Speaker 1: Hey, what up?
Speaker 1: It's Mark Carter.
Speaker 1: I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.
Speaker 1: I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: So this past week I went on a camping trip with one of my older brothers.
Speaker 1: He loves to camp.
Speaker 1: He's a real hiker and sometimes he talks me into going with him.
Speaker 1: And so we went to these smoky mountains.
Speaker 1: You can see he's in the green there in the middle.
Speaker 1: That's my nephew there on the far right, and I got to tell you they're way better at that than I am.
Speaker 1: That's something you know.
Speaker 1: Michael's 22 on the right, so he's young and strong and ready to do anything.
Speaker 1: Jeremy, my older brother has been doing this just for years and years, and years, so he's really good at it, and you need to know that they don't do like pansy camping, okay.
Speaker 1: So we went to the Smoky Mountains and normal people stay with all the other campers in the normal campground, not these guys.
Speaker 1: So, yes, we stayed there at first, but then they got the idea.
Speaker 1: Hey, let's go way out into the desolate regions of the woods.
Speaker 1: So this is like half a million acres of just forest.
Speaker 1: Okay, there's bears there, there's bobcats there, and they're like let's go seven miles into this really remote campsite.
Speaker 1: It's all uphill on the way there.
Speaker 1: Here's your big old heavy pack.
Speaker 1: Come on, little brother, let's go.
Speaker 1: And I'm like come on, guys, this ain't going to be no problem for me.
Speaker 1: And so we start, we start going, and they're quickly outpacing me, okay, and I'm getting a little bit like I thought I was going to do better than I'm doing.
Speaker 1: But but they're just, you know, they're far ahead of me.
Speaker 1: And so I'm like ah, that's no big deal, I'm just going to keep, you know, keep following the trail.
Speaker 1: And this is a trail that's rugged, okay, this is not paved, this is all dirt.
Speaker 1: And you're climbing over rocks and there's some places where there was once a river and now it's kind of dried up, and so you're not totally sure where the trail for sure is.
Speaker 1: You just kind of have a suspicion.
Speaker 1: So we're going on hour two and then hour three, and I haven't seen them in a while now.
Speaker 1: Okay, and the trail is getting narrower and narrower.
Speaker 1: You can kind of tell nobody's.
Speaker 1: This is clearly not a well-used trail.
Speaker 1: No one is on this much.
Speaker 1: And the sun is beginning to go down and it's getting darker and darker.
Speaker 1: And you know, we haven't eaten lunch yet and it's getting late and I'm getting very physically challenged, like I'm beginning to develop blisters, and I'm like, come on, what is going on here?
Speaker 1: And my friends, I'm looking around and just getting a little bit discouraged, getting a little bit angry, getting a little bit tired, and I'm noticing on these trees where I'm around, there's just these posts that say don't go this way, aggressive bears.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, oh, great.
Speaker 1: So I'm keeping going and now my walk is beginning to like it's really hard to keep going Several hours with this pack on my back and I'm noticing little trees that are falling over in just the right way.
Speaker 1: Then I'm like, man, if I was a bear I'd live there or there or there.
Speaker 1: Like there's all these little spaces and I'm beginning to get a little bit nervous.
Speaker 1: God, am I going the right way?
Speaker 1: And then I become so confused and nervous that I actually backtrack.
Speaker 1: I'm like I think I'm on the wrong trail and so I backtrack to probably about 45 minutes back and and no, no, I remember this, this is right, did I?
Speaker 1: I was thinking, did I miss the trail?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, I didn't miss it, so I just okay, now I'll start again.
Speaker 1: And I keep going and keep going, and keep going and it's getting later and I'm more confused and I'm saying, shit, I just go back.
Speaker 1: What is the right move?
Speaker 1: If I go back, will they find me in the morning?
Speaker 1: Is this going to be one of those stories that you read about?
Speaker 1: So have you ever been confused?
Speaker 1: Has the trial or the lack of sleep or lack of food, or multiple temptations or multiple difficulties ever led you to a place where you're like I don't know that.
Speaker 1: I know what to do.
Speaker 1: Now I'm getting tested on all sides.
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure what the right answer is.
Speaker 1: Well, the hearers that James is writing to in the book of James they've had a lot of trials, they've had a lot of tests and they've got a lot of confusion, a lot's going wrong in their community.
Speaker 1: And James is writing to them and says I have the answer.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what to do when you're confused.
Speaker 1: And James' answer is God's word.
Speaker 1: God's word brings clarity into confusion.
Speaker 1: But James is going to warn them, and they're going to warn us mere hearing.
