to say what's going on with you, that is your opportunity to get healed.
Gotta open up.
You gotta open up.
He says, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed."
Because why?
The prayer of a righteous person—a righteous person.
Do I do everything right? No.
But because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, that's what makes you righteous.
The fact that you believe God, that you believe in his son, that what he did for you, that has given you the tag of righteousness.
In the Old Testament, it says God told Abraham to get up, leave where he was, then told him again, "Go take your son and go lead him up to a mountain," and said, "Because he believed God, that movement was counted to him for what? Righteousness."
The fact that you confess the Lord Jesus Christ, you become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
You are righteous, not because of what you do, but because of who he is and what he has done.
Now we do have an obligation to walk out righteousness.
We'll get into that in a minute.
So he tells us that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Powerful and effective.
My first point for us this morning is God still heals people.
God still heals people.
Hebrews 13:8 says this: "Jesus Christ is the same what? Yesterday, today, and forevermore."
Some of you struggle with your yesterday.
You struggle with it.
It's got a hold on you—yesterday.
It's still got a hold on your memory.
What you gotta do is talk to the God of your yesterday.
You gotta ask God to release you and to relieve you of your yesterday mistakes.
He's the God that knows how to restore and take away that thing that still has a grip on you from when? Yesterday.
Nobody can resolve it like God.
Say, "God, take care of my yesterday because it's messing up my today. I don't want it to mess up my today."
Second Timothy 4:18 says this: "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen."
The Lord will rescue us from what? Every evil attack because he's the same God yesterday, today, and forevermore.
God still heals people.
God still heals people.
God is also concerned about my soul.
Luke 10:19-20 says this: "I have given you—this is Jesus talking—I have given you what? Authority to trample on snakes, your version may say serpents, scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the what? Enemy. And nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Now I want to take this part out about—I want to take time to just kind of elaborate on this here about Jesus or God is also concerned about my soul.
In Psalm 138:8 it says this: "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever; forsake not the works of your own hands."
The ESV version says this: "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands."
When we talk about that God is concerned about the soul, I want to park right here just a little bit.
There are three components to who you are: your spirit, your soul, and your body.
Your spirit is full of what God says when you first get saved, when you first confess to the Lord.
It is in your spirit that you commune with God.
It is in your spirit that the word of God you are impregnated with.
Yes, man, you do get pregnant in God.
You get pregnant with what God says.
Everything that is in the book you are already full of when you come to Christ.
It is your spirit.
Full.
Somebody say full.
Here is where we have to work it out at.
This is where the dilemma comes.
In my soul, my soul consists of what? How I think, my personality, my feelings.
I want to say it like this: my soul consists of my will.
My will is my ability to decide whether to agree with God or not, to put into action what God asks of me or not, to fulfill his known desires for me or not, and to do what I know he wants me to do or not.
Because friends, in the realm of your soul, you get a choice.
You get a choice.
You get a choice to either partner with God or not.
Another component of your soul is your emotions.
This is the variation of expressions that you may have, like anger, happiness, grief, excitement, anger, and other like kind of expressions.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 says this: "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept what? Blameless."
Are y'all with me?
Are y'all tracking?
At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, put that little image back up.
Let's go to work this morning.
Alright.
When you get saved, this is your spirit.
This is the thing that comes alive to God.
It is the thing that is regenerated.
When you come to him, at first you are dead in Christ.
We all are.
And then we come alive.
That part of us that is etched out, that workmanship in Christ Jesus is woken up.
It's the second Adam.
It gets up.
It gets up.
That's how we can say, "I once was dead and now I'm alive. I was in the kingdom of darkness. Now I'm translated into the kingdom of light."
It is this part of you that woke up.
It is full of God's word.
It is ready to obey God.
It is here where you commune with God.
Are y'all with me?
God conscious.
This is where God lives.
Now here in the realm of the soul, in your soul, this is where the seed of your emotions are.
This is your personality.
This is your will.
How you think.
How your experiences from childhood to whenever.
It's right here in the soul.
The spirit is always trying to make its way out into your soul.
Alright.
Okay.
I'm better now.
In our soul, where we make the decision to obey God.
That's what it is.
It's in your soul.
Okay?
This is where we part.
This is going from here to here is where transformation takes place.
This is from here to here is how you confirm that you walk with God.
It is here that Romans 12:1 and 2 comes alive: "Not to be conformed to this world."
All the work goes around in this area of your life.
