James - Darrin Fisher

[Music] thank you for tuning in to the apostolic pentecostal church podcast you are currently listening to one of our igrow series lessons if you're in the bloomington illinois area and want to sit in person feel free to join us wednesday nights at 7 pm for bible study and sunday mornings at 10 a.m for worship in the word can't make it in person no big deal find us on youtube facebook or instagram and search apostolic pentecostal church either way we'd love to fellowship and worship with you we hope to see you all right i'm going to talk about james uh this is a really unique uh topic because you know the book of james because although it's even they're only you know five chapters long when you delve into james it really can be stretched out like a 12-week study you know and so and most bible studies are you know one hour long which is what we are allotted and so obviously we don't have 12 weeks and obviously i'm not going to make it through the whole book and nor did i try so uh we might make it an hour and we might if i get nervous and buzz through it we might be done time to go get a drink before they're done downstairs so james james chapter 1 verse 1 says james the servant of god and of the lord jesus christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad greeting james called himself a servant and think of all the things that james did you know he's a pastor you know they say he's a pastor of the biggest church largest church ever he was a servant you know our pastor teaches to serve never stop moving chairs james was a servant called himself a servant verses two through four we learn about facing trials and and how we can learn from them it says um and this first passage of scripture two through four i'm gonna read the king james version and then read the new living translation then every other verse that i read after that it's going to be in the new living translation so if you're following along it's going to look a little bit different in your bibles unless you have a new living translation bible so verse 2 says my brethren count it all joy when you fall under diver's temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith faith will work with patience but let patients have a perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing in the living translation it says dear brothers and sisters when troubles of any kind come your way consider it an opportunity for great joy for you know that when your faith is tested your endurance has a chance to grow so let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed they'll be perfect and complete needing nothing can anybody here tell me what the word temptation means in this in this reference this passage scripture come on even i knew this one the word temptation here is not uh an enticement to moral sin it's not you know i'm tempted to go uh you know do bad things the word temptation here just simply means a test of your faith and so really what it's kind of you know you have to read it you have to look into it study it because uh if you just read it as it was you know you think okay i'm going to be tempted what am i going to be tempted to do and we attempt to do a lot of things man you know we could be tempted to do a whole lot of things but it's not what it means it says the test of our faith and so when our faith is tested where do you stand what are you going to do faith only reaches maturity through opposition so naturally you know you know the long way for your faith you know the bible says that faith come by hearing hearing by the word of god well obviously you know that's you can grow your faith that way but how is your faith tested your faith is only tested when it's tested when you're tested you know when you don't know if you can handle it when you're going through something that you're not enjoying you know your faith is very is very tested throughout position troubles are not any sign that god is angry with you you know things that when we go through things when we have struggles in life you know oftentimes you know you hear somebody you know saying i cried out to god or you know or maybe you've done it you know god why me type thing you know but troubles are not any sign that god is mad but in fact it could be a sign that god really uh trust you really think about job you know did god the god test or tempt job no god look i didn't tempt joke because we'll we'll read later and we'll see later where you know temptations don't come from god but can you say that god tried job sure because he allowed the enemy to do it why god wouldn't allow the enemy god would not have allowed the devil to attempt or try or you know torment job had he thought job was going to buckle but god let the enemy try and tempt and torment job because he knew that job was faithful and job was going to remain faithful asking god for wisdom and dealing with temptations and trials verse 5 says if you need wisdom ask our generous god mind you this is a new living translation ask our generous god and he will give it to you he will not rebuke you for asking but when you ask him be sure that your faith is in god alone do not waver for a person with divided loyalty as is unsettled as a wave in the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind such people these kind of people the people that are being tossed from here and there the people that don't have unwavering faith the people who are asking but they really don't believe such people should not expect to receive anything from the lord their loyalty is divided between god and the world and they are unstable in everything that they do what's the point in asking god for something if you really don't have faith and belief you know and that's easy to do it's easy to do it's easy to cry out to god because we're taught to ask god we're taught to pray we're taught to ask god for things we're taught to ask god to lead us and guide us and