Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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James 3:13 Opening verse on proving wisdom by living an honorable life, tied to the 'prove it' theme
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
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Keep this verse
Proverbs 4:7
Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do, develop good judgment
7 Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
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James 3:13-18
Main passage read in full on true wisdom from God versus worldly wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
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Matthew 26:53
Jesus saying he could ask the Father for thousands of angels to protect them but did not
53 Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?
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1 Corinthians 13
Love does not insist on its own way, connected to willing to yield to others
1 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
13 But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
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Matthew 9:13
Jesus says I desire mercy not sacrifice, contrasted with the Pharisees' showy offerings
13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On January 6, 2019, Pastor Scott walked First B Jackson through James 3:13-18, drawing a clear line between the world's wisdom and the wisdom that comes from God. The world's wisdom, he said, rises naturally and produces disorder and evil, while God's wisdom produces a harvest of righteousness. The passage's challenge is simple: if you claim to be wise, prove it by the life you live.
What was said
The sermon opened with a word about wisdom itself. Pastor Scott described wisdom not as intelligence or book knowledge but as applied knowledge, knowing when and how to act on what you know. A person can know a red light is ahead and still fail to brake in time on an icy Jackson road. Knowing and wisely applying are two different things.
James 3:13 was the launching point. James tells his readers that if they consider themselves wise and understanding in God's ways, they should prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. Pastor Scott noted that earlier in James the letter addresses teachers, and verse 13 circles back to that same crowd, telling them that genuine wisdom shows up in how you live, not only in what you teach.
Humility got careful attention. Pastor Scott defined it as meekness, gentle strength, power held in reserve. Crucially, he said, it begins with God's inspiration and finishes by his direction and empowerment. That means humility is not something a person manufactures. It starts and ends with God, and our human nature fights it at every turn. He pointed to Jesus at his arrest as the clearest example, a man who could have called thousands of angels and chose instead to walk the path the Father had set before him.
Verses 14 and 15 introduced the contrast. Jealousy and selfish ambition, James says, are not God's kind of wisdom. They come easily, no effort required, and they pull a person deeper into a cycle of boasting and lying. Pastor Scott noted you do not have to work to find disorder and evil. They arrive on their own.
Verses 16 through 18 then list the marks of wisdom from above: pure, peace loving, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good deeds, showing no favoritism, always sincere. Pastor Scott worked through each one. Being willing to yield, for instance, means deciding ahead of time to come disarmed, before the confrontation begins. Showing no favoritism came up in connection with James 2, where James had already asked why anyone would honor the rich and dishonor the poor. And sincerity, he said, is simply being the real deal, no hidden agenda, because the wisdom is from God and good because He is good.
The passage closes with a promise: those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. Pastor Scott tied that to other promises James makes throughout the letter and turned the question toward the room. Are you planting seeds of peace in your marriage, with your kids, with coworkers, with extended family? Do you come to conflict disarmed, or loaded for bear?
Pastor Scott closed where James begins: if anyone lacks wisdom, ask. God gives generously and without finding fault. The point he wanted to land was that seeking God's wisdom is not a matter of looking inward. It is looking up, and specifically looking to Christ, who came in the flesh to show exactly what pure, peaceable, merciful, sincere wisdom looks like in a human life. As we yield to him, what grows is a harvest of righteousness.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor described wisdom as 'applied knowledge' rather than just intelligence. What is a situation from your own life where you had the knowledge of what to do but struggled to actually apply it?
- Humility was defined as 'meekness, gentle strength' that 'begins with God's inspiration and finishes by his direction and empowerment.' What does it look like in practice to treat humility as something God produces in you rather than something you work up on your own?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 5,243 words
0:00
I think we need to think about getting started. The clock on the wall says, hey. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. We're gonna we're gonna stand and sing and kinda get things started, get the blood pumping this morning.
0:14
It's good to see y'all. We're Ray is out of town this morning. If you haven't noticed, I'm not that big six foot six hairy guy. But by here, we'll get my son Jake's gonna help with worship this morning and it's great to see you all and let's worship the Lord together. This this music helps get our heart in tune with the Lord and just make a joyful noise this morning.
0:42
I'm sure everybody's glad to see the snow, I'm sure. Except those that had to shovel it out of the end of the driveway. So, are we ready? Go ahead and trickle along. We're gonna start with that Calvary this morning.
0:54
Four ninety two if you want to use your hymnal. Words are on the screen. Here we go. Put a smile on your face and it'll go right into your heart. Keep playing there, Goose.
