Sunday, June 29, 2025
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Saturday, June 21, 2025
JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Warnings to the Rich (James 5:1-6 NIV) 6-22-25
JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Warnings to the Rich (James 5:1-6 NIV) 6-22-25
INTRODUCTION
The joy of perseverance to maturity
True religion
Equality in the church
Faith and works
Taming the tongue
Sowing seeds of peace
Trusting God
Danger of pride
James 5:1-6 NIV
“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths 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 reached 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 was not opposing you.”
James 5:1-6 NIV
Matthew 6:19-21 NIV
““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 NIV
I. WEEP AND WAIL
Ella Wheeler Wilcox in her poem, Solitude.
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, Weep and you weep alone; For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own.”
James 5:1-3a NIV
“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.”
James 5:1-3a NIV
A. Misery that is coming on you.
B. Wealth has rotted, moths have eaten clothes, gold and silver corroded.
1. Their corrosion will testify against you.
2. Eat your flesh like fire.
II. YOU HAVE HOARDED WEALTH IN THE LAST DAYS
James 5:3b-4 NIV
“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 reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”
James 5:3b-4 NIV
Is getting rich wrong?
The Bible says the love of money, not money itself is evil.
What is your motivation in building wealth?
John Wesley said, “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”
Selfish reasons for wealth building will reveal pride and greed in our lives.
In the Bible, many heroes of the faith, such as Abraham and David were rich.
Margaret Thatcher said, “No one would have remembered the good Samaritan if he hadn’t had money”.
Howard Dayton of Crown Ministries says, “Nothing is wrong with becoming wealthy if it is a by-product of being faithful.”
Aaron Mishoe, Sermon Central, April 2, 2009.
A. Failed to pay wages to the workers who mowed your fields.
B. Misused the harvesters.
III. YOU HAVE LIVED ON EARTH IN LUXURY AND SELF-INDULGENCE
“Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty.”
Socrates
James 5:5-6 NIV
“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 was not opposing you.”
James 5:5-6 NIV
A. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.
B. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one who was not opposing you.
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
Charles Kingsley (19th century UK English teacher) or Albert Einstein
CONCLUSION
It is not a sin to be rich. It is a sin to abuse what God has blessed you with.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21 NIV
Paul Harvey told this in 1977 as part of his The Rest of the Story radio program. “It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket.
Many years before, in October 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life.
Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean. For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The biggest shark…ten feet long. But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred.
In Captain Eddie’s own words, “Cherry,”(that was the B-17 pilot, Captain William Cherry) “read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off. Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food…if I could catch it.” And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice.
You know that Captain Eddie made it. And now you also know…that he never forgot. Because every Friday evening, about sunset…on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast…you could see an old man walking…white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent. His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls…to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle…like manna in the wilderness.”
Gratitude and sharing
Giving and fellowship
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Saturday, June 14, 2025
JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - The Dangers of Pride (James 4:13-17 NIV) 6-15-25
JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - The Dangers of Pride (James 4:13-17 NIV) 6-15-25
INTRODUCTION
The joy of perseverance to maturity
True religion
Equality in the church
Faith and works
Taming the tongue
Sowing seeds of peace
Trusting God
Humble thyself
Perfect submission
James 4:13-17 NIV
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
James 4:13-17 NIV
Remember
James 4:11-12 NIV
“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:11-12 NIV
I. PUFFED UP PRIDE
Shine Thomas tells this story.
Muhammad Ali, the great boxer was never known for being a kind person. Once he was on an airplane and he often said, “I'm the greatest.” The airhostesses looked at him and saw he didn't have his seatbelt fastened. She said to him, “Mr. Ali, you'll have to fasten your seatbelt.” Ali responded, “Superman don't need seatbelt.” The hostess then replied, “Superman don't need airplane either.”
Shine Thomas, Sermon Central, November 9, 2018.
James 4:13-14 NIV
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
James 4:13-14 NIV
A. Modern day prophets
1. Making plans
2. Unable to see the future
B. Unfortunate reality
1. Can't control tomorrow
2. Short-lived
Paul W. Powell once observed: “Pride is so subtle that if we aren’t careful we’ll be proud of our humility. When this happens our goodness becomes badness. Our virtues become vices. We can easily become like the Sunday School teacher who, having told the story of the Pharisee and the publican, said, ‘Children, let’s bow our heads and thank God we are not like the Pharisee!’”
Today in the Word, September 23, 1995, p. 30.
II. PROPER PERSPECTIVE
James 4:15 NIV
“Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.””
James 4:15 NIV
A. "IF" it's God's will
1. God’s general will - The Word (covers most issues)
2. God’s specific will - revelation
Jimmy is a professional fisherman. He makes his living fishing on the BASS (Bass Angler Sportsman Society) circuit. He is also a devout Christian and belongs to the FBC Keys, Oklahoma.
In 2003, BASS made a ruling that to be eligible for the fisherman of the year award ($100,000), you had to wear the patch and decal of a prominent sponsor--Busch Beer!
Jimmy Houston refused to do it, thereby forfeiting his chance at the $100,000. A fellow Christian fisherman on the circuit asked him, "Jimmy, have you prayed about that?" Jimmy replied, "I don’t have to pray about it. There is no decision for me to make. God has already made the decision in His Word when He said not to do anything that would damage our testimony as Christians."
He didn’t use these words, but Jimmy was saying to this fisherman, "This is not a part of God’s specific will, it’s a part of God’s general will. God’s Word clearly tells me what God’s will would be in this matter."