give us direction but it's our human nature to go about and do things the way that we think they should be done it's our human nature to go about do things the way that you know we see that they should go and that can lead you down really nasty roads and paths you know i could lead you to a road of destruction real quick and easy because you know you might pray and then you choose to do whatever you want to do and then next thing you know while hell's breaking loose in your life and next thing you know you're blaming god well you prayed and you asked but you really didn't have faith and it you know the bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways and so god responds god responds only to faith when when there's true faith when it's real faith hebrews 11 verse 6 says it is impossible to please god without faith anyone who wants to come to him must believe that god exists and he is a reward he rewards those who sincerely seek him that's an easy first to quote because we all know it and i'm trying to quote it in the king james i'm trying to read it and learning at the same time get a little caught up in your words there asking for wisdom in the face of diverse temptations uh requires a willingness to accept from god an answer that is other than yes or no does that make sense when you ask something in faith you have to be like joe how many times how many times in the book of job can you read the joke cried out a lot like when you read job you kind of get the picture that he might not have faith when you read job you know if you read into it too much if you read into it you kind of start thinking that job is maybe job isn't the guy that everybody paints a picture of him to be because it sounds like he's kind of a cry baby he's crying out an awful lot and why me and why this and why you know but when you're asking faith you got to be ready to hear an answer that's not just simple not just straightforward yes or no you have to be prepared to even hear the painful prolonged silence because sometimes we don't get an answer do we i mean everybody in this room can probably probably tell me a time that you prayed about something and maybe yet still to this day don't have an answer you know often times when your prayer starts with a why you don't get an answer because god does what god does god does it for a reason and sometimes we don't need to know the why never told joke exactly never did tell job and you know it's the trying and testing of our faith we may never know a lot of answers until we get to heaven and by then you probably won't need to know why because you'll just be rejoicing i know i'm going to be rejoicing that i made it in acts 10 cornelius he says he prayed a memorial prayer and he said he prayed for years he believed and he prayed for years for someone to come right right and then finally peter shows up one day right hey man that's good that's good job no doubt probably struggled with his faith but remained faithful and we need to be like job having this kind of faith and truly giving it whatever it is the it in your life today could be different than your in your life last week last month last year or next week next month next year truly giving it to god doesn't mean that that that we're free from pain doesn't mean that we're free from stress doesn't mean that we're free from you know aggravations just because you gave it to god doesn't mean that you're free from all this stuff because we're human right i mean i can say i gave it to god but i'm still human and i still stress over things and i still worry and i still and you know i know that you know worry is a sin and we're not supposed to worry and we're supposed to really truly give it to god but man that's so much easier said than done you know because we are human but this is where the trying and testing of your faith how faithful or how how much faith do you have and how faithful are you going to be you know you're going to leave it in the hands of god you know we've heard we've heard sermons preached over the years hundreds of them time and time again you know bring it to the altar and leave it there and you know you see people and and just from simple observation you see people come to church and you know they're struggling with something whatever that something is in their life and then they go to the altar and they pray and they have a breakthrough and then whether it's the next sunday or whether it's a couple months later or you know who knows when they come back they're struggling with the same thing well what do we say we say well they didn't leave it at the altar they picked it up and took it back with them obviously their faith is wavering right obviously their faith is not where it should be because they feel like they can do better and i say they we i feel like i can do better we feel like we could do better than what god can do that's really what we're saying we're not saying it verbally but it's really what we're saying because when we stress and we fear you know and we worry more than what we should are we really put it in god's hands so i know it sounds like i'm saying two different things here because you know when i say if we really give it to god that doesn't mean that we're free of pain doesn't mean we're free of stress it doesn't mean you know that you're not affected by your current circumstance because we are but what is your mindset what is your mindset you know i i've personally been stressing over this job situation for two years for two years i've been stressing over a current circumstance current situation that i potentially very potentially put myself in i pray for this job i pray for my job at the prison and grant it i can i can say whatever i want to say i can say that i didn't realize how it was going to be that i never worked for a union that you know it was told to me something different i was misled and all those things are true but the fact of the matter