Good morning church. My name is Tory Lyles and I am a volunteer in KXP. I work with our preschoolers every Sunday. And my name is Wes Lyles. And, uh, alongside of, uh, serving in KXP, I'm also a part of the prayer team.
And, uh, we, uh, also get to, uh, co-host and co-pastor a house church, uh, with some really amazing people. And today's Scripture comes out of the book of James. We're in chapter two, and we're gonna start with verse 14. What good is it? My brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save them?
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, well, you have faith. I have deeds.
Show them your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God good? Even the demons believe that and shudder you foolish person. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless, was not our father? Abraham considered righteous from what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar.
You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did. Well, let's pray. Father, I thank you so much that we get to, uh, come together this morning. Uh, and on these Sunday mornings, Lord God, I pray that, uh, we would, um, just not take for granted the opportunity to sing songs of praise to you and to hear your word proclaimed. But God, I pray that we would also, um, just take heed to James' warning here, Lord, that we would, um, not just have a Sunday morning faith, but also have a faith that permeates, uh, every aspect of our lives and every day of our lives, that we may have a faith that is shown by our deeds and our works, and that we may be known by that.
I pray all this in your holy name. Amen. Well, hey, good morning. Look, do me a favor. If you have not yet, go ahead and grab a Bible and turn to the book of James.
Um, James is a, a small-ish book, kind of towards the end of the New Testament. So, hey, look, table of contents is your friend, right? You can use that. Um, we started a series last week walking through this book, and man, I gotta tell you, I've been really, really excited about this one. Uh, so much so that the, honestly, the teaching team has made fun of me a little bit because I've been so excited about this book.
Uh, I mean, James, and, and here's why, like James is in my mind, it is such a, um, such, such a relevant and a practical writing for us. Not that, not that anything in Scripture isn't practical or relevant. I mean, of course it all is. It's a word of God, right? But, um, uniquely for us, especially in just our current cultural climate, man, I think the book of James has such a unique and practical and relevant and important word for us, okay?
And so now I, I've just, I've been really, really excited about this. I mean, I, I think it's gonna be a great series. And so, uh, lemme show you kinda what I mean a little bit, okay? So, uh, before we jump into our text for today, which is gonna be most of James chapter two, lemme give you just a little bit of context real fast, okay? And so, uh, James chapter one, verse one, this is how he opens up his letter.
It says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes of the dispersion grievings. Now, last week, Jeff kicked off this series, right? And he talked about the person of James being the brother, the half brother of Jesus. So you can go back and listen to that message from last week, kind of get a little bit of that context. But here's what I want, uh, I wanna just kind of zero in on for just a moment before we jump, jump in this phrase, the 12 tribes in the dispersion.
It's a little bit of a funky phrase, right? I I think the, um, NIV says something like the 12 tribes scattered through the nations or something like that. It this, when, when James talks about the 12 tribes understand, like what he's talking about there is really just this, the people of God, right? Like it's us. It's, it's, it's the people who are trying to pursue the way of Jesus who are following in the way of Jesus who are being marked by him, right?
But this word dispersion, what does that mean? Well, you and I have a very similar word, dispersed, right? It means to be scattered. It means to be sent. That's why the NIV talks about to those who are scattered across the nations.
What James is talking about here, if you go back and you look in the book of Acts, right? Acts tells us about the birth of the New Testament church, like this thing that you and I are still a part of today. And we see that as the church grows and expands, the spirit falls on on his people, that all of that movement kind of centers in the city of Jerusalem. And James ultimately becomes the pastor or the leader of that movement, the church there in Jerusalem. But what happens as the church grows is, man, it catches the attention, right, of a lot of people including, uh, the Roman government, the Pharisees, like a lot of people are paying attention to what is happening.
Acts chapter seven tells us about a guy named Steven. Steven is one of the first Christian martyrs. He is, he is martyred, he is murdered for his faith. He is stoned to death. He is literally drug out into the streets, and he is beaten to death with rocks because he refuses to renounce the name of Jesus.
And it is that moment. Acts eight then tells us that on the heels of that moment, there arose this great persecution that, that that moment kind of embolden the hatred towards the people of God and the Christian Church. And so what happens is that there arises this great persecution on the church, so much so that the believers are dispersed, they scatter, they flee, they run from Jerusalem because of the persecution that's happening there in the city. And there's really a beautiful word in that. By the way, I wish we had time to kind of unpack this right here.