Speaker 1: If you only hear the word but don't do the word, you're going to exchange clarity for delusion.
Speaker 1: You're going to get confused even worse.
Speaker 1: You're going to end up thinking that you're going the right way, but you're actually not going the right way.
Speaker 1: Let's listen to what James says.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 1: When I read God's word, I want you to receive it the right way, because, according to the Bible, god's word is really like a medicine.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we rub medicine on, sometimes we ingest medicine.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we need it in such a concentrated form and we need it so quickly that we really just need to take it intravenously.
Speaker 1: And I don't know which is the right one for you today, how much you need God's word, but I want to suggest the best way to take.
Speaker 1: It is in the veins, but you got to open up your heart to it.
Speaker 1: So let's read it together, but do it with an open heart as you hear God's word.
Speaker 1: My friend, if you're confused in any capacity, this is your answer.
Speaker 1: This is your medicine.
Speaker 1: Listen to it now.
Speaker 1: James 1.18,.
Speaker 1: In the exercise of his will, he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first fruits among his creatures.
Speaker 1: That's a weird thing to say.
Speaker 1: We'll have to pull that apart.
Speaker 1: Verse 19, this you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1: Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls.
Speaker 1: Verse 22, here's the warning.
Speaker 1: But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
Speaker 1: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror.
Speaker 1: For once he's looked at himself and gone away.
Speaker 1: He's immediately forgotten the kind of person he was.
Speaker 1: But the one who looks intently somebody say intently, intently into the perfect law, the law of liberty that's a weird way to describe the Bible, the perfect law, law of liberty and abides by it.
Speaker 1: Not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Speaker 1: If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he's giving examples now, but deceives his own heart.
Speaker 1: This man's religion is worthless, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained by the world.
Speaker 1: May God bless the hearing of his word for us today.
Speaker 1: James's hearers are going a little bit crazy.
Speaker 1: They've got divisions in the church.
Speaker 1: We already know through chapter one.
Speaker 1: They've been tested, they're receiving temptations, but there's also all kinds of other shenanigans going on.
Speaker 1: Some of them are comparing themselves to one another.
Speaker 1: They're saying, hey, if I have enough money, I'm better than the person next to me.
Speaker 1: Some are trying to get the favor of others by showing favor to the rich but not the poor.
Speaker 1: Some are even embracing a form of following Christ that doesn't include loving your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 1: And James says y'all are going nuts, you're getting confused.
Speaker 1: And what you need when you're confused, whatever's going on, you need to go back to God's word.
Speaker 1: That's what's going to clarify things.
Speaker 1: That's what's going to make things make more sense in your life.
Speaker 1: In my house we've got fire alarms and we've heard the fire alarms go off a lot Never because of a fire, thank God.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes there's a fire alarm that goes off, maybe because somebody's cooking bacon and we didn't turn on the vent and then, like, the house fills with smoke and you hear this beep, beep, beep, beep.
Speaker 1: And then my dog, max, doesn't like the fire alarm or the smoke alarm and so he'll start going.
Speaker 1: So then you have this like symphony of chaos.
Speaker 1: You've got Max and it's just horrible.
Speaker 1: Like you just get this feeling and you're having this emotional reaction because at first you're like is there a fire?
Speaker 1: Is there not a fire?
Speaker 1: Dog, stupid and loud noise and you want to react, but you're not quite sure what's true yet.
Speaker 1: Is it bacon?
Speaker 1: Are we just is it low on battery?
Speaker 1: Like, what is what is wrong here?
Speaker 1: So before you react, you need to know what's true.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we're confused, and it's even legit to be confused given the circumstances we're in.
Speaker 1: But before you react, before you fly off the handle, before you just start doing, go back to God's Word where it's true.
Speaker 1: Go back and evaluate hey, what's true?
Speaker 1: How does God want me to respond in this situation?
Speaker 1: And then I can respond the right way.
Speaker 1: Here's the whole bottom line of the book of James.
Speaker 1: It really is grow up.
Speaker 1: That's what James is saying.
Speaker 1: Hey, grow up.
Speaker 1: Maturity means your faith leaves a footprint.
Speaker 1: If you're really mature, what it means is you act differently.
Speaker 1: And the people you need to know about the James is writing to.
Speaker 1: They're already Christ followers.
Speaker 1: They've already said yes, god, I come to you freely, I receive your grace, you receive me just as I am.
Speaker 1: You forgive all of my sin.
Speaker 1: Then you give me your spirit, you give me your power to follow you.
Speaker 1: And James is saying hey, if you've really got a living relationship with Jesus Christ, you should have a new and living relationship with God's word.