1:02
There we go. She's so nervous. Alright, here we go. Sing it out so we can hear you next door here.
1:10
Spent in vanity and pride carrying on my lord was crucified knowing not was for me mercy there was great and grace was free oh the mighty gulf that God did spend mercy there was great and grace was free and there was multiplied to me there my burden soul found liberty
3:31
Pretty good. I heard some good harmony going out there. Let's keep it up. Alright. Beautiful.
3:36
How great thou art is an old classic. This one has some great words. One of my mom's favorites. Okay, there it is. It's coming to mind.
3:45
Everybody knows this.
6:22
Gladly he bled and died to take away my sin when Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home what joy shall fill my heart then I shall bow in humble adoration Amen.
8:16
Have a seat. Thank you.
8:18
Oh, what a really fun way to start out the morning. I'm all encouraged. I don't know about you folks. First of all, I just wanna start out by thanking you all for your generosity over the Christmas season, as part of the staff. I gotta say it was just so encouraging to have so many people come in to give us hugs, cookies, you know, your financial contributions and stuff were just really encouraging to all of us throughout the whole winter.
8:39
We just wanna thank you for also decorating and tearing things down and moving things around. Like, we'd come in and things sometimes would just be done, and what a what a blessing that is. I I came in the other day. Roseanne was cleaning up after the one of the services. I'm like, Roseanne, you don't have to do that, and she's just plowing away.
8:55
So thank you. Thank you so much for all that. We really we really appreciate it and hope you enjoyed your Christmas. Let's get a couple announcements going here. I think this isn't working or, there you go.
9:05
Monday nights at first b. We have a Monday night service here every week, 06:15 meal music and a message. It's always encouraging, always positive, and a great way to meet people. If you're looking for a place to be, that's it for you. Mike Demetrius is preaching this week, so, be ready to be encouraged by that guy.
9:23
Awana is awesome, dude. Awana is our youth program. Happens here every Monday. Invite everybody, all your friends and neighbors to come on by. 05:45 to 07:30.
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The kids are running around in here, and being filled up with the the Lord's scripture, and, it's a really positive time for so many people. Congregational meeting is happening next Sunday before this service. So, come a little early. Stop down the hall for the connect hour and if you guys want to ahead of time, the budgets are available on the little desk that's right behind Blake there in the back. So feel free to pick one of those up in advance if you'd like to take a look at it.
9:58
10:15 next week. The men's winter retreat, calling all men of all ages. We would love to have you show up. It's only a $100 for the men and then $50 for kids. It's a great time of cross country skiing, snowmobiling, or just relaxing.
10:15
If you just wanna come and get away from it all, please, by all means, come be a part of that. I I love that. It's one of my favorite weekends of the winter. So please come come have a silly time with us. Community Bible study prayer group is happening.
10:27
It's kicking back off your if there's a morning or an evening class. They're both taught the same lessons, but you can come to one or the other, 09:30AM to 06:30PM. Great way to get connected with people. Men's fraternity, happens in this room 6AM every Wednesday morning starting from now until, spring break. Free breakfast also.
10:47
We're big on food here. So if you're hungry, we've got something for you. Precept study, Jane's leading that again this year. Great in-depth study of the scriptures, word by word, verse by verse. Let's get that scripture poured into you and really solidify it.
11:01
That'd be a great place to show up. Connect hour happens an hour before this service, so ten until eleven. We've got food down the hallway. Why don't you come in and connect with the folks from the first service and just get your Sunday morning kicked off on the right way? Get everybody blending together.
11:16
That'd be great. And, I think that's it. Did we forget anything else? Oh, refit. Yeah.
11:21
Refit is an exercise class that happens in the church on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Do you remember what time it is? It 05:15 and 05:30. So Tuesday, 05:15, Thursday, 05:30. It's free.
11:35
Come hang out with everybody. They have lights. They've got fun music, and it's Zumba, basically, if you if you know what that is. You're just moving around doing great stuff. And it's for men and ladies.
11:44
Yeah. It's so much better than what I just did, but, I promise. I promise. But why don't you guys stand up and greet one another? We'll bring you back with some more music.
11:53
Okay.
11:56
Okay, we're gonna we're gonna keep on singing folks. Wonderful to see the cheer and the smile in
12:03
the room.
12:04
God's spirit just swarms around here while we're gathering and expressing ourselves to each other just that's God's love at work right there. Alright, here we go. Oh, listen. It's getting better. Keep going.