There's a beautiful word in that of how the church, uh, grows and expands in persecution and pain, because that becomes the catalyst for really the Gospel exploding through the known world at that point, as people flee from that persecution, they take the word of God with them. And God uses this moment of hatred and evil for, for glory and good. I mean, it's a beautiful thing. But what I want you to see right here is that is the group of people that James is writing to. He is writing to a group of people who are seeking to pursue the word, the teaching the way of Jesus in a culture and in a world that does not honor the teachings of Jesus.
You see why this is practical for us? Do you see why James has such an important word for you and me today in our current climate and just the waters that we swim in? Like James, is there? There's not a lot of like high theology in James writing here. I mean, there's, there's some really good stuff, but really, I mean, the thing that James is focused on is he writes this letter is just the gritty everyday reality of following Jesus.
When that following cuts across the grain of culture and stands out and is different, James says, man, you wanna know what it looks like to follow Jesus in a world and in a place that's not gonna applaud you for it. I've got the word for you. And that's what James sits down and he writes. So I think that this is gonna be, been a really, really important, um, really, really important conversation in series four. And so all of this writing really kind of centers in, like, if we had to give like one theme verse, it would be James chapter one, verse 22.
Okay, let's look at James chapter one, verse 22. Now, this is gonna be the verse this week, um, by the way, we're gonna give you an opportunity to, can we get that number to, to text in? Um, we, we talked about this last week where, uh, each week what we're gonna do is, man, we're just gonna challenge you to commit a verse to memory, to hide it in your heart. And, and in that, right, we're also gonna send you some like, Hey, here's what it looks like to do this thing, to live this out. Because that really becomes James' focus in this writing.
It's not just to know the word, but to do the word. I'm, I'm, I'm just about to show you that. And so if you miss this last week, here's what you can do. You can just text the word James, real simple, text the word James to this number 6 0 1 2 9 9 4 4 9 3. Take a take a picture of it right here if you need to.
You'll see it on the app, all that stuff. We'll send you a message every Monday morning, okay? It says, Hey, look, here's a verse for you to focus in on this week. Commit it to memory, commit it to your heart, and let's talk about then how we can do this, how we can live this out at school, at home, at work, whatever the case may be. Okay?
Alright, so let's look at, uh, James chapter one, verse 22. James says this, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Love it. Simple as that.
Like we could sum up all of James and tension in writing. And those four words, do what it says, live out the word of God. But I don't want to move so quick into that, that we miss this simple word right here. Do not merely listen. Um, this is the NIVI think the ESV, the King James New King James.
Several of those, uh, say don't be hearers only the word only, or if you're reading the NIV merely may maybe underline that, circle that, pay attention to that word, because I think there are two dangers at stake here as James writes this sentence. One is, um, just quite honestly, it's the danger that you and I are most susceptible to. It is the one that, that is threatening us the most. It is, it is a danger that says, Hey, we are willing to listen. We are willing to hear the word of God.
Man, we, we, we come to church, we read it, we read the devotions, we listen to the podcast, whatever, right? But we let it stay there. We, we let the word of God settle in our, our head, and we don't move it into our heart and our hands, right? We let the word of God and we let the teachings of Jesus in the way of Jesus simply be an intellectual exercise. Can I tell you, like, man, I listen, I I've fallen into this place a lot of times.
Like it is a thing that I have to, I have to keep on guard against constantly. Am I letting the word of God settle in my head, or am I, am I letting it settle in my, my heart? Because those are very different things, and that is what James is seeking to correct here in his audience, right? Don't just listen to it, but do it. Now, I think that there is a, another maybe more subtle danger for us though here, and that is when we overcorrect the other direction, right?
Like what we have, um, as a people, we have the tendency to focus in on the, well, I'm just gonna go do the thing, right? I'm gonna live, I'm gonna be a good person. Man, this is especially true here in the South, right? Where we talk about man, good people, right? That's a good dude.
That's good people. We, we focus in on this like, man, I, I'm just gonna go, I'm gonna be a good person. And what ends up happening intentionally or not, is we shut out the voices, we shut out the church, and we shut out the voices that can encourage, can teach, but can also challenge and correct us in the word of God. And listen to me. I don't just mean challenge and correct those people that we disagree with.
