WEBVTT
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You can believe everything right about Jesus and still have a dead faith.
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If your faith is alive, eventually it has to move.
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I'm Pastor Jason Bonnet, and this is another passion of podcast.
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Hey, thanks for joining on the Dirt Pastor on Podcast.
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I'm Pastor Jason Barnett, aka the Dirt Past Pastor.
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And today we're wrapping up a series called Faith in Work Boots, where we've been walking through James and asking what happens when the faith we say we have actually meets real life.
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But you don't need to have heard other messages to jump in today because James asks us a question every follower of Jesus eventually has to face.
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That question is does what I believe actually change what I do?
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It's easy to believe the right things about Jesus.
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It's easy to agree that we should love our neighbors, serve others, and make disciples.
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But eventually, faith has to get up off the shelf.
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Whoever you're listening today, I want you to consider one question.
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What is the next thing Jesus is asking you to do?
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Now let's head to our Vinny Christian asking for pick up the hammer from James chapter 2, verses 20 through 26.
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Well, I get your Bibles through with me to James chapter 2.
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We're gonna be in James 2 this morning.
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And as you're turning there, I'm gonna give you some of you already know this, but I love football.
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I've been playing football.
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I played football from fourth grade until freshman year, and then everybody got a lot bigger than me, a lot faster than I could catch up.
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So I decided after ninth grade I probably shouldn't play.
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But I remember when I was in eighth grade, I was going to Martinsville West Middle School, and it used to be the high school, so that's our gym.
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It was huge.
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And our mascot was the artesians, it was an artesian well.
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So you don't really get excited by the well of water as your mascot.
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But that was our mascot.
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Um but I was on the West Middle, the eighth grade team.
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I played seventh grade and eighth grade, but eighth grade years is what I'm gonna focus on this morning.
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And when I say played, I mean I played in the loosest sense of the term.
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Okay?
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Like I spent a lot of time on the bench.
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Matter of fact, on this team, I was part of a group called the Mighty Midgets.
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I was probably about Ben's height and weighed 95 pounds when it was with my gear on.
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And the color team would put us in that when he wanted disruptive kids with attitude that would hit people for no reason.
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We didn't do a lot of damage, but we had fun.
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But I was a part of that group, the Mighty Midgets, on a team that just wasn't very good.
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Just gonna be honest, we were not a good team.
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Matter of fact, our first game of the season that year, we got beat 48 to 0.
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It was bad.
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It was one of those games where no matter what you did, their team is better.
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And we found that out real quick.
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So we got clobbered.
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And so, you know how after a game, if you've ever played sports, after a game like that, though, your coach goes into, okay, I gotta boost the morale mode, right?
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So it's like, hey, you know, we learned something from this game, right?
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We learned some things that we've got to work on to get ready for this next game, right?
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And so we learned he said that, those typical coach things.
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And we took it to heart, we practiced really hard that week.
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And then we go into our second game, and we lose that one 36 to 0.
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Now we got better by 12 points on defense, but our offense was terrible.
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Matter of fact, after that game was over, the coach comes up to us, he goes, Now, boys, I don't even care about winning anymore.
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I just want to score.
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And then he's then he proceeded seated to take the game from a stomp out in front of us.
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He goes, Boys, there's nothing to watch on this tape.
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Nothing we can learn from this one.
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Now, if you thought the coach had it rope with us, it was not nearly as bad as our poor cheerleaders.
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Right?
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We're getting pounded 48-0, 36-0.
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Meanwhile, they're standing on the you know in front of the booth saying, we believe that we're gonna win, right?
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Trying to pump the crowd up.
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That sailed midway through the first quarter, right?
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After that first fumble.
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I get what they were trying to do, right?
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They they were they're trying to inspire us, they were trying to give our fans confidence in us, but let's be honest, there was nothing happening on that football field that gave anybody any confidence that we were gonna win that game.
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The boy in the fourth quarter, they were still chanting it.
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Give those cheerleaders credit.
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I mean, matter of fact, they the cheerleaders they could say it louder, they could they could even say to the point where the fans got involved, and they could have maybe even said to where we believed it, but guess what?
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It doesn't mean anything if our play on the field didn't back up what they were saying, right?