Speaker 1: That's what should be going on.
Speaker 1: And you need to grow up.
Speaker 1: And the grown-up people you run after his word, not just to hear it, but to do it.
Speaker 1: He's warning him.
Speaker 1: He says don't you embrace a version of following Jesus that only includes hearing but not doing, because it's a lie, it's a trick, it'll leave you deluded, it's going to mess you up.
Speaker 1: What it causes is it causes you to be anemic and weak.
Speaker 1: And, see, we may say, yeah, james, you tell them, but the spirit of God is speaking to us.
Speaker 1: You see, he's saying to us hey, man, I know that many of you would say, hey, god's got to be your first priority.
Speaker 1: That's really what it's got to be.
Speaker 1: Matthew 6, 33,.
Speaker 1: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
Speaker 1: And James says, yeah, you know that and you agree with that, but do you do it?
Speaker 1: You say, hey, man, you got to always forgive your enemies.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's really what you should do, not my enemies, because they're especially jacked up, but people should, in general, forgive their enemies.
Speaker 1: And James says, no, you know what to do, but do you do it?
Speaker 1: See, we would agree.
Speaker 1: Hey, you know what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to submit to your governmental authorities.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to submit to your parents.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to submit to your spiritual leaders.
Speaker 1: We say, oh, yeah, man, I know that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know it, but do you do it?
Speaker 1: You're supposed to pay your taxes according to Romans 13.
Speaker 1: You know it, but do you do it?
Speaker 1: You know you're supposed to care about the poor.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to care about the down and out, and you know it, but do you do it?
Speaker 1: James says every place that you know something but you're not actually practice something, you are practicing, tricking yourself.
Speaker 1: You're becoming delusional, man, you've got it all wrong.
Speaker 1: This isn't about knowing things, it's about doing what you know.
Speaker 1: This is where we practice it.
Speaker 1: This is where the Spirit of God works on our hearts, but he can't work on our hearts if we get in the practice of only knowing but not doing.
Speaker 1: That's how it works.
Speaker 1: So there really is only one way to be blessed in what you do, and that is by doing the word that you've humbly received.
Speaker 1: That's what James is telling us today.
Speaker 1: And what James is telling us is number one God's word brings clarity into confusion.
Speaker 1: Have you been confused recently?
Speaker 1: If so, rest assured, god's word brings clarity into confusion.
Speaker 1: Go back to God's word.
Speaker 1: Everything starts with God's word, even becoming born of the spirit, even connecting relationally with Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Where does it start?
Speaker 1: It starts in God's word, verse 18,.
Speaker 1: He brought us forth by what?
Speaker 1: By the word of truth.
Speaker 1: Some people say I think James is preaching like a works-based righteousness.
Speaker 1: I think he's saying you gotta do right in order to be right with God.
Speaker 1: No, he's not.
Speaker 1: It's right here, in chapter 1, verse 18.
Speaker 1: He says he brought us forth, not you brought you forth, he brought you forth by the word of truth.
Speaker 1: And why?
Speaker 1: Why did he do it?
Speaker 1: So you and I would be a kind of first fruits.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 1: That's weird.
Speaker 1: Here's what every Hebrew boy and girl would have known.
Speaker 1: The first fruits are what belongs to the Lord.
Speaker 1: See, the first fruit is the tithe, the first fruit when you've got livestock, the firstborn, that's the first fruit.
Speaker 1: And God had commanded you bring me the first fruits because they are mine, that's what you owe me.
Speaker 1: They're actually all mine, but I'm just making you bring me 10%, even though I own 100% With the harvest.
Speaker 1: Every year.
Speaker 1: God said the first fruit is mine.
Speaker 1: You bring me the first fruit.
Speaker 1: So when God says I made you born of the word and you're the first fruit, he's saying you are mine.
Speaker 1: I didn't choose the whales to be my first fruits.
Speaker 1: I didn't choose the giraffes.
Speaker 1: I gave you spiritual new life.
Speaker 1: So you would be the first and you would be mine.
Speaker 1: And that's how you know if someone's really growing up or not, because they recognize.
Speaker 1: You know what Really, I just want to be God's.
Speaker 1: I really actually just want to do what God wants me to do now.
Speaker 1: But see, we get in this evaluation stage.
Speaker 1: We're evaluating God's word, we're pulling it out and we're like well, I like this part right here.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good.
Speaker 1: I don't like that.
Speaker 1: No, oh, that's, that's no good.
Speaker 1: I like this part.
Speaker 1: This is no, no, I don't like that.
Speaker 1: And we presume to evaluate God's word.