12:27
Kristen's nervous. Thanks for playing today, Kristen.
12:35
My soul longeth after thee. Panteth You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee. You alone are my strength, my shield. To you alone may you are my heart's desire and I long to worship thee
15:03
Great worshipful song. Amen. The greatest thing in all my life. This is a great song because it kind of builds getting to know the Lord then you'd serve the Lord and in this process, you learn to love the Lord more. That's what this song talks about.
15:17
Let's let's sing it together. The
15:30
greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. The greatest thing in all my life the greatest thing my life is knowing you the greatest thing in in all my life is loving you. The greatest thing in all my life want to serve the greatest thing in all my life is
17:42
Amen. You can have a seat. Thanks.
17:47
Thanks Scott and Jake for for leading and Kristen. Can we take a moment and and pray here as we participate in the worship through giving? Lord God almighty, you truly are generous. You truly are generous. I the greatest the greatest giver of all that you would give us your son.
18:14
And to know you is to love you, and to love you is to serve you. And you give great joy. You are the joy giver. I think of the songs that we sang together this morning. More precious than rubies and silver than gold is a relationship with you.
18:34
Our one true living God, our living hope. And so as we give this morning, may it be just an expression of our our our love toward you because you have loved us. We love because you first loved us. Would you use these gifts, Lord, to expand the kingdom that others might know this true gift of knowing. We pray in Christ's name.
18:55
Amen. Thank you, Kristin. Father, son, and Holy Spirit, move our hearts to remember. Beautiful song. Well, I wanna show you a picture.
22:08
It's this one right here Or not. There it is. This one. This was a little picture that was painted by Alyssa Massey before she moved to California. Do you remember this this young lady right here, Alyssa?
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Maybe not, she was more of a 09:00 person. There's so many folks at first b, but hi Alyssa, if you're watching this morning. And Renzi Reno, we remember Renzi, the youth director here for a while, he commissioned her to to paint these for the staff before he moved to Sheridan. And one of the sayings was this right here, prove it. Meaning, show me the evidence and he'd say it in kind of a snarky way like, prove it.
22:59
It was just the way it did and he'd whisper it from the soundboard. Prove it. But it become kind of a saying around here and it is actually a biblical saying. It's from James three thirteen. James says, if anyone would say that they're wise and understand God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life.
23:22
Prove it. Apply it. Show the evidence for it because that's really what wisdom is, it's applied knowledge. It it shows that it knows. Like, you can see a a red light up ahead in Jackson in the wintertime.
23:41
Yes? You can know it's there. You have a head knowledge of it. You know you're supposed to break. But wisdom says, it's wintertime in Jackson.
23:53
I should give myself some more time, some more space to stop. Right? That's a wise thing. It knows when and how to apply that knowledge. Another act of wisdom here.
24:07
If your wife should ever say, I look terrible today. K. Take notes here. This could be the wisest thing you've heard today. You never agree with that statement ever.
24:25
Right? Wisdom is mindful. Mindful about what to say and when to say it. Like, there's intelligence. Like when people you see on Jeopardy and they're thinking, wow, they're so smart.
24:37
But being smart does not always equal being wise. Would you agree? You can be smart and lack wisdom. Take this for example. We live in Yellowstone.
24:50
Right? We hear about bad decisions almost daily in in the summer about the decisions people make in in the parks. You know, just it's it's not just about knowing better. I I wanna believe that he knew better. It's about applying that that makes us wise.
25:11
You know, I often think of wisdom as like a a well timed word. You know? When knowing when to talk and and when to listen. There's wisdom in there. Or holding your tongue when you know that you're right, but you don't have to be right all the time.
25:34
It knows when and how to apply knowledge. It's it's not necessarily something that we learn in the classroom or a Google search. It it's different than intelligence. It comes from experience. It comes from walking with the Lord.
25:49
Living life. Putting all of what you know into practice. Today, James says that true wisdom comes from God. True wisdom comes from God. He makes this very clear distinction between the world's wisdom and God's wisdom and the thing is, they're very different and we'll see that they they produce different results.
26:13
Specifically, he says, the world's wisdom produces dis disorder and evil. Disorder and evil are not hard to come by. They come quite naturally for us, in fact. But God's wisdom, James will say, produces a harvest of righteousness. There is a big difference between the world's wisdom and God's wisdom.