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Whatever they were saying, we need to be able to that belief need to show up on the field somewhere.
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And that's kind of the uncomfortable place that James has this today.
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If you've been journeying with us in this James series, one thing that's probably you've noticed that's pretty common at this point is James likes to make you uncomfortable.
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And that's what happens this morning because he's he's kind of coming out of a place where he's talking about how we can believe Jesus is Lord.
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We can have faith that Jesus is real, that he's Lord, that he's King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
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We can believe that Jesus called us to love our neighbors and to go make disciples.
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But then James asks us, if you believe that, where's it at?
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Where's it at?
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You can believe it all you want, but is it is it showing up on the field?
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And that's what we're gonna look at today in James chapter 2.
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We're looking at James chapter 2.
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I'm gonna be reading verses 20 through 26.
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It says, Are you so slow?
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Do you need to be shown that faith without action has no value at all?
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What about Abraham, our father?
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Wasn't he shown to be righteous through his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
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See, his faith was at work along with his actions.
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In fact, his faith was made complete by his faithful actions.
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So the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and God regarded him as righteous.
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What is more, Abraham was called God's friend.
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So you see that a person is shown to be righteous through faithful actions and not through faith alone.
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In the same way wasn't Rahab the prostitute shown to be righteous when she received the messengers as her guest, and then sent them on by another road.
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As a lifeless body is dead, so faith without actions is dead.
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This is the word of God for the people of God.
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Thanks be to God.
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Alright.
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Everybody still awake?
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That wasn't nearly as long as some passages have I read, but if we need to do jumping jacks and do some movement to get going, we will.
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We good?
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Alright.
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Well, if you're just joining us today, we are wrapping up a series called Faith and Work Boots.
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And we've been kind of camped out in the book of James, and this is our last sermon in this series.
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And again, the book of James is one of those that James isn't interested in you just knowing what the scripture says.
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He's not just interested in you knowing doctrine.
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Those things are all important, those all those are all great things.
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But James has no interest in faith that just sits on the shelf.
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He's interested in us having faith that puts the work boots on and goes out and leaves footprints in people's lives.
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And so far, we've talked about how James showed us that we have to take responsibility for what's happening inside of us, right?
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It's when it's our sin is a result of us being tempted and us giving in to temptation.
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And we're tempted by the things that we desire.
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So he points that out to us.
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Then after that, he shifted our focus outward.
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He says, if we believe in Jesus, then as people who have received his mercy, we should share mercy with others.
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And he talks about how there's no place for favoritism in the church.
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Regardless of skin color, background, family name, or any of those things, we are to help each other share the load, right?
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Because we were given mercy, we should give mercy to our neighbors.
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Now here we are, because all that sounds great, right?
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I'm sure if we went around the room and I said, raise your hand, if you agree and believe with that statement, almost all of us would probably raise our hand, right?
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I believe in those statements, I agree with those things.
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Here's the thing, we can believe all that.
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But does that faith ever get off the shelf?
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Or does it just stay up here in the mental library?
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That's what James is getting at here.
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So let's kind of dig in here.
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Our passage begins in verse 20, and Nicole and I had a good laugh at verse 20 this week because I love the way it starts here in the Common English Bible.
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In some of your Bibles, it might taper this down a little bit, but it's very jarring in what James says here.
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He says, Are you slow, slow?
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Are you so slow?
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Meaning like he's not trying to call you dumb, but the wording is it doesn't imply like empty-headed, empty knowledge, empty-handed.
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There's nothing really in it, nothing useful, nothing valuable in it.
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Because to him, this seems obvious.
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It seems like something that doesn't need to be said, but he's gonna say it anyway.
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And so he goes on, he says, Do you need to be shown that faith without actions has no value at all?
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Unless he doesn't say, you know, it has some value or it needs a little bit of training.
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What does Paul say here?
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Or Paul, what does James say here?
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He says, faith without actions has no value at all.
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He's saying that faith that isn't that has no actions with the faith that isn't working is not working.
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It's broken.
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It's a jarring way to start a conversation, isn't it?
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It's like sometimes a coal starts a conversation with me.
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She says, Jason, are you listening?
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Like, that's a weird way to start a conversation.