Speaker 1: But you know that God's word says that it is sharper than any double-edged sword dividing soul and spirit.
Speaker 1: It comes and it evaluates us.
Speaker 1: That's really how it works.
Speaker 1: When we open the scriptures, god's word says it looks at our lives and it's really like a scalpel and it comes out and God says I don't like that, I don't like that, let's get rid of that.
Speaker 1: You need a little bit more of this stuff.
Speaker 1: Nope, that's an attitude that's got to go, that behavior, no, that doesn't belong in someone who's born of the Spirit, who's attempting to follow Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: God's Word evaluates us.
Speaker 1: We don't evaluate God's Word.
Speaker 1: It brings clarity into confusion.
Speaker 1: The people who are really wanting to be blessed.
Speaker 1: They've said just this is Psalm 1, 1, man.
Speaker 1: They said they meditate on God's Word day and night.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because they no longer trust themselves.
Speaker 1: They just say, jesus, I don't clearly, I don't know what I'm doing, so I'm just going to come to you and ask you to reign over me.
Speaker 1: The Bible speaks about reign and in almost every case, rain coming down from heaven is figurative of God's blessing.
Speaker 1: God's renewing God's strengthening is figurative of God's blessing, god's renewing, god's strengthening, and see when we're in confusion.
Speaker 1: We want his blessing, we want his renewing, we want his reign down on us.
Speaker 1: But until we embrace his reign, where he reigns over us, the way a king would reign over a kingdom or the way a rider would have the reins of a horse until he reigns over us, it's really hard to receive his reign.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because his ways lead to life, they lead to blessing, they lead to abundance, they lead to spaciousness.
Speaker 1: So we're ignoring God most of the week.
Speaker 1: And then we're saying now, god, give me the peace of God that I need.
Speaker 1: And God said I've been trying to get you to obey so you'd have it.
Speaker 1: But until you embrace his reign, it's really hard to receive his reign.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and tell somebody, say I'm going to receive his reign today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys, I just want to give you an A+ because you're doing way better than 915, so good job, I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1: You say Carter, see, the problem is I'm offended by the Bible.
Speaker 1: I like some stuff, but I don't like some stuff.
Speaker 1: And this is a real problem.
Speaker 1: You see, we come and we say we're offended and we think that we're morally superior Because we're chronologically later than everybody else so far.
Speaker 1: We're saying well, you know, we've evolved morally, now we know what the right thing to do is, but let's test it, shall we?
Speaker 1: So for you and I, right now, in this generation, we would say you know what's not so good, you know what our culture doesn't like.
Speaker 1: This whole idea of no sex outside of marriage, that doesn't make any sense, man, that's outdated.
Speaker 1: And you know why we say that?
Speaker 1: Because in this culture, in this time, in this context, the self is the ultimate.
Speaker 1: It's really all about the self.
Speaker 1: The most important thing is you and your personal freedom and your personal expression.
Speaker 1: And we just know, as a culture, anything that gets in the way of that has got to go, it's got to kneel before that ultimate value.
Speaker 1: Now, on the other hand, we would say but you know that forgiveness thing in the Bible, you know like forgive people, forgive your enemies.
Speaker 1: I think that sounds right, I think that's good.
Speaker 1: I mean I want to be forgiven and so I think you probably should be forgiving people.
Speaker 1: That makes sense, right?
Speaker 1: That's what we think here in this time.
Speaker 1: Let's travel back in time 4,000 years.
Speaker 1: Let's go to Father Abraham's time.
Speaker 1: Okay, so, father Abraham, you tell him hey, no sex outside of marriage.
Speaker 1: People in his time are going to say, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 1: I like this God that he would say that.
Speaker 1: And here's why Because their ultimate value is not self.
Speaker 1: Their ultimate value is the family.
Speaker 1: It's all about the progress of the family and the individual submits to the greater good of the family.
Speaker 1: And so if you start having sex outside of marriage, you're going to intermingle with this people over here and this people over here, and now you might have to what.
Speaker 1: They're not very strong.
Speaker 1: Now we have extra people, extra mouths to feed.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to get involved with them.
Speaker 1: No, this is no good.
Speaker 1: This is a bad idea.
Speaker 1: I agree with that.
Speaker 1: God that says no sex outside of marriage, that's going to really help my family and help push us along.
Speaker 1: And then you say well, you know what else God says.
Speaker 1: God really wants you to forgive your enemies and the people in Abraham's time.
Speaker 1: They're going to say are you nuts?
Speaker 1: You mean the people that came into our village and raped all of our women and took our babies and dashed them against the rocks.