is is here i am right in the middle of my nasty circumstance right in the middle of my nastiest situation that i'm struggling and stressing over and i'm praying every day about god do whatever you gotta do to get me out of here whatever it takes so just because i have faith that god's gonna do something it's because i have faith that god's gonna move and god's gonna work doesn't mean that i don't still deal with my current circumstance day in and day out but understanding and believing that that god really does have it under control that's the important part you know i come home many days probably five days a week and complain and stress and get emotional and i'm upset and you know every time i go i mean very seldom very seldom here here as of lately it's been a couple days a week that i could say how was your day darren it was good a couple days a week and the other three or four days a week it's been pretty miserable and i'd be lying to you if i told you that i didn't lay in bed and say god why what are you doing what's going on what's happening i need you to move i need you to do something i need you to work because i'm going crazy i don't see the light at the end of the tunnel and i need something from you but at the end of the day no really truly knowing down deep inside being able to take a deep breath and say this is just temporary this really is just temporary god is going to move god is going to do something god is going to work this all out amen that's faith having faith doesn't mean everything's perfect having faith doesn't mean that you're not going to stress and struggle but having faith just is understanding when you go to bed at night then i'm not going to be the one to make the next decision it's like a game of chess i don't play chess but i know it's long and boring and so it's like a game of chess it's you know wait patiently for the next move to be made and that's where i was at for a long time i was waiting for god to make his move rest assured i might be hurting that might be my breaking point i might be ready to throw in a towel but god and everybody here has been there everybody here here's been there you're your situation it might not be a work situation you know god bless your soul if you're that person that just loves their job like allison fisher you know just goes to work and just loves everything about it and doesn't affect her one bit and 315 comes and she's ready to work till 4 15 because she's just not ready to go home yet or not every everybody's situations aren't work related like mine but and i'm sure i have other issues but man they've been they've definitely been hidden in the shadows of the work situation for two years so uh i won't indulge in in any kind of uh lengthy information but i will tell you that god is moving and uh the 29th of this month is my last day at planet correctional center happy about that as well uh nervous nervous as all get out uh but but god like i just said but god and i don't i don't doubt one bit as much as my nervousness wants to try to grip me as much as my fear as much as fear tries to grip me and about what the future holds i know that this was a decision that was that was prayerfully considered and but god right we need to get to the point that we have enough spiritual capacity to see things from god's viewpoint that's tough that's tough that's hard for anybody i mean it's hard for anybody you know even even the most you know the the the biggest prayer warrior that you could think of you know it's not always easy to see things from god's viewpoint it's not always easy to see the way god is going to work things out because i mean obviously we're not mind readers um and even if you you know even if you pray eight hours a day and fast eight days a week you know you're you're not gonna always see things from god's viewpoint but we need to strive to get there right we need to strive to try to see the things you know see what's gonna happen in our lives from god's viewpoint and when things are going bad when we're being tested and we're being tried and and things don't seem like they're going our way and things don't seem like they're going very good at all we need to try to see the positive in it we need to try to see god what are you doing what are you trying to do in this situation you know and the miserable four and a half years that i had at the prison i know my i know now i know now what my position was there and i also know when my when that opportunity when that position was taken from me i can tell you exactly when it happened i know what my purpose was of being there and i know when i was released from there i just had to wait for things to work that was not easy staying in a position where you know you're not you know necessarily supposed to be but waiting for the opportunity to get out of it trying to see things from god's viewpoint trying to see things right god why if you released me how long ago why am i still here why are you not opening the doors for me to go where i'm supposed to go where next what next but trying to understand god i'm okay with this for now because this is where you have me for now right i don't know how much longer i'm gonna be okay with that oh seeing things from god's viewpoint ask god what he wants you to do and being okay with the answer sometimes you're not okay with the answer that's what i'm just talking about god what do you want me to do you release me i'm done here i know it's as crazy as it sounds i feel like my work is done here okay when i really didn't i did this isn't in my notes i didn't intend to talk so much about me or my job but that's really what's going on in my life right now so it's just fresh so you know one could imagine you know you get an opportunity to go work at a maximum security institution men's facility you know and uh you pray about it you pray about you pray about the doors open god makes the way and when the doors open you