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That would have been a lot better if she wasn't in the room staring at me as I said it.
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She got it, she she made back.
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Anyway, so James says that now he's gonna go, he's gonna give us two big, two examples, sharing two examples with us about what he's getting at.
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And the first one he shares the example of is Abraham.
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And you have to understand Abraham, James is writing this letter to the early church, but this early church in particular is full of Jewish Christians, right?
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Christians that came from the Jewish background, that are believers in Jesus and following Jesus.
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So he picks Abraham.
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That's like that's like going straight to the top of the most important people list in the history of the family and of the nation.
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Right?
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Because Abraham, he even says, Abraham, our father, right?
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Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation.
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So he pulls Abraham out.
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And most of us, we know the story of Abraham, right?
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We know that he and his wife Sarah were barren for years, and then in Genesis 15, God goes to him and says, I promise that I'm going to give you a son, and you're going to become the father of many nations.
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And so he gives that promise to Abraham.
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And in Genesis 15, it tells us that Abraham believes God.
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He trusted God, he put his faith in God in that promise of God.
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Now there were some bumpy moments in between there, but he has faith in God that God's going to keep this promise and stay true to what he's told him would happen.
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So you fast forward to Genesis chapter 22.
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And at this point, that promised son has arrived, and his name is Isaac.
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And God tells Isaac, or tells Abraham, I want you to take Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice to me.
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And so he takes Isaac and they go up the mountain.
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If you read the story, he believes.
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He trusts God, he takes the step of obedience that God's calling him to.
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But also the whole time, he's trusting that God, God's got something in mind.
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God's got a plan, but I'm gonna do what God tells me to do.
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Right?
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And then God sends the ram out of the weeds at the last minute, you know, and Isaac breathes a sigh of relief.
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Um so what James is saying here about Abraham, though, so chapter 15 of Genesis, that's where Abraham places his faith in God.
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That's a moment, that's a crisis moment.
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That's a moment where he puts his faith in God, says, God, I trust you, I believe your plan is gonna work out.
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Genesis 22, though, that's where Abraham's faith becomes what he lives out.
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He lives it out, he lives from it.
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It's not just something up here now, it's not just faith on the shelf, it's not just something he's holding on to, it's something that he steps out and he does.
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In verse 22, it says, actions, oh my god, James isn't saying that actions boosted Abraham's faith to completion, right?
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He says that in this verse that made Abraham's faith complete because he did that.
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It wasn't that Abraham had 80% faith, and then he did the action, and that gave him the other 20% to make his faithful.
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No, what it was was he taking that action and being obedient to God was living his faith out in a way that produced the fruit that God wanted it to produce.
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The fruit that he started out chasing grew in that moment in Genesis 22.
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In that moment, Abraham's faith left footprints.
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You see, Genesis 22 is where the faith of Genesis 15 went.
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So that's the first example he gives.
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Second example that James gives us is actually kind of the exact opposite of Abraham.
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Right?
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He picks Abraham first, and he picks Abraham why because Abraham's the our father, the father of the Jewish nation.
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Something, a big important figure that the whole nation could get behind and understand what he's talking about.
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But then he changes gears and he picks Rahab.
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Which I don't know if you know this, but Rahab is in the genealogy of Jesus.
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But if you don't know Rahab's story, um James kind of gives you a big clue.
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He says she was a Canaanite woman who was a prostitute.
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He doesn't hold back, he doesn't sugarcoat it, he doesn't try to hide.
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He says that's who she is.
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This is what she does.
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And her story is in the book of Joshua, right?
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Joshua, when you know the Israelites get out of Egypt, they get they're getting ready to enter the promised land, and she lit Rahab lives in the city of Jericho.
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You know, the city of Jericho, we sing the song about.
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You know, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, right?
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We sing that song.
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That Jericho, she lives there.
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But before the song, right?
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She lives in it, Jericho, to the buildup of the song.
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And all she knows about God is that this God is the God of Israel, and this God of Israel is doing things that can't be explained.
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That was the extent of Rahab's knowledge of who God was.
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When Joshua says, and James is pointing this out to us, Rahab believed God.
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Now it wasn't Mig in depth, it wasn't, she probably wouldn't pass our theology class or Bible exams.
