James 5 audio
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Luke: [00:00:00] Well, hello once again. Welcome back to the Living For His Glory podcast. Unless here on my YouTube and welcome back to my YouTube. what a pleasure it is to finish off our, our first series back, The Book of James. we are diving into our final chapter in James, James chapter 5. for the last, little over a month.
We've we've looked at James. We've gone with 1234. Now we're finally at five. as you finish things off, I'm very excited. back from the swing of things back at good consistencies every Monday at seven a. m. and we will be getting another message, not from the book of James because we are now going to be finished with that after this video.
I will give you, I will release details about what will be coming next week, very soon, sometime probably in the middle of the week about the subject, we were talking about, but I'm very excited to talk about it, and soon I'm hoping to have some, some guests, to come and speak and speak on the podcast,[00:01:00] I'm very excited for them, we got some great people lined up, they're very, very smart, but as for right now, that's, that's too few.
That's too much future for, for now. Let's stay in the present of James chapter five. We see that James starts his fifth and final chapter, with a warning to wi to rich oppressors. He says, now listen to you rich people weeping well, because out of, because of the mis coming on you, your wealth has gRED and moss have eaten your clothes.
Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look, the wages you failed to pay, the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have breached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
You have lived on earth in luxury and self indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one who is not opposing you. Now, I am not against people that are rich. Okay, like i'm like people that are finally financially stable that does not mean [00:02:00] That the lord is against them.
In fact that has been the lord That's mean that just means the lord that the lord has blessed them. You know, they the lord has blessed them financially It's not like they became financially stable or wealthy Against the Lord's wishes, you know, I mean, obviously, I mean, that's just the hierarchy of things.
There will always be, you know, those that are richer and then those that are always being, you know, more poor. I think that where we start to get into trouble is, is when this money becomes, you know, that's when we start focusing on it. It's not that money's the root of all evil, it's the love of money is the root of all evil.
The love of money is the root of all evil, not, not the actual money itself. So, we see, in verse 4, it goes, Look, the wages you fail to pay the workers who mow your fields are crying out against you. It's a sense of selfishness, you know, the people that work for you, they weren't paying, they weren't compensated correctly.
You hoarded your money, you kept as much of it as humanly possible. That's, that's, that's [00:03:00] where... You know, things start to get iffy. That's where things get, get real bad. You know, you, in verse five, it goes into, you have lived on earth in luxury and self indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.
Where again, it's just this hoarding, this, this love of money. It's just, we want it and we focus on it and that's all we focus on. It's an easy thing to do, you know, but those who have. Power afraid to lose it same thing with money those who have those who have money don't want to lose it That's fine. You know, it's it's fine.
It's it's it's fine to to keep that financial stability But it's not fine for it to become the all defining purpose. It's not fine For us to be fattened on it, for us to self indulge in it, it's not fine to, to keep as much as you can and, and give as late as little amount out as you possibly can. That is not what money is for.
In fact, I think that God no, I know that what the people that, that God does bless with [00:04:00] money uses it correctly. I think that that's, money does serve a purpose. Like think about it like Mother Teresa, she had to have money. To go out, do the things that she did, she had to have money. She had to pay for food, she had to pay for traveling, she had to, whatever.
But like, I mean, Billy Graham is another, he's a, he was an amazing evangelist. He had to have money. He had to pay for hotels and traveling and again, food, you know, we all need food. So I'm not saying it's bad to have money. I'm saying that the love of it and that the hoarding of it is where things get.
You know a little a little a little a little if it's when money comes before other things when things get iffy And actual having it having a of the money is not that it's not bad. It's not bad in itself It's what that can turn into that. We should be wary of and again, it's like it's the title of this These first six verses in James five, [00:05:00] it's, it's a warning to rich oppressors, not to the rich, just to the rich oppressors.
So if you have money, but you're not an oppressor, you're all good to go. now we dive into, the rest, the rest of James five, verses seven through 20, patience and suffering says in verse eight. So, yeah, It's talking about patience in verse 7. It's like, see how the farmer waits for the land, to yield its valuable crop.
Patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. It says in verse 8, you too, be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. It's just this, this reminder to be patient. Like, God's coming soon. I know this was written 2, 000 years ago, which is a long time ago for us, but for God, Not really that long, which, you know, it's kind of hard for things to be a long time for a being that's outside of time, you know, so, it is coming soon, but God also knows that it's not coming necessarily soon by our standards.
So he's encouraging us to be patient, stay patient and dig into the test and keep and [00:06:00] keep and keep at it. Another another verse that caught my eye is verse 12 Above all my brothers and sisters do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else All you need to say is a simple yes or no Otherwise you'll be condemned this goes again This goes with literally everything that we've ever seen in every chapter not everything But like this is touched on in every single chapter of james I think james is getting through our heads the last last little over a month month and a half ish He's I think he's getting it through our heads and if he's not Knock, knock.
Come on, listen up. , it's this like, don't, like watch your mouth. Watch your, don't swear. It is like, you know, you don't need to say, you know, f Yeah. Or I'm God or whatever. You may, may or may not say it's a yes or a no. You don't need to be extra of it. You don't need to emphasize it. It's like a, it's a, this is a, it is a yes or a no.
It's, it's just that, it's just that simple. as we continue, uh, [00:07:00] actually no, sorry, the, The old title, Patience and Sovereign, it only goes to verse 12. Now we finished with, it's, the prayer of faith in 13 through 20. My bad. We're getting into 13 14 says, Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.
Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. James is listing out these bad things that are happening. These are really bad things, you know, people are in trouble, you know, sick, but it's also listing is anyone happy.
So it's a it's talking about these bad and good things and whatever may or may not be happy be happening. And it has a theme. Like if it, if it's in trouble, let 'em pray. If it's good, let 'em worship. If it, if it's sick, you know, again, call the elders and pray over them and, and anoint them in the name of the Lord.
It's, it all kind of goes back no matter what our circumstances are. It should always go back to God. It should always be an [00:08:00] act of prayer or praise, whichever one it is. And I honestly, I kind of encourage to do, to do both with whichever, but no matter what our situation is in any given circumstances, in any given time.
Our response and what we do should just be, should always consistently be the same. And that, that consistency is, I'm going to focus on God, I'm going to pray to God, I'm going to praise Him no matter what's going on around me. in verse 16, it says, Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. These, these righteous people, so it, it says, you know, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. And I think that since before that kind of defines a righteous person or what were, you know, at least characteristics of them, you know, confessing your sins to each other and praying for each other so that you may be healed.
It's a sense of community. It's a sense of, of togetherness. And this, this is kind of what church is [00:09:00] for. We can go anywhere to learn about the gospel. There are podcasts and there are books and there are You know, YouTube channels and whatever else we can learn about God anywhere. It doesn't have to be in a church.
In fact, you don't have to go on any platform. You have an amazing book right here. And if you don't, well, there's going to be a store near your neck near there's going to be stored near you with one. And I would highly encourage you to get one. A physical Bible is weight. If a physical Bible is awesome.
And if not. There's a bible app on your phone. I mean, come on. There's a bible app. There's literally no excuses to not be in the words. It's at your disposal at all times. How do I know this? Because you have your phone with you at all times. It's simple. I mean, you know, everybody does. I do. Whatever.
Everybody does. And that's fine. It's okay. But we literally have the work at our disposal at all times. So, we really don't have an excuse to not be able to learn. But in terms of having this community, you know, confessing to each other and praying for each other, that's a large part of [00:10:00] what church does, what church allows.
It's like, you know, you know, you go to school and, you know, it allows you to, you know, be able to function socially. You know, you make friends and all the things that you wouldn't have been able to make if you didn't go to school in the first place. So, that's kind of... It's, you know, it could be a faulty comparison there, but you understand the point, you know, church is a lot for, you know, the community and being around people that, you know, love Christ the same way that you do, um, kind of what the righteous does, you know, they confess to each other and then they pray for each other.