walk through the door uh you know you wonder you know you go in you're gung-ho you got a new job you feel like you're going to change the world you're going to save everybody you're going to baptize 300 people overnight and get them all filled with the holy ghost and you feel like you're just on top of the world right well it doesn't work that way right it really does it doesn't work that way you go to work you're in an absolutely disgusting environment you know and when you go through your tour when you go to your tour to tour the facility two weeks before you start your job you're told by many many staff that hey really truly honestly as long as you treat these inmates with respect give them the respect you know that they're due they're men they've already been tried they're here this is their punishment they don't need to be punished every day just treat them with respect treat them as humans you won't have no problems with inmates but the staff watch your back what like i've never in my life experienced anything like this like i you know and i just like kind of let it roll off my backs i'm thinking like you guys are crazy right it was about six months of being there i was there for about six months and i was happy for six months i was happy i mean you know i did exactly that which i didn't need to be told that because i was never anticipating treating the guys with anything less than respect you know what i mean i'm obviously an authoritative figure and i have i'm a you know i'm in security and a level of security i'm a dietary but we're still level of security and as long as you treat them respect just like they said they're going to treat you respect i've seen guys treat i've seen guys treat inmates horrible uh talk down to them degrade them physically mentally um verbally you know something that i would never do anyways and so i didn't have any problems just like they said they have any problems they make i really didn't have any problems with stats for about the first six months so i was happy i got a new job on top of the world i'm able to be a witness i'm able to be a light all along thinking that i was placed there to witness and be a witness to staff really honestly i don't know why but it never even dawned on me that i was going to be there to be a witness to inmates you know at the end of the day i guess you probably you know kind of get a stigma in this mindset that while they're inmates they're criminals they're horrible people they're there for a reason they're gonna die and they're gonna go burn and go to hell because they're bad people when when no no not at all because they're humans and god died on a cross you know for them and shed his blood for them just like he did for you you know and and you know and not not trying to i don't want to sound like a tough guy or like i'm boasting but you know i you know i had the opportunity to to witness uh many times to inmates and you know i couldn't i had to tell them the truth the truth is man there's an extremely fine line between me living here and me working here and the only difference is is you got caught you know there's things that i've done in my past and my eight years and eight and a half years of being backslid that could have landed me there too and so really you have to have a different perspective and and understand you know and my my mindset shifted and i realized after six months and getting rode up over a lie getting lied on by three different staff members a lieutenant a sergeant and an officer that will put me on paper and i was able to take this right up to the major's office to the ship commander's office and say i want you to do me a favor go to the cameras now mind you i'm a little boisterous i'm a little forward and i'm a little more forward when i know i'm innocent and you're accusing me of something i don't like that i don't most people probably don't however i probably do handle myself a little bit different than most uh so i was very adamant you're gonna go to the cameras well no we're not no you are because you can't use the cameras to use against me as discipline but you can use the cameras to use for me to prove that i'm innocent and so i made them look at all the cameras and everything that they were able to see on cameras and timelines proved this write-up wrong and proved me right i realized then everything they said six months ago was in fact 100 correct watch your back because staff is crazy they're bogus and i realize then that god has me here for a different reason than what i thought god placed me there to be a witness and help the inmates now mind you i was put on the farm to farm is the medium security unit it's a separate unit it's still plenty of correctional center but it's a separate unit from the map for the maximum security it's out back back in the day early 1900s it was a it was a farm that's what i call it farm and so i was put out there in the kitchen out there for a year straight and i was uh i was able to be helpful i was able to minister i was able to to fulfill my calling at pioneer correctional center in the fullest i was able to do bible studies with inmates we had some down time in between breakfast and lunch and i was able to sit down do bible study with inmates i was able to pray with inmates we were having man we were having a fantastic move of god you know nobody was shouting and running i wasn't speaking in tongues getting the holy ghost but i had 27 guys that wanted to be baptized in jesus name and when brother bruce when brother bruce first got here was here full time i was trying to get him to get in there as a as a religious volunteer and then everything happened and then they started shutting that down and he still hasn't wasn't able to get in there but because of the covet and all that stuff but i had 27 guys that want to be baptized and they they state policy their panic policy not state policy planning policy was you know they're