We love those voices, right? Give me more of those voices that say the things I wanna say and that challenge and correct the people that disagree with me. But we all need the voices that can teach, can challenge correct and encourage us, right? So don't just merely listen, but don't just try to do on your own either Scripture's clear. We need both of those things.
We need to be able to hear, to listen, to pay attention to rightly discern what the word of God says. And we need to do it right? And so we could say it simply this way. Do what you know and know what you do. I think both of those are very important for us as we seek to follow in the way of Jesus.
Do what you know, don't just let it settle in your, your head. Let it move into your heart and your hands. But hey, listen, know what you do. Don't, don't just, I'm gonna say this and then we're gonna move on real fast. But y'all listen, I mean, a lot of times, especially for you and I in an AI age, in a social media generation, right?
We have the tendency, or, or at least we can fall into the trap of letting our social media algorithm disciple us, right? And we can, we can fall into the trap of believing that Instagram shorts and podcast pastors are gonna do all that it takes to tell us what we need to know so we can go out and be a good person. We need more than 32nd clips. And I realize I'm saying that to people who are here and listening, right? But it's important that we know what it is that we do.
We know the word of God and that we do it. Um, what James is gonna say here, because he, here's what you need to know as we walk through the book of James, okay? Uh, James writes a little a DD you know what I'm saying? Like, you, you know, whenever you have a conversation with somebody, if they're a DD or not, I mean, just, they're, they're all over the place, you know? Well, you read James, James reads that way.
He is writing as he's thinking, right? And as thoughts are coming to his mind. And so what ends up happening is you read through this letter, it's like he has a thought over here and he writes this thing, and then something pops into his mind. And so he goes over here and he starts writing this other stuff, and he's like, oh yeah, I didn't finish that thought. And so he comes back and he finishes that thought.
And so it's, it bounces a little bit, okay? So just a little a DD and we got some A-D-A-D-D thinkers in here. Like, this is, man, you, you're resonating with us, you're all about it, right? Um, but so what happens is James kind of starts this thought of knowing and doing the word of God gets distracted a little bit, and then he comes back to, and the end of chapter two and begins to build on this thought. Okay?
So let's read that James chapter two, starting in verse 14. You you heard it just a minute ago, I wanna read it again. Okay? So James chapter two, verse 14 says, what good is it my brothers? If someone says he has faith, but he does not have works, can that faith save him?
And the implication there is no, that there is a faith that is not a saving faith. That's what James is saying here. If a brother is sister is poorly clothed, then he is lacking in daily food. And one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled. This is that, man, I'm praying for you, brother, you know, golly, I hate that.
I'm sorry. Go in peace. I'm gonna pray for you today. Go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that?
Faith. So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works good. Show me your faith apart from your works. His point is there.
You can't, I will, I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one you do well, great, good job. But even the demons believe and they shudder. Do you want to be shown? You foolish person that faith apart from works is a useless was not Abraham, our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar.
You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. Now, this word, if you paid attention, you heard the word faith a whole lot as we read through that, right? Uh, James talks about fate 16 times in five chapters. It's really not a long letter, but in these five chapters he talks about the idea of fate. 16 times 11 of those 16 is right here at the end of chapter two in these verses we just read in couple of verses afterwards.
He is so, so fate is kind of taking the center stage right here in this moment. And so I, I think that it's really important we understand the, the, um, I'm gonna say the kind of faith that James is talking about here, because there's two different ways for us to talk about faith, okay? One way we could talk about faith is, is what we may call a mental assertion. And, and when I say that, what I simply mean is belief. One, one of the ways we can talk about faith is, is just the idea of belief, right?
When James talks about even the demons belief, he's, he's using the verb form of the same noun, faith, right? It's the same word, different forms. Well, faith is belief. We would say something like, I believe that, right? I believe that to be true.
I believe sugar is really bad for you in your diet. Am I gonna eat the brownie? Probably, but do I believe that sugar is bad? Yeah, I believe that, right? It is, it is a, it is a fact that is sitting hate here in my head.
I believe that I faith in that reality. But James says that's the same kind of faith, that's the same kind of belief that the demons have. Even the demons believe that God is one, that God the father, sent God the son to die on the cross for our sin so that we could be justified and redeemed before the Father. And since his resurrection and ascension, God, the spirit dwells among men to teach us the heart and the mind of God the Father, right? As we follow in the way of God the Son.