Once we understand that the majority of God’s will is revealed in the Word, and that the small part that is His specific will can only be discerned using principles taught in the Word, we can make a statement about knowing God’s will. The knowledge of God’s will and the knowledge of God’s Word are, for all practical purposes, one and the same! You cannot know God’s will without knowing His Word, and you cannot know God’s Word without discovering His will!
SBC Life, June 2003, pp 12.
B. "We will" do this or that
III. PERSONAL PERFORMANCE
Sometimes we need to just do what we are told to do because that is what is needed. Do what you are told!
A man limps into a hospital to have his foot X-rayed and is asked to wait for the results. Some time later an orderly appears and hands the man a large pill. As he’s handed the pill, a mother with a small child in need of immediate attention enters and the orderly disappears with the new patient.
The man with the foot problem hobbles over to get a glass of water, swallows the pill, and sits down to wait. Some time later the orderly reappears bringing a bucket of water to the man with the limp.
"Okay," he said, "Let’s drop the pill in this bucket and soak your foot for a while."
Our own behaviors can circumvent the very cure we need.
Sermon Central, May 12, 2011.
James 4:16-17 NIV
“As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
James 4:16-17 NIV
A. We must act according to God's will
B. Not doing the will of God is like doing something that is against God's will
CONCLUSION
TOMORROW
He was going to be all that a mortal should be
Tomorrow
No one would be better than he
Tomorrow
Each morning he stacked up the letters he would write
Tomorrow
It was too bad indeed he was too busy to see Bill, but he promised to do it
Tomorrow
The greatest of workers this man would have been
Tomorrow
The world would have known him had he ever seen
Tomorrow
But the fact is he died and faded from view, and all
that was left when living was through Was a mountain of things he intended to do
Tomorrow.
David Parks, Sermon Central, September 18, 2006.
We must not be puffed up with pride. We must have the proper perspective - if it is God’s will we will do it. We must personally perform the good we ought to do.
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Saturday, June 7, 2025
JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Trusting God (James 4:1-12 NIV) 6-8-25
JAMES: PRACTICAL FAITH - Trusting God (James 4:1-12 NIV) 6-8-25
INTRODUCTION
The joy of perseverance to maturity
True religion
Equality in the church
Faith and works
Taming the tongue
Sowing seeds of peace
James 4:1-12 NIV
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:1-12 NIV
Submission
A poll was taken a few years ago asking, both men and women this question, “Should wives submit to their husbands?”
In 1998, the Southern Baptists also sparked controversy with their statement that wives should "submit graciously" to the "servant leadership" of their husbands. At that time, when asked if they concurred with that statement exactly as quoted, 69% of the public disagreed.
I. SUBMISSION TO THE WORLD
James 4:1-6 NIV
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.””
James 4:1-6 NIV
A. Fights and Quarrels
1. Desires that battle within you
B. Kill
1. Desire
2. Don't find fulfillment
C. Covet
1. Cannot get what you want
2. Quarrel and fight
D. Don't have
1. You don't ask God
2. When you ask
a. Do not receive
b. Wrong motives
c. Spend what you get on your pleasures
E. Friendship with the world
1. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
2. He jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?
3. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
F. Yet, He gives us more grace!
II. SUBMISSION TO GOD
James 4:7-10 NIV
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
James 4:7-10 NIV
Christin Ditchfield, in a recent issue of Focus on The Family magazine, writes that basically Mary took the news in stride.
“[She] didn’t demand a sign,” notes Ditchfield, “some sort of proof or additional confirmation. She voiced no complaint at the total disruption of her life. She knew now that things would not turn out the way she had planned at all.” She concludes, “But in her heart there was no resistance, no rebellion. Just a sweet, simple submission-surrender to the will of God.”
A. Submit yourselves to God
B. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you
C. Come near to God and he will come near to you
D. Wash your hands, you sinners
E. Purify your hearts, you double-minded
F. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
G. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up
Submitting totally to God’s plan for us and our loved ones, is difficult to do. But, it is a must for any Christian seeking the “whatever it takes” solution to the difficult problems in life. In 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle left a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, “You’ve been your own boss too long.” And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, “Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?” And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. “Lord,” he whispered, “you washed their feet; I will black their shoes.”
K Hughes, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, Tyndale, 1988, p. 45.
III. SUBMISSION TO ONE ANOTHER
James 4:11-12 NIV
“Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:11-12 NIV
A. Do not slander one another
1. Speak against/judge them=speak against the law/judges it
B. Judging the law/not keeping it/sitting in judgment on it
1. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.
C. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor
"One hot day, Herman Trueblood, all clean and cooled off by a nice swim in the ocean, saw a sweating man and his two sons trying on a hot day to push a disabled car up an incline. Two voices started yelling at each other inside him. One said, "There is an opportunity for service; you ought to help them push." The other voice protested, "Now that is none of your business. You will get yourself all hot and dirty. Let them handle their own affair."
He finally yielded to his better impulse. He put his shoulder to the task. The car moved and kept moving. A simple thing then happened which Trueblood never forgot.
The father stuck out his dirty hand, and Trueblood stuck out his... The father said, "I am very glad that you came along. You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."
Trueblood later reflected, "Years have passed since that hot day, but I can still hear that man saying, "You had just enough strength, added to ours, to make the thing go."
Source unknown.
CONCLUSION
Do not submit to the world
Submit to God
Submit to one another
Ephesians 5:21 NIV
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Ephesians 5:21 NIV
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith. You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church. If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now. If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.