only allowed to baptize one guy a week and it's a big process and this and that and this and that and i was i was able to convince them look if we just filled the trough what does it matter these are all medium security guys let's just get it done and and so i had him extremely close to agreeing um it just never happened but so i'm totally not even talking about james anymore but i am we'll get there i am so anyways uh in doing so and being out there uh another very uh bitter vindictive staff member comes out on my days off and throws away all the bibles that are in my dress in my in my desk in my dresser in my desk drawer so inmates would come on sundays i worked sundays inmates would come on sundays and they would bring their bible they had the workers the guys that worked for me they would come on sundays and they would bring their bibles because they would leave the kitchen and go straight to church and so and then come back so they were able to bring their bibles and that was it was a loophole uh they're not allowed to bring stuff to the kitchen with them um but because we were having bible studies and because we were doing the things that was was that we were doing uh they were they started bringing their bibles to work with them and then they would leave them there and so now i've got several bibles in my desk drawer for the guys i'm holding them for them no big deal right they're in my drawer they're locked up they're in a locked up office and so another supervisor came in on my day off and threw away all the bibles and wrote me up and went and told the major and went and told internal affairs and went and told everybody that i'm and i'm fraternizing with inmates i'm sitting down at the table with them and praying with them and hugging them and shaking their hand and and having bible study with them and everything else so now here i am under investigation i'm under investigation why are you frightening inmates why do you think this is so important so here i'm happy for six months everything falls through i'm miserable i get light on i get sent out to the farm back to being happy right mike god what are you doing here i'm not going to be effective with with staff because this is just a really crazy place to be you know my faith was being tried then i get this you know spot on the farm i'm able to go to the farm and i loved it it was just a completely different atmosphere from the maximum security prison it's a completely different atmosphere completely different environment and so i'm like i get kind of like a breath of fresh air okay god here i am i'm in the vein i'm doing what i'm doing what you want me to do i feel good about it right and then boom smack in the face you can't tell me my my faith wasn't tested you can't tell me i wasn't being tried right extremely tried extremely tested because here i am like you know now i'm wondering am i gonna lose my job you know i'm wondering you know they're really they're really hounding me you know they're really hounding me you know they think because i'm doing bible studies and i'm also the guy bringing their cell phones in and i'm also the guy bringing the cigarettes in and i'm also the guy bringing all the stuff in you know it's like oh what's fisher doing what what do you know i heard from many inmates what you know what are you what are you uh you know they're being put under investigation too being asked questions about me guys that had nothing to do with me but there are other people and i'm like and so when i'm hearing this you know i'm just getting beat up i'm beat up every day i'm just getting beat up you know i go into work and i try to be in a good mood and i try to you know pray on the way to where i got a 40 minute drive to work and i pray and spend time with god and i feel like i'm doing well and feel like everything's good and i walk in and if i get there by 4 30 and by 5 30 i'm being hounded by an inmate hey man what's going on with you and i ate what do you mean nothing's going on with me and i well man they pulled me in the up upstairs the other day and asked me what do you know about fisher who's fisher that you know that supervisor that came in off the streets you know and and so i'm like i'm they're asking questions about me trying to get me in trouble and i didn't do anything wrong god why so i'm being tested and so let's just say at that point i know it's time to go just took a long time to get out of there all right understand that trials level the playing field listen we'll read verses 9-12 believers who are poor have something to boast about for god has honored them and those who are rich should boast that god has humbled them they will fade away like a little flower in the field the hot sun rises and the grass will it withers the little flower droops and falls and its beauty fades away in the same way the rich will fade away with all their achievements god blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptations afterward they will receive the crown of life that god has promised to those who love him listen trials level the playing field because the bible says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust just alike it doesn't matter your achievements doesn't matter what you've done in life it doesn't matter if you've done nothing in life listen god doesn't love you any more than he loves the homeless man over there on market street god isn't going to bless you any more than he's willing to bless the man over there on market street it's just the facts god doesn't care about your achievements god doesn't care about your degrees god doesn't care if you don't have a degree god doesn't care if you don't have an education god doesn't care if you don't know how to read his word he'll teach it his grace and mercy is the same for everybody amen don't don't get me wrong i believe god wants us to be successful i mean if you have nothing you can't be a good steward of nothing