You believe that God is one great, even the demons believe that. And James says, I'll do you one better. They shudder, they tremble, they, they tremble under the weight of the reality that all authority and all dominion and all power is given to Jesus. That he alone is the king of kings and Lord of lords. That all of life is held in his hands.
They shudder, they tremble under the weight of that reality. And you and I, sometimes we approach the throne of God, like we're about to give our homeboy a high five. You know, that's probably a different conversation for different, they believe there's one way we could talk about faith. They believe it. Now, the other way we could talk about faith, and this is the primary thing James is talking about here, is that we have a reliance upon meaning.
It is moved now from my head, from something I believe in to I have set my weight, I have put all of my hope, my trust, my ability on this thing that I have said. I believe it is not just saying I believe sugar is bad for you, it is cleaning out the cookies from the cupboard. You tracking with me. Like I gotta do something about it. A a simple illustration and no illustration's perfect, right?
But you'll get my point here. A simple illustration may be this stool. See, I, I could, I could set this stool front and center and I could stand over here. And man, I could tell you all day long, I believe this thing will hold my weight. I can tell you why I believe it.
I can tell you from a personal standpoint, a relational standpoint, how I have watched other people, I love people who are close to me, sit on this stool. People bigger than me, people smaller than me, and it has held their weight. It has never budged. I, I, I can tell you man, the more I study and the more I think about this stool, I can tell you scientifically why I believe this thing can hold my weight. I can tell you why that, that this thing is perfectly designed, the legs and the braces, how all of it is perfectly designed to hold my weight.
I can gather with other, other stool sitters and we can just admire, we can read the product manual, right? Mean we can admire the beauty and the elegance of this stool. We can talk about the colors and how well it all goes together and design and functionality. And we can sing its praises. I can tell you all day long, and I do, I believe it.
This thing will hold my weight. I know it to be true. And none of that matters apart from me pulling up this stool and sitting down and taking my feet off the ground and letting it hold my weight. This is where we get trapped in church. A lot of times.
We sing the songs, we sing the praises, we know the product manual, we believe it, man, we believe he can hold our weight, but we keep two feet on the ground. We may prop up, I'm gonna keep a foot in my money, I'm gonna keep a foot in success. And just in case something happens, right? I still got some firm ground. See the question for us, the question isn't, man, do you believe that so strong you'll die on that heel?
The question is, will you live on it? Will you set your weight on all that Jesus says and has for you? There's two characteristics of, of what I'm gonna call living faith. And the reason I say that, and the reason I use that phrase, living faith, is because James talks about a dead faith here, right? Talks about a faith that has no saving power, a faith that is dead.
And there's two characteristics we see in this writing of what I'm gonna call living faith, right? And one we see is living faith is active. I'm gonna work my way kind of backwards through this text a little bit. I'm show you two things, okay? One, living faith is active.
Lemme show you, uh, verse 22, James chapter two, verse 22. You see that faith was active along with his works, and he's talking about Abraham, right? You see that Faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. Now this word completed, by the way, it is not like completed as in, um, I don't need, you completed your homework, you know, you finished the assignment. You, you, you answer all the questions.
Now you turn it in, not think about it anymore. This completed is more, um, like made whole, right? Like the fullness of you. Think about a puzzle. Maybe again, this is not a perfect illustration, but you get my point.
Uh, a, a puzzle like you, you see the picture on the box, you know what it's supposed to look like. You begin to see very early on the picture of the puzzle. You see it all coming together, but there's still a couple of pieces missing, right? You can see it, you know what it's supposed to look like. You get the pretty picture, but it's incomplete.
And what James says here is that his faith, that Abraham's faith was completed, all the pieces came together to fill out the picture. When his faith was active along with his works, faith was active along with his works, therefore, faith was completed. A lot of times we are living with an incomplete faith because we're living with an inactive faith. Our faith is incomplete. And we know, like, like you, I I, I think if you've been here, you get this like you, you know, it's like, ugh, gosh, it just almost feels like something's missing.
And I don't know what it is, man. I, I go to church, I get the warm fuzzies when, when Torah sings that song and you know, like, man, it feels good and I love my church and I love, and, but man, it just, it feels like something is missing. Can I just maybe challenge you here that maybe what's missing is that your faith is incomplete because your faith is inactive. Maybe, maybe, maybe what you've experienced in Jesus isn't the eternal rescue in eternal redemption that he offers us through his cross may be what we've experienced as a synthetic salvation. It feels good and it, it looks the part, but man, some, something, something is, is incomplete in it.