26:37
The idea is to seek the wisdom from God and to walk in that wisdom from God. Does that make sense? So, if if if we walk away with anything, please let it let it be that that to that true wisdom comes from God and to seek that wisdom that comes from God. Proverbs four seven says, getting wisdom, that's the wisest thing that you can do and whatever else you do, develop good judgment. That's wise.
27:09
King Solomon started off real well as a king. When God asked him, what do you want? What do you want? Instead of saying, I want a long life. I want I want wealth.
27:21
I want power. He said, give me a wise and discerning heart in administering justice. A wise and discerning heart in administering justice. That's a fantastic answer. I mean, about what does God really want?
27:40
Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God, right? This right here is a textbook response. And God was more than pleased to give it to him so much that he said, Solomon, there'll never be another king like.
27:58
Wisdom is important and God's ready to give it. So that being said, here's James three thirteen through 18 on true wisdom that comes from God. The words will be on the screen. I like to read it through and then just go back through and and and break it down into chunks. It says this, if you are wise in understanding God's ways, prove it by living an honorable life.
28:24
Doing good works with humility that comes from wisdom. But if you're bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don't cover up that truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
28:55
But the wisdom from above, wisdom from God is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, Gentle at all times, willing to yield to others. It's full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
29:31
I'd love to pray on that and then just go back through. Okay? You have to say, if anyone lacks wisdom, all we should do is ask. Ask for it. And you give generously without finding fault.
29:44
And so we do. We ask for a wisdom that comes from you, not not from within, not from here, not but from you. That's pure, peaceable, and gentle, willing to yield. It doesn't show partiality. That's full of mercy.
30:01
It's sincere. This is the kind of wisdom, God, that produces a harvest of righteousness. That's what we're looking for. That's what we're after. We pray this in Christ's name.
30:11
Amen. Wisdom. I feel like this is a word we don't hear a lot. Like I I I think that more often we value IQ or intelligence but I don't hear a lot about wisdom. Wisdom has insight and skill and clarity.
30:30
It's it's it's beyond just intelligence. It's beyond just knowing. Earlier in James, James says, not many of you should be teachers Which means if James is addressing this in his letter, it probably meant that there were many who wanted to teach in that day and in verse 13, it's like he's circling back around and telling his church, you wanna teach. If you're wise and you understand God's ways, he said, prove it by living an honorable life. Doing good works with humility that come from wisdom.
31:07
In other words, put your put your teaching into practice by doing these things that you're teaching about. Humility there being the the the keyword. So humility is defined as meekness, gentle strength. It expresses power with reserve and gentleness. It begins with God's inspiration and finishes by his direction and empowerment.
31:40
I wanna say that last part because I feel that it's really important worth repeating. It begins with God's inspiration and finishes by his direction and empower. But are we catching this? This is a work of God. And we say, humility sounds good.
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I want humility. Great. It comes from God. If we're to seek humility, we're seeking God. It begins with him.
32:05
It ends with him. It's a work of the Lord and our human nature fights against this with all its might. It really does. It like, you hit me, I hit you back. If you curse me, I I curse you.
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That that's how the world works. That's how things go here. Humility from God is strong but it's gentle. It's strong, but it's reserved. It shows restraint.
32:37
It's I could I could use something to to hurt you because you've hurt me, but I will not. I think of Jesus when he was betrayed and arrested. You remember this in Matthew? When Jesus said, don't you realize that I could ask my father for thousands of angels to protect us? And he would send them instantly.
33:07
Just like that. But he didn't. He showed reserved strength and he kept on entrusting himself to the will of God. I mean, think about it that that his innocent life for for our guilty ones. Betrayed, arrested, beaten, mocked, scorned, and yet he continued on with the father's will.
33:42
That's our example. That's what we're after. He wasn't thinking of himself on that way to the cross. He wasn't thinking about the revenge he could have. He was thinking about the sin of all mankind, taking that on himself, dying in our place for our sin so that we could have life.
34:05
Was he strong enough to oppose his accusers? Absolutely. Could he have wiped them out at any time? Yes. But instead, he chose to walk in humility, that's our example.
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Here's a quick question to ask ourselves. When we look at this definition of humility here, meekness, gentle spray, reserve, does that describe us? Does that describe us strong but gentle? Strong but reserved? Where you know you could but should you?
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That kind of a thing. That's the definition of humility. It begins with God's inspiration, finishes by his direction and empower. It begins and ends with God. I I I feel like that's such an important part to mention about humility is that it truly does begin with God and it ends with God.