can you he talks a lot about being a good steward of what you have so if you have nothing you can't be a good steward of nothing god wants us to be successful but it's not your success that's gonna make a difference whether or not you go to heaven or hell loves us all the same well you're rich poor smart not smart what god cares about is our relationship with him that's what's important to him in the same way trials happen to everyone the same and uh you know happy is the man who endures trials rich or poor the difference between trials and temptation verse 13 says and remember i'm gonna read 13-18 it says and remember when you're being tempted do not say god is tempting me i told you it was going to get here god never attempted god is never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away these desires give birth to sinful action and when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death so don't be misled my dear brother and sister whatever is good and perfect as a gift from coming down from us to us from god our father who created all the lights in the heavens he never changed or cast a shifting shadow he chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word and we out of all creation became his prized possession if someone is tempted to do wrong if you're tempted to be wrong it's not god that's tempting you trials that's one thing god might try us you're gonna try your faith just like the enemy can try your faith god can try your faith god allows things to happen to us just like joke just like we talked earlier but god has never tempted you his very nature is against wrongdoing god does not like wrongdoing god does not like sinful nature temptation to sin is the pull of man's very own will thoughts and wishes i mean if you're attempt to do something so you know what the bible say says that he was he'll he's not gonna give us any more temptation than we can bear right he's gonna give us a way out he's gonna give us that's the most misunderstood description about where people say well guys not gonna give us more than we can handle i mean what is your faith when is your faith the strongest you know i heard uh this was a long time ago and i we were just pretty pretty fresh coming here we had a revival with uh luke sinclair and he said i like the way he said it he said you know he said when you're at the end of your rope and your rope is just being stretched you're still comfortable because you know you're being held up but when you hear that snap that's when your faith kicks in god will give you more than you can handle because it ain't about you right it's about how much faith you have in him that verse is not talking about just life it's not just talking about what you can and can't handle that verse is talking about temptation only study it look it up evil thoughts lead to evil actions which lead to god's judgment which what we read earlier was death so be careful because you know a lot of times i hear people say well you know guys let god's allowing this to happen you know i asked somebody why are you doing this if you know what's wrong well i mean you know god you know god god's the one that puts the stuff in my mind and i pray that he wouldn't put in my mind he still lets it happen well you're a human and this goes all the way back to adam and eve and you have a decision and it's not god that's making you do it you think about these things and what what you put before you is probably what you're going to be tempted to do you know i mean i don't mean to meddle or be on a soapbox i don't know i don't know anybody's personal man most people in here i guess i do but if you struggle with drinking don't walk down a liquor aisle all right if you struggle with smoking don't walk down the smoking aisle the cigarette isle you know if you struggle with pornography then don't sitting on the computer at nighttime when you should be in bed or anytime you know whatever you struggle with don't put before your face don't don't put before yourself you're tempting yourself you make the decision to do this what about if i'm just driving down the road and i'm tempted to do something okay well pray about it pray about it you're in control of your own mind you're in control of your thoughts take every thought into captivity right you're you're in control you pray god i put the blood of jesus over my mind god take these thoughts away from me god help me help me to overcome these temptations because at the end of the day temptation takes action it takes action to follow through with temptation if you're driving on a road let's just say let's just say uh let's just say you have a crazy uh addiction of you know given road rage and you like flipping people off i just use that because i i don't i don't know anybody else i don't wanna i don't wanna meddle on anybody else's personal thing and i don't wanna wait i don't want anybody to think i'm attacking them let's just say that it's crazy analogy but let's just say that well guess what it takes you raising your hand and doing that action to make the temptation come to fruition right right okay if you're driving on a road and you don't have access to what you're tempted to do it takes you pulling into somewhere and purchasing or taking indulging some way somehow to do it right so don't tell me that god is tempted because temptation is not a sin right right just because you have temptation doesn't mean you're sinning you can be tempted every day god was tempted the enemy tent the devil tempted god was he sinning no god was without sin jesus was without sin we know that right so temptation is not sin it's the action that whether or not you follow through with it or you or you don't do it is where the decision needs to be made so evil thoughts leave the evil actions it leads to god's judgment which is the bible explains that's death don't be misled there's a difference between trials and temptations for sure being