Speaker 1: Your God wants me to forgive them.
Speaker 1: I need a different God.
Speaker 1: You got any other gods in that book of yours, because I need a God of vengeance, I need a God of justice, I need a God who's going to get back at my enemies.
Speaker 1: You got any gods in there that can smash my enemies?
Speaker 1: Because that's the kind of God I want.
Speaker 1: Now, what are we seeing here?
Speaker 1: Over the span of 4,000 years and two different generations, you've got the exact same commands that both generations feel precisely opposite about.
Speaker 1: Well, what do we learn from that?
Speaker 1: See, god is so big and so powerful, he sees all ends and he knows what's good and freeing and helpful in every generation.
Speaker 1: And he's not changing.
Speaker 1: He's just saying look, this is what's going to help you, this is what's going to free you.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what time you're in, it doesn't matter what the winds and waves of your current reality suggest.
Speaker 1: You haven't evolved.
Speaker 1: You don't have perfect clairvoyance.
Speaker 1: You don't understand what's the ideal morality I do.
Speaker 1: And so in every generation, somebody ought to be offended, because God is unchanging.
Speaker 1: Somebody's going to be offended somewhere.
Speaker 1: Now here's the trick for those of us here in the 21st century In 100 years, in 200 years, your great-grandkids.
Speaker 1: They're going to look back at you and they're going to be like those idiots.
Speaker 1: I can't believe they valued some of the things that they do and they're going to be giving themselves to some kinds of wickedness that you blush just to hear about it now, because every generation has to wrestle, wrestle and every generation has to recognize God isn't changing.
Speaker 1: You need some moral standard across the whole of history where God just says this is what helps people and it's only reasonable that you and I would at some point say, yeah, that offends me, because God's way is perfect and he's going to call every generation to submit to him.
Speaker 1: God alone brings clarity into confusion through his word.
Speaker 1: If we'll receive it, if we'll receive his reign, man, I know it's a hard word, but you see, y'all so good and awesome, you can receive it.
Speaker 1: But how do we do it?
Speaker 1: Here's number two it's better to receive the word in humility than to sidestep the word in anger.
Speaker 1: It's better to receive the word in humility than to sidestep the word in anger.
Speaker 1: Verse 19,.
Speaker 1: Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we get really angry.
Speaker 1: We're like, well, bless God, I'm going to tell him, I'm going to get in there and just say it to him and we're all kind of stirred up and James says caution, you hold on there.
Speaker 1: And he says that doesn't fulfill the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 1: Well, I think, on a very basic level, it means you may act in your anger in ways that really just aren't living up to God's ways.
Speaker 1: You're less patient than he is, you're more harsh than he would be in this situation.
Speaker 1: You're not representing him well.
Speaker 1: But I think, even beyond that, there's a deeper meaning to that, and that is see, god gets the ultimate final say.
Speaker 1: God sees the end from the beginning.
Speaker 1: God sees your situation and you and I are reacting to our confusion and anger and God says you know, you're just reacting right now, but I've got a plan, I've got an ultimate justice that I'm going to bring.
Speaker 1: I'm the one who settles all accounts, I'm the one who sees what really is true.
Speaker 1: And unless you calm down, unless you humble yourself and receive the word prayerfully, unless you say God, this is how I understand it, but that doesn't mean necessarily that's how it is.
Speaker 1: Unless we calm down and keep our cool, we're liable to do something that is antagonistic or the opposite of what God knows is the ultimate way.
Speaker 1: So, my friends, my friends, my friends, let's be real slow to throw on the cloak of righteous indignation.
Speaker 1: To throw on the cloak of righteous indignation because we do not know what God has in mind.
Speaker 1: And God is well able to bring about the right justice at the right time.
Speaker 1: And I'm preaching better than your amen.
Speaker 1: And so go ahead and start whenever you want.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, man.
Speaker 1: When we get all confused, we can get angry, and then we react, and it's not God's agenda.
Speaker 1: And the problem is we're going too fast and we're getting too fleshy and we're not quiet enough and we're all goofing around instead of getting still before the Lord.
Speaker 1: So what do we do?
Speaker 1: How do we do it?
Speaker 1: We humbly receive the word.
Speaker 1: We humbly go back, we go back to God's word, we go back to it and we say God, I'm stirred up right now, excuse me, I'm stirred up, I'm angry about this.
Speaker 1: I don't know how I feel about this.
Speaker 1: This is putting all kinds of feelings in me.
Speaker 1: Instead of flying off the handle, instead of always talking and never listening, instead of wanting to weigh in, well, here's my view, here's what I think.