This is where years take place.
Where how you used to think about money, how you used to think about relationships—all of those things, the soul, the spirit is working itself out through your soul.
Are y'all with me?
Are you with me in TV land?
Internet land?
1 Thessalonians 5:23 says this: "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you."
You gotta put it back for me.
Sanctify you through and through.
Through and through what?
From my spirit, to my soul, and eventually with my body.
Are y'all with me?
He says this: "May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ."
See, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 tells us this: "The God of peace himself is going to sanctify you wholly."
He sanctifies us.
Can you put it back?
I'm going back to the board.
He sanctifies us.
He sanctifies us starting in our spirit.
The God of peace does this.
He sanctifies us first in our spirit.
He sanctifies us by spreading into and saturating our whole being.
Starting from my spirit, then continuing where? Into our soul and eventually including our body.
Being wholly filled with God.
Wholly.
W-H-O-L-L-Y.
The total person.
The total person.
So you can't leave one component out.
You can't be like, "Oh, I got God in my spirit. I hear God."
But your soul is not cooperating with your spirit.
Are y'all rocking?
Are y'all with me?
Am I saying this right?
No?
Let me know.
And then eventually your body comes on board.
Can I teach in here this morning?
That's why he'll say things like, "In your body you gotta make sure it's the temple of the Holy Ghost."
Well, in the temple of the Holy Ghost should be in my spirit.
No, you need all three components working together to become in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not just one part of you.
It is all components of you.
Usually what happens is when we are faced with a dilemma, we usually get concerned about the outcome.
It's the outcome that throws us off.
It's the outcome.
God could have definitely spoken to your spirit.
But it's in the outcome that you wrestle with what he said in our soul.
You wrestle with it.
That's where your mental real estate takes up in your mindset.
Because you're wondering, "Is God gonna do it? Is God not gonna do it? Is God gonna do it? Isn't God not gonna do it?"
What God said.
Then you know we have our struggle is taking what God has put in our spirit and seeing it worked out within the confines of our soul.
In the spirit, God as the spirit dwells.
In the soul, that's where we dwell.
And in the body, it just deals with the physical senses.
God sanctifies us first by taking possession of our spirit through regeneration.
That means he comes in.
He comes in.
What you did was you said, "Okay, Lord," you felt conviction.
"God, I repent. I want to get right with God."
Do you know what's happening when that takes place?
That's God entering into your spirit.
Oh my God.
And then he starts sanctifying you there first.
He starts taking possession of your spirit first through this process called regeneration.
Second, he starts spreading himself out as the life-giving spirit from our spirit into our soul to saturate and transform us.
That's where the work of Christ is done.
That's how when you notice, "Oh my God, I don't even want to do that no more."
I used to do this.
And then all of a sudden it started dropping off.
And then you used to do one thing.
You'd be like, "I don't even have a desire for that. That don't even excite me no more."
I used to want to be part of those people's crew.
Hang out with those people.
Something started happening.
What was in your spirit started moving out into your soul.
Transformation started taking place.
And you notice, "Oh God, I used to like to wear booty shorts. That don't even fit me."
What happened, sis?
Transformation?
Booty shorts.
Save the preacher, Lord.
It was just an example.
We've all been there.
If you walk with God any length of time, your soul has been under some transformation.
Can I get a witness in here?
You used to talk to your husband in any kind of way because you saw it when you were raised in your household where the woman was just talking to the man in any kind of way.
That jumped in your soul.
And then when you got in Christ, you started reading what it said how a wife should be submissive to you.
How am I going to change?
You saw hearing the word of God over and over again.
And then eventually you got on board with God.
Come on, somebody.
Who's getting on board with God?
Not just my mind.
Not just my spirit.
My body too.
All three of them are coming into alignment.
It's going to take all three.
Church, it's going to take all three.
It's going to take what?
All three.
God wants us to grow in our faith.
Hebrews 11:6 says this: "Because without faith it's going to be what? It's going to be impossible to please God."
Because anyone who comes to him must believe that he what? Exists and that he rewards those who what? Diligently, earnestly seek him.
When we talk about making our faith work, because it does work.
Faith begins first with a word from God.
It first begins with a word from God.
And if you are young in this place and you haven't really been walking with God a long time, may I encourage you and instruct you to get a hold of a devotion that you deal with and listen to daily.
Because it will strengthen that middle part of you, that spirit part of you, so that your soul can be ongoing through the transformation process.
How can you prove that he's with you?