a believer results in actions uh obviously you just talked about negative actions being a believer results in positive actions uh verses 19 through verses 20 verse 27 says understand this my dear brother and sister you must be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to anger well almost out there just for a second because that's good that's good and i'm tempted to say all kinds of stuff sometimes sometimes you know everything you need to know you know they say everything you need to know in life you learn you know before third grade or whatever everything you need to know in life you need to learn right here in the word you know and it's just doing it you know the results and acting we have to have action behind it you know quick to listen slow to speak it's a little anger you know somebody probably was reading the bible when they came up with the term god gave you two years and one mouth for a reason listen twice as much as you talk right i'm pretty sure whoever said that first probably read his bible i would have to think verse 20 human anger does not produce the righteousness god desires well that's kind of that's kind of uh confusing because the bible also says be angry and sin not right well we're talking about action so you know i could be mad i could be angry what's my action about it you know human anger our human nature wants us to act upon our anger right human anger wants us to act upon what we're angry about or try to take care of it ourselves or try to handle it ourselves but james is saying that that human anger does not produce the righteousness god desires well exactly but if it's a godly anger god god gave us the emotions right yes god god made us crazy he did god i mean god messed up our god our minds are wired the way we're at wired and god did that to us whether you like it or not i mean you didn't choose to have the thoughts and stuff i mean you didn't choose to have you know the way that we process things my wife and i we do everything we do just about different and not you know i didn't choose to be exactly opposite of her you know the way the way she drives i don't drive like that the way she chooses to do things i don't choose to do things you know i don't do things the way neil does things you know we do we we probably get up in the morning and our routines are different you know he probably brushes his hair differently and brushes his teeth different than i do we all do things different god gave us our mindset god gave us the ability to be angry and he also gave us the decision to act on it or not act on it verse 21 so get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives and humbly accept the word god has planted in your heart first is the power to save your soul the king james version uh says uh it says and encrafted which if you look up the word encrypted it says it means planted um again i'm reading from the living translation so it just says plant it but and grafted when you think about somebody when you think about the word graphs obviously the word grafted comes from graft um when you hit when you i i googled it there's a million different tran over many different uh uh definitions for it but when i didn't write it down i don't know why i didn't but charles i'm trying to remember exactly how it was worded but basically uh take good tissue and put it on something that's not you know you think it's something needing a skin graft like man that i don't know i just i guess i should wrote down maybe i should wrote my thoughts down instead of skipping over because it was good when i got it let's read that again after my crafted story maybe you can have it put in your head different so get rid of the filthy and evil in your lives and humbly accept the word that god has planted or grafted in your heart for it has the power to save your soul 22 but don't listen that don't just listen to god's word you must do what it says we all know you know don't just be heroes or the word be doers otherwise you're only fooling yourselves well that's pretty good because i mean at the end of the day you know christians well i read my bible i go to church okay i mean the word of god says that really you're just fooling yourself if that's all you think it takes because it takes more it takes it takes action faith without works is dead right that's what the bible says i didn't make that up 23 for if you listen to the word and don't obey it's like glancing your face in a mirror see yourself walk away and forget what you look like man i thought that was the craziest thing i've ever read in my life you know we read that especially king james versus a little different but basically the same concept i'm like how do you do that well after studying out a little bit you know i mean i've seen myself from here enough but i pretty much have an idea what i look like right here and so i know what it looks like if i walk away i'm not gonna forget what i look like because i see myself a lot but studying out it makes sense because they all talked about in ancient times obviously when this was written mirrors weren't readily available you know they didn't have reflections on their nice new mercedes to go look at themselves in you know mirrors weren't there so i guess it was quite possible to forget what you look like if you only had an opportunity to see a mirror once a year or maybe even longer you know uh off topic dead joke not really a dead joke kind of it's true it's a fact you cannot purchase a brand new unused mirror just saying think about that okay we're gonna go on mirrors are used you're gonna buy a mirror you're buying a used product i don't care what the price is but if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard then god will bless you for doing this she's lost i'll explain later i'm gonna read that again i'm sorry i mean to disrupt the class but if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard then god will bless you