Like this amazing Bible, Bible, Bible group that I had, you know, back in Kentucky back home as you know, I'm in Nashville now, but back home I had an amazing Bible study and we just did that with each other like every week it was, it was crazy. And that's a part of why it was so amazing and it was very effective and it was, it was.
Just an awesome time to be in. James, in James in his final verse of, of verse 20, this is the last of the, this is our last verse in James. This go, it's kind of crazy. He finishes [00:11:00] off with this. Remember this, whoever turns the sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover of a multitude of sins.
Now, I would never say it's, it's heretical to say that we save people. That's heretical because Jesus saves. There's even a song about it by an amazing, guy named Jeremy, I think, I forget his last name, Camp, maybe, I don't know, but there's a song, Jesus Saves, it'd be heretical to say that we save, that's just not the way it is, but we can help.
We can profess that idea. Jesus doesn't do all the work. In fact, the way that one of my professors explained it to me is that Jesus invites us into His plan. So Jesus invites us into His plan, and we share in its glory when we, when we partake in it, when we accept His invitation. So we share some We share some of this Lowering responsibility by helping people [00:12:00] by being a light and helping people see jesus Whoever turns the center from the error of their way So, you know you helping somebody you helping a friend or whoever it ain't got to be a friend could be literally anybody If you help them And if you, if you help them and turn them away from the, from the error of their ways, you will help you.
You will be a part of the thing. You will pay a part of the reason, that they will be saved from death and they will, and it will cover over a multitude of sins. That's cool. That's really cool. And I think that's the mission. I really think that's the mission. When I talk about the mission, you know, sometimes, sometimes I get made fun of a little bit for thing is like.
I also have a, you know, another mission, you know, a way that I can carry out that mission. But the ultimate mission, the ultimate mission for all people and for all Christians, is this right here. You ready? The ultimate mission for all Christians is to help bring people, is to spread the gospel and to [00:13:00] make disciples of all nations.
That's our mission. That's Christians, that is our mission, to make disciples of all nations to, to bring people into heaven with you, to share the gospel. No matter what happens, no matter what persecution you face, or whatever, our mission as Christians is to share the gospel, make disciples of all nations, and bring as many people to heaven with us as we possibly can.
That, that is the mission. That is, there's no feeling like it when you have helped somebody see Jesus as a, as a mentor, or as just a person, just being a light. And they come to Jesus because they were connected to you. There's no better feeling. And I, and I, and I really want that for you guys. I really want you to feel that and know that.
So I encourage you to go out and make the disciple of All Nation preach the gospel. And yeah, a lot of people are gonna tell you no, but it ain't about getting a lot of people, it's about getting one, just one person. And if you get a multiple people at one time, that's great. But just one person just just go for, Hey, I'm gonna do this and that.
[00:14:00] If I get at least one person, it's all worth it. Just one more person saved and it's all worth it. That's some really good stuff. And with that, we conclude our sermon or not sermon, our series on James. We have gone through one through five. If this is your first time watching, I encourage you to go back and watch those first four videos.
if you have already watched all of James, been with me through all the, all of that. thank you. I'm very glad to be back in the swing of things. it's awesome to be back and we will continue to be back and continue to do this for weeks to come. next Monday is when our next, our, our next video will come out.
I will release the, some details about that the next few days, but what it'll be about, probably going on a couple of little random, random videos instead of another series right, right out of the gate again. but we'll see what our next series will be. That'll be interesting to see probably sometime in my, in Christmas break, right [00:15:00] after, right after all my finals, Hey, been during Christmas break will be exciting.
You know, we'll be back in the, in the OG, the OG room with the OG background. I have my books and the shelves all back behind me again. That'll be fun. I feel like old times, you know, but for right now, thank you for sticking back. Thank you for coming back. It's been great to be here again and I thank each and every, I thank God for each and every one of you guys.
I pray that he has spoken through me in some sort of way and that he will continue to speak through me. that's the real purpose of this. I just want to be a vessel that God speaks through and that God can use, to bring more of his children home. That's it. That's the mission right there, as I have already said.
Well, until we meet again next week, have a great week. I encourage you. I love you. I believe in you. And, you got this. See you next week.