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She probably would struggle in nine and Sonia school class, but she knew one thing that this God was different, and that I'm gonna believe in him.
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So she puts her faith in God, and so she puts this faith in this God that she doesn't even know, barely knows about, and all of a sudden there's a knock on her door, and it's these Israelite spies there to scout the city out.
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And so what does she do?
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She invites him into the house, and then when the government officials show up to ask where those spies are, she hides them and helps them get away.
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And James says that was an act of faith.
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See, Rahab didn't just hear about God, she believed.
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And her belief came with a demand, right?
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It came with a demand when the Israelites knocked on the door.
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I don't know if we understand do we understand the gravity of what Rahab did in that moment?
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Those people were spies there to scout out her country, the place where she lived.
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She welcomed them into her house and she hid them to protect them.
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That is it.
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This woman barely knows who God is, barely knows about him, but she had enough faith to say, I'm gonna trust him and I'm gonna take his messengers in and protect them.
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And that's what she does.
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And she does this at a great risk to her own life.
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She showed mercy to actual people when doing so cost or something.
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Rahab's faith left footprints.
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You see, her belief in God existed before the spies knocked on the door.
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But that sure that faith that became a tree that produced fruit when the knock came to the door.
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Then James chapter 2 ends on verse 26.
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And it ends with as as the as the lifeless body is dead, so faith without action is dead.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:09.759
Now that the NIV translates as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:18.960
Now that word spirit is a fun one, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, because it can also mean breath.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:34.319
And if you look at a body with no breath in it, it looks like you just know something is off, something isn't where it's supposed to be, it's not functioning the way it should because there's no breath in it, there's no life in it.
00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.480
It's clear something fundamental is missing.
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:48.240
And so what James is saying here is he's saying that works are the evidence that faith is breathing.
00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.000
Dead things can be remembered, dead things can be talked about, and dead things can even be displayed.
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.440
But living things move.
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:09.759
That's what James is talking about when it comes to faith.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:14.160
You see, he's telling us that living faith leaves footprints.
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.279
Living faith leaves footprints.
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:27.359
Now let me give you a disclaimer about what the sermon is not, because I'm sure most of you have heard this sermon 500 times if you've been to church at all.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:33.359
This sermon is not telling Jesus, James is not telling us that good Christians do more stuff.
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.400
Just because you're doing things doesn't mean you have faith in Jesus.
00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.279
You can be doing a lot of things for no reason.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:48.880
You can be doing a lot of things just trying to impress people, trying to make people think you're holy and look like you're holy.
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:52.160
James isn't talking about that.
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.359
Because you can't do enough stuff to make yourself holy.
00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.759
He's not telling us that after.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.240
You work hard enough, Jesus will save you.
00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:02.720
Right?
00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.559
This is not a works-based salvation.
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.319
You can't work enough, you can't do enough to pay off the debt that you owe Jesus.
00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.319
But the good news is, Jesus asked you to.
00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.319
He said, just put your faith in me.
00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:23.039
And just so I know Nicole's not hiding a sign-up sheet back there that is, as I'm preaching, it's going to go around asking you to sign up for different ministries of the church.
00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:23.519
Right?
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:25.279
Don't worry, you're not going to walk out here now.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.519
You're teaching children's church next week.
00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:33.680
If you'd like to, we could use somebody that wants to do that, but we're not going to, we don't force people into that.
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:34.160
Okay.
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.039
That's not what the sermon's about.
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:50.880
But James is saying in this passage is that when we genuinely trust God, that eventually changes what we do.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:59.440
If we genuinely put our faith in Jesus, we genuinely put our trust in God, then we're not going to live the same way that we used to live.
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:07.440
At some point, what's up here in our head on the bookshelf is going to come out as knowledge and practical living.
00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.200
See, that's why he gives us the examples of Abraham, right?
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:20.079
Abraham trusted God enough to obey.
00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.359
It sounded crazy.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:27.200
But Abraham said, I'm gonna trust God knows what he's doing.
00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:28.480
I'm gonna take that step of faith.
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:32.079
I'm gonna step out in obedience to do what God's called me to do.
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.799
Rahab, she trusted God enough to act.