Speaker 1: No, we humble ourselves and we go back to the Word and we receive it humbly and we say, god, I don't know, would you teach me now?
Speaker 1: You see, every trial and temptation, here's what the mature know.
Speaker 1: It's an opportunity to grow.
Speaker 1: It's an opportunity to go back to the Word and relearn it.
Speaker 1: Some of you are very young in the Lord.
Speaker 1: Some of you, you've been walking with Jesus just a little while, so I don't know if this one's for you or not.
Speaker 1: Some of you, you've been walking with the Lord a long time.
Speaker 1: And here's the deal.
Speaker 1: You should be doing this more than you are.
Speaker 1: You should be running back to the word.
Speaker 1: You're still fleshy.
Speaker 1: You're still.
Speaker 1: When something goes wrong, you start talking, you start gossiping, you start getting into weird places and you're too old for that.
Speaker 1: James says grow up.
Speaker 1: When you're confused, go back to the word.
Speaker 1: Let it teach you.
Speaker 1: Instead of you weighing in, let God weigh in in your life.
Speaker 1: So get quiet, go listen, go memorize, go to your little chair, go to your place in the truck on the lunch hour and open up God's word and say God, I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: Teach me, bring me out of confusion, because your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path, and it will show me what to do.
Speaker 1: See, when you're mature, it's not that you're so smart now, it's that you're smart enough to go back to the word.
Speaker 1: That's what maturity is.
Speaker 1: So how do we do it?
Speaker 1: When we're not in trial and that's the best time when we're not in trial, we go learn the word.
Speaker 1: We have that time of day, whether it's the morning, the evening or the middle of the day, whether it is in your bedroom, whether it's in your cubicle, wherever it is, you flip open the Bible and say God, teach me, teach me, bring me out of confusion.
Speaker 1: And if we would handle the word better when we're not in trial, we would find that the word would handle us when we are in trial.
Speaker 1: Let me say it again If we would handle the word better when we're not in trial, the word would handle us when we are in trial, that means we'd hear the whisper, or we'd sense it in our spirit, or we'd learn over time to just get just thoughts coming to mind.
Speaker 1: No, humble yourself, no, chill out.
Speaker 1: So, for example, you're at work and your boss man, she's whining and wailing, she's coming down hard on you.
Speaker 1: You're like man, this is the day I'm telling her off.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1: That's what God would want me to do.
Speaker 1: Because now you're all riled up and confused and so you go, you go and you, just, you just listen for a second, real quick.
Speaker 1: You say, lord, oh, I want to get her, I want to get her, tell me what to do.
Speaker 1: And and you just sense it just comes to your mind, humble yourself and submit You're like that ain't God, what else you got in here?
Speaker 1: But why would God say, see, that's not the righteousness of man, that's the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1: Why would God say that to you?
Speaker 1: Because God would say that chick has never in her life claimed to belong to me.
Speaker 1: But you do and you're the light in this place, and so it matters how you act, maybe in a different way, that it matters how she acts.
Speaker 1: So you just do God's word, even though it doesn't feel like it's just to you right now, I promise it works out in the end.
Speaker 1: And then, when we are in trial, we run to him, we say, god, remind me of what you've already shown me.
Speaker 1: Is true, see?
Speaker 1: This is how I really believe the Holy Spirit works.
Speaker 1: He can say anything to us at any time.
Speaker 1: He really can.
Speaker 1: He can bring it to mind, lay it on our heart.
Speaker 1: But you know, what he most often does Is he lays on our hearts things we already put in.
Speaker 1: Do you notice that he brings to mind things you already read somewhere, things you already?
Speaker 1: You stored that up one day and now he's bringing it out again.
Speaker 1: So the more we go back to and progress in the word, the more he's got to work with as we go through the trials of life.
Speaker 1: But James says be careful how you do this, be careful how you do this.
Speaker 1: Verse 22.
Speaker 1: Sorry, here's number three.
Speaker 1: Better to focus on doing the word deliberately than to hear it only.
Speaker 1: That's James's warning, verse 22,.
Speaker 1: But prove yourselves doers of the word, not mere hearers who delude themselves.
Speaker 1: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror.
Speaker 1: For once he's looked at himself and gone away.
Speaker 1: He has immediately forgotten the kind of person that he was.
Speaker 1: What is James saying?
Speaker 1: We'll pull apart the mirror thing in a second.
Speaker 1: But he's saying hey, don't look in this book unless you're ready to look for a change.
Speaker 1: Don't look unless you're ready to look for a change.
Speaker 1: Don't get in the habit of you just opening and reading and be like, oh okay, great, great, and then you don't do anything.