Accept your change.
Accept your change.
What I used to do, I don't do anymore.
That's the testament of those who have come to know him.
They had a testimony.
James said, "I didn't used to believe in my brother, but baby, something along the way between him going to that cross and me seeing him eating those fish sandwiches at Mary’s house, something along the way changed, and somehow or another I became an elder of the church."
Transformation.
Understanding.
Faith begins with a word from God.
It says this in 1 Kings 17:1: "Now Elijah the Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead said to Ahab"—Ahab was a political leader.
He was the king of Israel at the time, married to a woman named Jezebel, but that's another story.
It says, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."
You are walking in some things when you can tell the rain in a region to close up.
You are walking in some stuff, bro.
I'm serious when you can tell a whole region, "Don't rain," and God's like, "You said from the earth, 'Don't rain,'" and God hears you because you are righteous.
The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.
And God is like, "Okay, bro, I'm going to back you up on that. No rain."
Number two.
Isaiah 55:11 says this: "This is how God's word works. So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me what? Empty. But it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
That's how powerful the word of God is.
That when you speak it out with faith, and then you even got to have a lot of faith—just enough to say, "God, I believe what I just read."
Just a little bit of faith.
And you speak it out.
It goes out and accomplishes things.
You're not ordinary people.
You're not just an ordinary woman.
No, you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Things are going to work out differently for you because of who you're connected to.
Do you know who you are?
Number two.
Faith continues when you hold on to what he said.
1 Kings 18:43-44 says this: "After Elijah the prophet has said there was not going to be any rain, he said, 'Now I'm ready for rain to come.' It was about the space of three and a half years. He says, 'Go,' and he told his servant, 'Go and look toward it to see it's about time for it to start raining.'"
He sent his servant, and the servant went and looked, and it was nothing there.
This is where you get into a faith battle.
God said this, but it looked like that.
God said, "My children will be saved," but it's looking like this.
That's when you get into what I call a faith battle.
God said he'll meet all my needs, but my needs look like they're not going to be met.
Somebody say faith battle.
This is when you're going to need to know how to buckle down.
You're going to have to put your feet down in the ground and hold what they say—hold the line.
Hold the faith because this is when either we lose it and we give up and be like, "Okay, God ain't going to do that for me, oh well."
And you walk away.
We walk away with disappointment.
And eventually that disappointment sits on you unresolved, and then you kind of look in that God cross out.
He's saved, but he don't really do this.
And secretly we be mad.
Be mad.
Wrong terminus.
Faith continues when we hold on to what God says, right?
Ahab—I mean, Elijah told his servant Gehazi, he said, "It's time to rain. The time and the space for this judgment to be over."
I hear that for somebody.
You've been under the judgment of God for disobedience.
But the space of it, the time is coming up.
It's getting ready to be a release.
Who am I talking to?
It's getting ready to be a release.
You've been under judgment on some things, but God's getting ready to favor you.
The release is getting ready to come.
Oh God.
He says, "Go toward the sea."
The servant went.
He's saying nothing there.
He said, "Go back again."
Go back again.
He's sending back.
Go back again.
Go back again.
Go back again.
Go back again.
Go back.
You know how I get, y'all.
He's sending back seven times.
You know what?
Elijah sent him back seven times because you know what?
He knew what God had said.
He knew he was right with God.
He wasn't letting up until he saw where he spoke and who God was coming to agreement with.
He knew what God had said.
And he said, "Go back. Go back. Go back."
The word of God is life-giving.
It never lies.
Never lies.
God said, "I'm not a man that I should lie. Have I not said it? Will I not do it? Have I not commanded it? Will it not come to pass?"
Let me tell you something about holding on to faith.
God had sent me a dream about 17 years ago.
I'm telling you, I waited 17 years crying.
"Okay, God, I'm getting back in faith. Okay, God, gonna do it."
Getting out of faith.
"God ain't done it yet."
Got back in faith.
Year 10, I couldn't let it go.
Went back to it.
"Oh, God. Was this really practical? Did I misunderstand the interpretation of the dream?"
No.
And he came back a year prior to it happening.
And he showed it to me three times.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom in the dream.
I said, "This is gonna happen. Let me prepare myself."
I was holding on to what?
What God had said.
And it did come to pass.
It came to pass.
It came to pass.
You gotta hold on to faith when it doesn't look like what God said is gonna come to pass.
Elijah sent his servant back seven times because he was convinced at what God told him.