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:45.759
And now James is asking you and me, where are your footprints?
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.319
What is your faith doing?
00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:53.440
Is it just sitting on the shelf or is it out making footprints?
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.400
Because living faith leaves footprints.
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.799
Again, some of us we can say, I know a lot about Jesus, right?
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:12.000
Like you've been to you've not missed a cult or nine of Sunday school class or Nicole Sunday school class in two years.
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.039
If they were to give you a test tomorrow, you'd pass.
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.640
You've been studying the Bible from cover to cover, you read through it once a year, right?
00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:24.400
You do a little Bible planning, you read it in a year, you make it every year.
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:44.400
So we know a lot about Jesus, but whenever somebody comes to us and says, Hey, can, or we whenever we open our eyes and we see something, right, that's wrong in our community or wrong in our life or wrong in somebody else's life, we begin to pray, and there's nothing wrong with praying, but we pray and say, God, would you send somebody to do something?
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:50.319
It's kind of like Moses at the burning bush, right?
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:53.440
Moses, God tells Moses, hey, I want you to go and tell Pharaoh, let my people go.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:58.480
And as Moses say, he's like, uh, you know, pardon your servant here, Lord, but I think you've got the wrong guy.
00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:00.240
Could you pick somebody else?
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:12.240
Or we can say, God, would you get God, would you send somebody else, or would you give me a sign that you want me to do this?
00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:16.079
He's like, What other sign do you want me to get?
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:17.599
You saw what the problem was.
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:32.079
It's like one, I think I told this story, but one time I was working at a car dealership in Colorado, and uh we had this, we you know, it was a car in the service department, it was a Ford Escape, and it caught on fire as it was waiting to go in the shop.
00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.319
Now I didn't see it, but one of the salesmen did it.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:37.119
We had these little radios because the lot was big and we had to communicate.
00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:40.799
And so he comes on the radio and says, Hey, there's a car on fire.
00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:43.279
We're all like, okay.
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:51.359
Five minutes goes by, I don't hear any fire trucks, but I hear the same salesman get back on again and he goes, Hey, there's a car on fire here in the parking lot.
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:53.759
We're like, okay.
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:57.440
Wait, listen, no fire truck.
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.920
Finally, the salesman gets the same salesman a third time and goes, Hey, there's a car on fire in the parking lot.
00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.319
Finally, the salesman is like, Call the fire department.
00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:05.839
What do you want us to do?
00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.480
That's kind of what James is saying here.
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:18.160
He's like, We see the car is on fire, we know 911, we know the fireman can come and put it out.
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.400
So why are we waiting for somebody else to call it when we have the number in our hand?
00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:29.440
Faith is seeing that need and saying, God, I trust you enough that this is where I'm supposed to go.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.960
And that's how you leave footprints.
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:45.119
Some of us we have we have footprints, but our footprints, there's stories that we share about what God did 20 years ago.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.400
And that's great.
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:47.759
I'm glad that God moved.
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.359
God did wonderful things 20 years ago in your life and the lives around you.
00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:58.559
But if your footprints stopped on the beast 20 years ago, you're stuck.
00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.119
Your faith isn't moved because remember, living things move.
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.119
Dead things don't.
00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.279
What about your footprints today?
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:15.519
What are you what's your faith doing right now?
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:27.359
Now some of us were sitting here with thinking, you know, like, you know, I'm a brand new believer in Jesus.
00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.440
I don't know enough yet.
00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:33.680
Actually, I remember when I first accepted the call to be a pastor, I was 16 years old.
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.519
And you all have heard this story before too.
00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:44.799
I was 16 years old, and um a couple of weeks after that happened, our pastor preached a sermon and he gave an invitation at the end, and the altars were flooded.
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:47.359
I mean, it's one of those old fashioned services, right?
00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:49.759
When people respond, they come down the altar to pray.
00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:53.599
And as he was overwhelmed, he couldn't pray with everybody up there by himself.
00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:57.039
So he said, Hey, every minister that's here, because we had some retired guys there, too.
00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.920
Can everybody, every minister in here, come up and help me pray?
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.559
I stayed in my seat and didn't move.