35:07
If we're seeking humility. Now, contrast what we've just discussed here with verse fourteen and fifteen. So, we've got God's way and now here we're going world's way but if you're bitterly jealous and there's selfish ambition in your heart, don't cover up that truth with boasting and lying. It's it's like it's this perpetual cycle. It's just going deeper and deeper into a tailspin.
35:33
It it it's getting deeper and darker too and further away from God. You you you notice this in verse fourteen and fifteen. Covering it up with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God's kind of wisdom. He's going, there's God's wisdom, there's the world's wisdom.
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You don't even have to try to gain the world's wisdom. It's there. Jealousy and selfishness come naturally. Thank you very much. And then from that come boasting and lying.
36:00
God's wisdom is different. Seventeen and eighteen show us what that looks like. Here it is. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. I wanna rest on these just for a moment.
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Pure, holy, sacred, down to the center of our being. And it isn't because we are, but because he is. You go, I'm I don't feel like a holy person. Well, it no, you're not. Not apart from God but because God is holy and he lives in us.
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We are holy. Does that make sense? That's how it works. We're not boasting in our own holiness. We're not boasting in our own righteousness.
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Anything that's good, holy, righteous, pure, those are all a work of the Lord in and through us. It's peace loving. That means peaceable, disposed to peace. It results from knowing God's will and obeying God's will. That's what it means to be peaceable.
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It's not just to know God's will, right? We read in scripture but it's to go, what I've just read, what I've just took in and it's here, I'm going to practice. I'm going to carry it out. That's what makes us peaceable people, peace loving people, carrying out the will of of God. Make sense?
37:39
Here's another. Gentle at all times. That means mild, forbearing, fair, reasonable, where we relax on overly strict standards in order to keep the spirit of the law. I really like that. What is the spirit of the law?
38:05
The spirit of the law really is this, God desires mercy, not sacrifice. God desires mercy, not sacrifice. You think about so many of the back and forth that that Jesus did with the religious leaders of the time. What was it about? It was about that they thought they were absolutely righteous apart from him.
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That's where that's what it is. Mild, forbearing, reasonable. It doesn't hit people over the head with the Bible. It demonstrates what the Bible teaches. Gentle at all times.
38:48
Here's another, willing to yield to others, meaning it's easy to come to terms with others because you have been willing ahead of time. Before that confrontation, ahead of time, you've decided, I'm disarmed. That's what it means, willing to yield to others. You know, that is one of the hardest things we can do when we're in a conflict with a person is you just come in hot. You come loaded, ready, armed, right?
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Am am I am I right? It's deciding ahead of time. Weapons down. Weapons down. I I I didn't come to make I didn't come to make war.
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I came to I came to make peace. Willing to yield to others. I think of first Corinthians 13, it says, love doesn't insist on its own way. Love doesn't insist on its own way. There's that mutual love and respect for one another that I see and the willing to yield to others.
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Okay? Here's another. Full of mercy and good deeds. Mercy is pity. It's compassion.
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That as God has shown us mercy, we show mercy to others. That's that's really what what what God has done. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He gave us mercy rather than the judgment that we deserve. That's what he did.
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We didn't deserve it. We didn't do anything to earn it but he still gave it anyway. That's what it means to be full of mercy where you could let someone really have it. Give what they deserve but instead, there's, again, there's that restraint of going, no. And rather when they're down, it's it's not kicking them while they're down, but rather lifting them, lifting them up.
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That's mercy. In Matthew nine, Jesus says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. When you think about when the pharisees and the dropping in the the loud coins and the offering plate, it was it was more about a show, a show of of their holiness. It wasn't a holiness that was from the inside that was pure from God. It's a heart of love and compassion rather than judgment is what I'm trying to say that God is after.
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Does that make sense? It shows no favoritism. So as I've been studying James in chapter two, he's saying, why would you show favoritism for the rich over the poor? That's discrimination. It shows dishonor to the very people that God chose to be rich in faith.
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God's wisdom doesn't show favoritism. And last, God's wisdom is always sincere. Meaning, it's not phony. It's the real deal. I think we all have a pretty good baloney detector.
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I mean, I I really do. I I think you know when you're talking with someone if they're sincere or if they're not. God's wisdom is always sincere. It doesn't have a hidden agenda. It's good because it's good.
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It's good because it's from God. It's sincere. That's God's wisdom. Ending with verse 18. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
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That's something I really really appreciate about James is he talks about the rewards of our obedience. Earlier he says, when you when you persevere under trial, you'll receive the crown of life. That's a promise from James. He says, if you listen to the word and you do what it says, you'll be blessed in what you do. There's another promise from James.