for doing it if you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue you're a fooling yourself and your religion is worthless hmm that's good that's good i can meddle i'm not going to pure and genuine pure and genuine religion in the sight of god the father means caring for the orphans and the widows and their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you you can take that literal take however you want to take it caring for people who has less than you caring for people that need help that's what's important you know so many times you know i will meddle go back up to that previous verse you know having a filthy tongue doesn't necessarily mean cursing doesn't necessarily mean you know slandering people man you could take you could take the word of god and twist it and offend somebody you could take the word of god and use it as a double use your tongue as a double-edged sword and offend somebody and potentially help them make their path to hell by just being a good christian and trying to tell them what's right have some wisdom have some wisdom when you're witnessing the people you're talking to somebody or you're putting stuff on facebook or you're doing whatever you do have wisdom because you could take this and use it in a negative way just as much as you could take it use it in a positive way when the bible talks about the tongue being unruly i'm pretty sure it means in every aspect of the world you have to have some sense you have to have some wisdom so just because you're a great christian and you can quote every verse in genesis and revelations doesn't mean that you can't hurt somebody's feelings amen [Applause] so let's look back verse 19 won't go over it all verse 19 listen first speak second this makes it difficult to become angry it really does really does slow to anger you know if alison and i and i use us because i can i don't have to worry about offending anybody else might embarrass her but don't mean to but if allison and i are arguing about something you know it's easy to say something that maybe maybe maybe you don't even mean and you're gonna regret later you know what i'm just going to be transparent i have a hard time with using but it's the truth as my as my justification just because it's true doesn't mean it has to come out your mouth because i can say a lot of true things that are very hurtful i can say a lot of true things that are not going to be in any way shape or form beneficial to my marriage or to my relationship i could say things even outside of my relationship i can say things to a co-worker that might be true that might make that co-worker say man this dude the jerk he claims to be a christian he claims to be a man of god and well i could i could walk out feeling good about myself saying well i didn't say anything wasn't true just because it was true doesn't mean it had to be said so that i mean that's that's powerful listen first speak second and it makes it difficult to become angry nine times out of ten when i'm angry about something the more i talk the matter i get right and you know when i was young i got married pretty young when i was young my my thing was i don't know i took my anger out on the gas pedal i would leave burn tires and leave and go for a ride and be gone for an hour and i come back and i'd feel better now it wasn't because i've smoked the tires or burnt gravel or spit ground or another car or it wasn't because i did that that made me feel better it was because i i separated myself from the conversation and i spoke less and then i come home and then 20 minutes later we get into another conversation i'd speak more i'd still be angry because it says speak second you know think first listen listen first and speak second well something i had to work on over 20 years of marriage anger is bad news it just is you know even though i read earlier and said earlier you know be angry and sin not anger is just bad news i mean really if you can if you can stop yourself from being angry then stop yourself from being angry you know if if listening more than speaking makes it difficult to be angry then do that because the least amount of anger that you're allowing yourself to get then the better off you are the king james versus i already went there i'm sorry see this way as we jump ahead of your notes understand that ungodly living both inside and outside is is not good just because you come to church and people see the way you're living and people see the way you know that they think you can worship and you can dance you run the aisles you do all this stuff great but if you're a jerk at home right it's no different i mean you're you know you're still gonna have to answer to god for that because you're only fooling yourself right so basically don't be fake don't be phony uh and don't justify it by saying but i worship god well because it doesn't matter if you're not doing it at home too then i don't know what i don't know what's going to happen with you matthew 22 i'm going to read verse 36 through 40 says master which is the great which is the greatest commandment of the law or in the law jesus said unto him thou shalt love thy lord thy god with all thy heart with all thy soul with all my mind this is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself and these two commandments hang all the law on the pro and the prophets widows in the bible were uncared for and had few ways to support themselves it's just an example you know i i feel like it's just an example i mean if everybody in the church went and took care of the one widow she'd have way more than all of us have you know what i mean it's just an example so anyhow that's all i got like i said uh if you want to hear more on james um i grow in 2022 i think it probably starts in october because i only go one night and this is like this is like a five to twelve week lesson so this is just chapter one um but that's all i have for tonight [Music] you