Speaker 1: You don't change anything because God's word is sharper than any double-edged sword.
Speaker 1: This thing is a scalpel and it comes to change, it comes to confront, it comes to conform us to the image of the invisible.
Speaker 1: God.
Speaker 1: Don't look if you're not looking for a change, because it'll fool you, it'll trick you.
Speaker 1: And he compares it to a mirror.
Speaker 1: He says it's like you're looking in a mirror and you see, you got some spinach in your teeth.
Speaker 1: Oh, oh, anybody ever had spinach in your teeth for like a whole day and nobody told you yeah, I have.
Speaker 1: I just want to speak to my friends for a second.
Speaker 1: If you're my real friend, you will tell me if I got something in my tooth.
Speaker 1: Okay, because I've gone home at the end of the day like, oh, geez, they was here all day.
Speaker 1: I was around like 20 people.
Speaker 1: Nobody had the guts to tell me this.
Speaker 1: It's worse then than if you would have just told me.
Speaker 1: So if you're a real friend, you tell somebody hey, man, you got spinach in your teeth.
Speaker 1: Well, that's what the word of God.
Speaker 1: Jesus is a real friend, and so the word of God comes to tell you you got spinach in your teeth.
Speaker 1: It says, hey, man, there's something wrong here, spinach.
Speaker 1: And then like you just go stupid, boop, okay.
Speaker 1: And then you walk away with the spinach still in your teeth.
Speaker 1: God showed you hey, you got all kinds of stuff I want to do something about, okay.
Speaker 1: And then you just walk right away and you didn't do anything about it.
Speaker 1: James says don't do it, don't embrace that.
Speaker 1: And then he goes on and he says hey, there's a kind of law that sets you free.
Speaker 1: It's God's perfect law, jesus.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we think the law is only like the Old Testament, but Jesus referred to even the Psalms, as the law Narratives can be.
Speaker 1: The whole Bible is, on some level, the law of the Lord, and James says verse 25, but one who looks intently.
Speaker 1: Somebody say looks intently, that means you really look at it.
Speaker 1: You don't just feel like, oh, I wonder what's in there.
Speaker 1: Great, okay, bye.
Speaker 1: No, you look and you're oh, what does this mean?
Speaker 1: What is that about?
Speaker 1: Oh, how do I apply that?
Speaker 1: Looks intently.
Speaker 1: If anyone looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does this woman.
Speaker 1: I wonder who's blessed?
Speaker 1: The ones who do it, not just hear it?
Speaker 1: The ones who do it and we might say well, how does that law, how does that work?
Speaker 1: A law that sets you free?
Speaker 1: Aren't laws inherently restrictive?
Speaker 1: I mean, isn't that what laws are about?
Speaker 1: Hey, don't do this and don't do that.
Speaker 1: And this is how we think here in the 21st century.
Speaker 1: This is what we do with our post-enlightenment Western thinking.
Speaker 1: We can only imagine laws that are about not doing.
Speaker 1: And so, as an example, in the neighborhood I used to live in, there were signs on one side of the street that said no parking.
Speaker 1: And there was no signs on the other side of the street, so I could park on that side all I wanted.
Speaker 1: But if I was going to get really stupid about it, I would say I'm half free.
Speaker 1: This is unreasonable that I can only park on this side of the street.
Speaker 1: These people are limiting my freedom.
Speaker 1: I should be able to park on any side of the street that I want.
Speaker 1: How do the ancients think about it?
Speaker 1: Maybe we can learn from them.
Speaker 1: See, they didn't think about the laws just restrictive, but as that which fit the creature best, laws that released a creature to be exactly what they were.
Speaker 1: So a fish is most free in the water.
Speaker 1: The law is for the fish stay in the water and you're free.
Speaker 1: You're free to go wherever you want, like it is the best possible situation.
Speaker 1: This law fits you perfectly, created to do what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: But how many know that if the fish says, well, this is infringing on my rights, I want to get up on that sidewalk and walk around for a little bit, and I defy God to tell me I can't.
Speaker 1: And so this stupid, confused somebody say confused, this confused fish flaps up trying to walk on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: Well, how many know?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's got a few minutes up trying to walk on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: Well, how many know, yeah, he's got a few minutes, he's got a few minutes before.
Speaker 1: That's a dead fish.
Speaker 1: That's what we do with sin.
Speaker 1: We say I should be able to do this thing, and the word of God, the perfect law of liberty, comes along and says you're going to die if you do that thing.
Speaker 1: See, sin kills you.