43:08
Now, he's saying, if you plant seeds of peace, you'll reap a harvest of righteousness. Can I ask you something? Have you been planting seeds of peace? Do you plant seeds of peace in your relationships, whether it's a spouse, with your kids, with coworkers, extended family? Do we plant seeds of peace?
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Do we come disarmed? Or are we loaded for bear, contentious? There's wisdom that comes from God and it's truly, truly, truly helpful. It's so applicable. It is so for now.
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It's worth it. It pays off. But I wanna go back to the beginning. Let's understand that true wisdom, if we're seeking wisdom, that comes from God. It really is.
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It's not a dig deep and look inside of yourself type of thing. James has already showed kind of what what does that lead to. It's a you're looking up. We're looking up. We're looking for wisdom that comes from him.
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The true wisdom that comes from him. If we truly want to be pure, peace loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good deeds, impartial, sincere, all of those are found in God. Specifically, they're found in Christ because why? Christ is God. He came as God in the flesh to show us exactly what these look like.
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Think of all the interactions that he had throughout the gospels. Showing mercy, showing compassion, not retaliating. Thinking of us rather than himself, carrying out the father's will. I mean, it just goes on and on and on. Jesus is the example.
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He's who we're looking toward. So, if what, if we want these, if we want real wisdom, what we're really seeking is Jesus. As we yield to him, as we remain in him, as we surrender to him, it it didn't matter how you say it. They they're all saying the same thing. What that produces is a harvest of righteousness.
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And so my encouragement is simply this, to seek the wisdom that comes from God. James says, the world's wisdom, it it really isn't wisdom at all. It produces disorder and chaos. It it's really not hard to come by. To start a fight, to have a contentious situation.
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It's not hard to come by. All comes very naturally for us. But as we live in the spirit, as God is empowering us, we get his wisdom. We get what he has. It produces a harvest of righteousness.
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It's for our good. It's for the good of others. It's for the glory of God. It truly is. It makes sense.
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Lord knows life requires wisdom. Some of you are making huge life decisions at this moment. Huge life decisions. And what I want you to know from James, that as you approach these big life decisions, whether it's family or health concerns, what are we gonna do next? We're in this stage of life.
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What I want you to know from James is that you can approach all these decisions in a way that is pure and peace loving and gentle and reasonable, full of mercy, good deeds, impartial, and sincere. Is that good news? I mean, it really is. To think when I have one of the biggest decisions to make in my life that I can do so in this way, it's it's a game changer. It truly is a game changer.
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God promises that if anyone is lacking wisdom, all we need to do is ask. Ask. And he gives generously without finding fault. I love that. As we consider about it, where's your wisdom coming?
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Because I know my default mode is I'm gonna consult with me. If I'm making a big decision, I'm oftentimes thinking about what should what should I do rather than going, Lord, what should I do? And how can I approach this in a way that's pure and peaceable, gentle and reasonable, full of mercy, good deeds, impartial, sincere? God gives without finding fault. I want you to know that.
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He's happy to give us wisdom. Going back to Proverbs four seven, getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do and whatever else you do, develop good judgment. True wisdom comes from God, seek that wisdom that comes from God. That's what I've got for us from James today. Good stuff, applicable.
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I'll invite our our worship team come back up while they're coming up. I'd love to to pray on that. I think this truly requires prayers we think about God's wisdom. Lord, I do thank you for this good word from James. It is timely.
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It really is because we're always we're always making decisions. Some bigger than others, but they require wisdom. And I thank you for this wisdom that you give. This wisdom that produces a harvest of righteousness rather than a harvest of jealousy and selfishness. You offer a harvest of righteousness in our lives if we would only seek you.
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Praying for your grand vision to see that that true wisdom is pure, peace loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good deeds, impartial, and it's sincere. That wisdom, that's from you and your. And as we yield to you, we get what you have. Thank you for that. In Jesus'
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Let's stand and and say, yeah, I wanna get I'm gonna give him a hand. Sub it in. Hooray. Thank you. That's a good word.
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Praise God because that's right out of the word and it takes the humility to allow God to cleanse you. I I love that. Well packaged today. Cleanse me, oh God. Examine our hearts.
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Let's sing it together.
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Search me, oh God,
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That is a great prayer as well as a song. Let me leave you with this here. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, It's peace loving, gentle at all times, willing to yield to others. It's full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism.
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It's always sincere. Lord, may it be so as we yield our will to yours in Jesus name.
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