Now here is where like depending on your, your faith, um, tradition or maybe some things you grew up in, like this is where some tensions can kind of start to build in you. This is true for me. Lemme just say that, okay? Like, I grew up in a, in a certain kind of tradition, a certain way, uh, of thinking that there's a lot of tension in me as we begin to talk about some of this because I grew up with the ABCs of faith. Anybody else?
You know what I'm talking about? Anybody? Few, okay? Like every year vacation Bible school heard the same exact spiel, right? Hey, what does faith look like?
What is salvation? How do you get saved as simple as a, b, c, admit, believe, confess. And that's where it ended. There wasn't any d stands for doing, right? It just was admit, believe, confess.
And that's all you need to do to get saved, right? And listen to me, I am not denying that. Don't hear me say anything different. There is a lot of truth, a lot of beautiful, great absolute truth in that, right? I mean, Jesus said, for God so loved the world that he sent his only one and begotten son that who shall ever shall believe in him shall have eternal life, right?
Scripture says that when we call on the name of him is Lord, that we will know eternal life. Like yes, absolutely. Admit, believe, confess, yes, we can do absolutely nothing to earn our way into salvation. And that's not what James is saying. James is not saying anything different.
Okay? Lemme show you a couple of verses that I think will help clarify a little bit. Um, Ephesians chapter two is one place we could turn to, uh, the apostle Paul. This is Paul writing to the church at Ephesus. Um, and a lot of times we, we take this conversation and we think that James and Paul are saying two different things.
Is it faith then works? Is it faith without works? Like how does all of this work together? I didn't mean to use that pun. Um, how does all of this go together?
Here's what, uh, here's what Paul says. For by grace you have been saved. It is grace alone that saves for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works.
Wait a second, didn't James just say faith is not completed without works. Like, like I just read James and I got this picture here. Like, God's not gonna sign the check. He may write it out, but he's not gonna sign it until I start doing some stuff. It's not, no, it's not what James is saying right now.
Let's, let's make sure we don't miss what Paul is saying here. It is grace alone that saves grace being the free gift of God, right? The, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. That is the only thing that brings about salvation. Faith is the door that opens, that allows grace to come in and do the work of salvation.
Okay? What James is asking is, well, what does that faith then look like? What is the faith that opens the door for grace? What does that faith look like? And what he, what he's concluding, what he's telling us is that, that that kind of faith is not an inactive faith, right?
That the kind of faith that opens the door for grace to come in and do the work is a faith that works. We cannot work for salvation, but our salvation should work. You tracking on all that, the very next verse, Paul then says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. For what? For good works, right?
Is by grace, grace alone that we are saved. Faith opens the door for grace to come in and do the work of salvation. And you can't earn it. You didn't deserve it because if you, if you could earn it, you could brag on yourself. You don't need to brag on yourself, right?
You never could do it. But here's the deal. God saves you to go do something. God has saved us to be salt and light to make the world a better and brighter place. So all of these guys, right, are kind of saying the same thing.
Belief and behavior or faith and works cannot be separated in the Christian life. Belief and behavior, faith and works cannot be separated in the Christian life. Lemme give you one more phrase and then I'm gonna move on, okay? I just wanna try to make this as clear as I can. When we talk about works and faith, one of the things we can say is that works are not required, nor are they optional for salvation.
Works are not required, nor are they optional for those who have faith, they are however inevitable. We're not talking about Thanos. They're either right? They're inevitable. They will happen in those who have faith.
Y'all tracking on that? Alright? The other characteristic we see of living faith here is that living faith is useful. Not only is it active, but it's useful. And the reason I make this clear, or I want to make this clear, rather for us, the reason I wanna talk about this is because I, I, I think it's really important we understand that Scripture says to us that, that faith shouldn't just change my life.
Faith, my faith should change their life. James chapter two, verse 20. We read this, do you want to be shown you foolish person James gets a little bit rough, okay? Do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless, which is to say that faith with works is what is useful, right? A living faith should be useful not just to me, but to the world around me, to the people around me.