Speaker 1: It promises delight, but then it kills you and God says I've given you all you need for the most free you could ever be.
Speaker 1: That's why I want you to look into the perfect law of liberty.
Speaker 1: I can assist you to be the best you you can possibly be if you turn away from sin, so that you have the most freedom.
Speaker 1: God says I want you to be free, I want you to be free, but you've got to look into my perfect law of freedom, of liberty.
Speaker 1: So as I continued on my walk, I was getting into about hour four now, okay, and I'm walking like difficult, like I'm going really slow, I'm dragging my legs.
Speaker 1: I'm still sore from it, guys, and I'm getting more and more discouraged.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh man, should I go back now?
Speaker 1: Should I just go back to the normal camp and they'll just have to find me in the morning?
Speaker 1: Or like what's going to happen?
Speaker 1: And as I continue to go, I hear my older brother.
Speaker 1: He says Mark, he doesn't call me Carter because he's also a Carter, and you know, I don't want to lose him, but I want to do it.
Speaker 1: I want to say this manly, so, in my manliest, gruffest voice I can.
Speaker 1: I'm like I'm right here and he comes bounding around the corner.
Speaker 1: He's got a smile on his face.
Speaker 1: He's already been to the camp, he's already gotten rid of all his stuff and he says give me your pack.
Speaker 1: My older brother says give me your pack, my older brother.
Speaker 1: He throws it on his back.
Speaker 1: He says come on, we're not far, I know the way.
Speaker 1: And he walks and I walk with him and we get safely to the camp.
Speaker 1: You know, the Holy Spirit was showing me in that moment that my older brother was kind of demonstrating what Jesus, our truest older brother, does for us.
Speaker 1: See, we get lost on the trail, we get confused, we don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: And Jesus says find the trail, Be on the trail.
Speaker 1: The trail is God's word.
Speaker 1: But even then, just the word without Jesus doesn't work.
Speaker 1: So Jesus comes bounding down the trail and he says give me your burden, give it to me, I'll take it because I paid for it.
Speaker 1: In fact, you can just yourself climb up on my back and I'll take you the rest of the way.
Speaker 1: I know the way I can breathe light into your confusion.
Speaker 1: I've got good news and bad news.
Speaker 1: The bad news is, even as you look into this perfect law, you're going to find that you are not perfect.
Speaker 1: You're going to find that you don't have the strengths and what this is supposed to remind you of.
Speaker 1: Yes, this is a scalpel, this is showing me where my spinach is.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1: But it also is supposed to remind me of the only one, the perfect one, the one who came and fulfilled the entire law.
Speaker 1: You see, he obeyed all the commandments, he did it all perfectly.
Speaker 1: He walked it out every day for 33 years, obeying, doing exactly what the father would have him to do, and he fulfilled the law just like he said.
Speaker 1: He said I'm not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but I came to fulfill them.
Speaker 1: And then he not only lived it all perfectly, the one, the only one who didn't have to die died for you and me to fulfill the law again.
Speaker 1: And now he gives it to you and he says give me your burden, take my obedience.
Speaker 1: I obeyed the law perfectly.
Speaker 1: You'll never be able to.
Speaker 1: You take my obedience and I'm strong enough to get you all the way home.
Speaker 1: So, listen, here's your challenge for the week.
Speaker 1: My friends, this, and only this, is what will give you the clarity that you really need.
Speaker 1: But you've got to go find them on the trail.
Speaker 1: Maybe your trail is that little chair that you would spend time with God in.
Speaker 1: Maybe it is the cab of your truck during the lunch hour.
Speaker 1: You climb right in.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's on the porch in the evening where you open up God's word and you find the trail.
Speaker 1: Now here's what you have to do.
Speaker 1: He can't go to the trail for you, but as soon as you decide to go to the trail, you do just what I did.
Speaker 1: I'm here, god, I'm here.
Speaker 1: I'm here and I receive your reign.
Speaker 1: I will do whatever you tell me to do.
Speaker 1: God, I'm here.
Speaker 1: Come find me.
Speaker 1: I receive your reign, god.
Speaker 1: I'm here.
Speaker 1: God, you fulfilled the law.
Speaker 1: You did everything perfect.
Speaker 1: I'm confused, but I am here and I receive your reign.
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation, check out Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person.
Speaker 1: Also, if you're looking for leadership development related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry.
Speaker 1: It's because of you that this is possible.
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Speaker 1: Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it.
Speaker 1: Don't give up.
Speaker 1: Hang on to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He won't let go of you.
Speaker 1: Jesus loves you so much and we love you.
Speaker 1: I hope someday we get to meet in person.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.