Listen.
You will get stronger and more confident when you do business with God.
When you take one thing and God says, "I promise this for you," and you hold on to it.
See, it becomes faith real estate for you.
Because then God builds his own resume with you.
And then once you be like, "Oh, no, God did that for me back in 2021."
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no."
"Oh, no, no, no. God did something back for me in 1919."
Go back again.
God did something for me in 2021.
I just gotta wait.
Whatever it is that he's doing, he's making me wait.
And I'm gonna wait.
You got to be that assured that you heard from God.
And may I say this?
You do hear from God.
You do hear from God.
If your spirit man is alive, you can hear from God.
You can hear from God.
Faith begins with a word from God.
Faith continues when you hold on to what he said.
Send him back seven times.
The servant came back.
He said, "Yo."
He didn't say "yo," that's just me urbanizing.
He said, "There's a cloud coming."
He said, "It's a little thing right now."
He said, "It's the size of a man's hand."
Elijah was so convinced at what God told him.
He said, "Let's buckle up."
He said, "Ahab, you need to go ahead because the rain is coming."
It wasn't nothing but a little cloud.
Didn't even look like much.
He hitched up.
He told Ahab, he said, "You need to hitch up your chariot and get on down before the rain stops you."
Wasn't nothing but a small thing.
Galatians 6:9 tells us this: "We cannot become weary for waiting and doing good."
He said, "Let us not be weary in doing good. For at the proper time, we're going to reap a what? A harvest if we don't what? We can't give up."
Where do we give up at?
The realm of our soul.
It's in the realm of our soul.
We give up right there.
Our spirit is always ready.
It's ready to jump with God.
Let's go.
If God said it, the spirit is always 110 percent ready to do what God says do.
The spirit is what?
Willing.
It's your flesh.
You're going to have to get him under control.
You got to get homegirl under control.
She'll get out of control on you.
That flesh should get out of control on you.
That flesh don't like God.
It don't want God.
That flesh don't want nothing to do with God.
Honey, it wants to do its own thing.
You got to put that flesh to death daily.
I'm telling you.
Number three.
Faith goes from small beginnings to grand finales.
Thank you, my brother.
Faith goes from small beginnings to grand finales.
1 Kings 18:45-46 says this: "Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. The wind rose, and a heavy rain came, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel."
That was the city.
"And the power of the Lord came upon Elijah, tucking his clothes into his belt. He ran ahead of Ahab."
The spirit of God will give you life.
It will give you vitality.
Ooh.
Who in here is weak right about now?
You got to spend some time praying in the spirit.
Sometimes you just got to get your word out and walk around the house.
See, I'm a kinesthetic learner.
I have to move.
You get that word and just start speaking it.
"God, you said this. God, my family is going to be healed. God, all my children shall see the Lord. Me and my family, we shall be saved. We shall walk in great things."
Stop calling it in.
Call it in.
You are the seed of the righteous.
You are God's people.
You are God's people.
You are God's people.
If anybody's going to get the blessing, if any change is going to come, it's going to be you.
If anybody's children are going to be saved, it's going to be ours.
Call it in.
Call it in.
If anybody's marriage is going to be healed, it's going to be ours.
Call it in.
Elijah said, "Ahab, go ahead and get your chariot because the rain is about to come. It's getting ready to be a heavy pour down."
He got on his chariot.
Elijah's soul filled with God's power.
God's spirit had got all over him.
He tucked in his little mantle, tucked it in.
And he ran, outran a chariot.
You're talking about giddy up.
It must have been like fire on that brother's feet.
Why?
Because what you cannot do on your own, the spirit will empower you to do.
Oh, that's for you right there, sis.
That's for you.
What you cannot do on your own, the spirit will invigorate you to do it.
Come on and stand on your feet.
Oh, yeah.
What you cannot do on your own, the spirit will give you power to do it.
Come on and lift your hands.
Do not despise small beginnings.
Don't despise that small change God's been making in your life.
Don't despise that new conviction God's been bringing forth.
I just declare over this body of believers that we will be filled with God's spirit.
That he will renew us in a way and he will confirm to us that we are his people.
He is going to invigorate us.
We got a race to run.
We got some people to encounter, and we're not going to do this alone.
We're going to do this linked up with the help of the Holy Spirit.
So I pray your whole body, your whole soul, and your whole spirit be sanctified from this day forward until the coming of the Lord.
Give God a praise.
on Mar 11, 2024