Which what, what I mean here is that listen, you and I cannot get so focused on our living out that we miss the felt needs of the people around us. As a matter of fact, what Scripture is really clear on is that when our, when our, when our heads, when our hearts, when our hands are all aligned with what his word says, that we simply can't help it. We can't help but to recognize and see the needs of the people around us. Like we, we see this historically, right? Like the, the church, the Christian Church has always been the force that has started the first hospitals, the first schools, the first orphanages in almost any country, right?
I mean, it was, it was men and women who were committed to living out the word of God. That that took the first steps towards ending slavery in our nation. It has always been the Gospel that changes hearts. And when we live out the Gospel, it's not just that our hearts are changed, that our changed hearts then change culture. It's always been the reality.
We see it biblically, right? I mean, even right here in James, what we just read, I mean, he starts really clearly with, hey, what good is it? What good is it? If your faith doesn't just, or if your faith sees someone who is hurting and doesn't do anything about it, let's, that's not, it's not good. That's not, that's not useful.
That's, that's not even the point. Jesus said when he looked towards eternity, Jesus said, I'll see my people in eternity and I'll say, Hey, well done my good and faithful servant. I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. And as people will say, geez, I I don't, I don't remember seeing you. I don't remember doing that for you.
No, but the way you serve the least of these is how you served me. So what do we do with all this, right? Because we talk, I mean, James says, Hey, don't just listen, but do, and I don't, I don't know, like if you've read this thing all the way through, there's a lot to do up in here. Like, what, where do I start? What do I, how, how, how do I even begin 10 commandments?
Maybe I, I'll memorize those and figure that one out. I don't know. Like, what do I do? Well, lemme give you just three real simply, okay? And then we're gonna step into a time of response.
The question that James is pressing on here is, man, if someone looked at my actions, not just my words, if someone looked, not just the fact that Kyle works at a church or preaches, but man, if, if they looked at how I, how I interact at the ball field, what, what I do at Walmart or Kroger, if they, if they saw how I treated my neighbor, if they looked at my actions, would they recognize faith in Jesus? Or would my faith stay hidden in my intentions? So I think the first thing we have to do is we seek to do the word of God is to answer that question. Have I sat down? Am I standing to the side, looking over here and saying, yeah, I believe, yeah, I believe Jesus is real.
I believe the stool can hold my weight. But I think the first question we have to ask is, but have I actually sat down? Have I, have I put my weight, my full weight on it? Am I trusting him with everything? Have I given my life over to him?
We wanna know Jesus' Savior and he is Savior, but we can't know him as Savior. If we don't know him as Lord, Do I know him as Lord? Or am I just hoping he'll forgive me without transforming me? Have you sat down? The second thing I think, you know, we can just revisit the question Jeff asked us last week, and is there something God has called you to do that you're not doing yet?
Something God's called you not to do that you you're still doing? What does that obedience look like for you and in your season with your family at work? What is it that he's called you to do? Have you stepped into that? And here's the third thing, we're gonna talk a little bit more about this next week, but it's where James starts this section and where do you have the opportunity to show Mercy James points at the hurting?
The helpless says, have you helped them? You probably should. So we look at our stories and we look at our lives. I mean, where do I have the opportunity to help somebody to meet a need? I see it, I see the need, but have I met the need?
Where's that opportunity? Has your faith moved you? I mean, what are those opportunities to obey? Don't start with thinking, you gotta have all this memorized, right? But right here, right now, that step in front of you, have you obeyed what it is he's called you to.
So lemme do this. I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna move into a time of response. And maybe for you, your response today Is to sit it, it's to say, Jesus, man, I have hoped you would save me, and I've never given you my life as Lord. And I'm giving it now. I'm laying it all down.
I'm putting everything I have in you. Jesus. I want you to have my full life. Maybe for you, it's just to commit, to take a step that he's called you to. Lemme pray for us and then we're gonna move into a time of worship and response.
And then we'll tell you how we can come alongside you in this journey, okay? Pray. Lord, we thank you God, we thank you for your goodness. God, we thank you for your grace, your mercy, your love that is undeserved. We can never earn it.
God. We can never deserve it. And God, we thank you for that truth. God, we thank you for that reality. God, I pray for, I pray for the hearts and the minds that are in this place today that, that want you as, as Savior, but haven't experienced you as Lord today.
God, break our hearts. God, break our hearts to submit to you, to be humble before you, to put all of our weight and trust on you because God, Lord, we know God, we know you can, you can hold it. So God, we pray that you'll move God, that you'll change lives. All things we ask in your name. Amen.