00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:10.640
And when the service is over, one of the old retired guys walked up with his cane, he poked me in the chest and said, Hey, why didn't you go up here?
00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:12.720
Well, I don't know enough yet.
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:14.400
Did God call you?
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:15.359
Well, yeah?
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:16.160
That's enough.
00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:17.200
Get up there.
00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:29.680
So Rahab was like that, right?
00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:31.119
Rahab didn't know a whole lot about God.
00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:33.599
She said, This was the God of Israel.
00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:44.240
She had heard the stories probably of Egypt going through the room and all those things, but she had heard the stories of how they defeated these other places coming up to Jericho, but all she knew about God was that.
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:50.160
She didn't know anything about the temple, she didn't know anything of the dietary restrictions.
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.039
She probably barely knew who Moses was.
00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:55.680
Probably got confused with Aaron, right?
00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:57.119
Because that's what happens when you have siblings.
00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:59.200
They always think it's your sibling and not you.
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:02.720
She didn't know any of that.
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.079
All she knew was that this God was different.
00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:11.519
And she trusted that God enough to open the door when strangers knocked on it.
00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:16.720
She trusted enough to take those strangers in and risk your life to protect them.
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:19.920
So if that's you, then you're saying, well, I don't know enough.
00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:22.559
It's not about your spiritual resume.
00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:30.559
You can have a long spiritual resume, but that doesn't mean anything because at the end of the day, it's about will you surrender to what God's calling you to do?
00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:34.000
Will you take the step that God's saying you need to take this step?
00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:42.240
Again, it's not about another pastor demanding you do something to earn salvation.
00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.799
And it's not like I got a gold star chart, right?
00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:48.720
That when David does something good, I put a gold star next to his name.
00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:53.920
I'd put one next to Warren's name, but he's been skipping church lately.
00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:56.240
I'm just picking on, he's been working.
00:29:58.160 --> 00:30:01.119
But there's no gold star cheating charts or anything like that, right?
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:01.759
Here.
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:05.200
Your resume could be great.
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:06.319
That's wonderful, that's awesome.
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:06.960
God's easy.
00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:10.640
You've left footprints before, but don't just rely on that resume.
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:14.480
If you don't have a resume, don't think that disqualifies you.
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:22.640
Sometimes my ministry needs a fresh new look, a fresh new idea, a fresh new person going into it to do it a different way.
00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:32.160
One of the things I told our teenagers, which Jaden's the only one here, but Billy's here somewhere too, but I won't pick on Billy because she doesn't know me that well yet.
00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:37.839
But but I told our teenager, do you realize this is not my youth group?
00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.480
That's why I told my lawyers, this isn't my youth group.
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:41.839
I'm almost 40 years old.
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:43.359
I'm definitely not a teenager anymore.
00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:45.839
I'm twice removed from being a teenager.
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:48.799
This is your youth group.
00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:52.799
I'm here to help you teach you about Jesus and help and show you some stuff along the way.
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:54.960
But in the end, this is your youth group.
00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:57.440
You're gonna respond to it.
00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:02.799
That's what God's saying to all of us.
00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:07.519
This is this is your walk with me, this is your journey with me.
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:13.200
Be faithful to what I'm calling you to do.
00:31:13.359 --> 00:31:15.359
Take the next step I'm calling you to take.
00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:17.119
And you see, here's the thing about this though.
00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:20.960
We're not taking that step because we're trying to earn anything with Jesus.
00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:24.400
Remember, Jesus already loves you.
00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:27.200
He already loves you, he doesn't care.
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:33.119
He doesn't care that you've been sitting in the same same pew for 125 years, collecting does not do anything.
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:34.559
He still loves you.
00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:44.960
He still loves you if this is your first Sunday here, and even last night you were out partying and doing all the things that you probably wouldn't know the church people wouldn't like you doing.
00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:46.720
Jesus still loves you.
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:53.519
So it's not about you doing these things to make Jesus love you or earn Jesus love you.
00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:55.440
He he already loves you.
00:31:57.519 --> 00:32:01.119
So it's not about us earning anything or proving we are good enough.
00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:05.599
It's about us, for lack of a better term, is about us picking up the hammer.
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:07.359
Right?
00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:08.559
I love this picture.
00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:11.279
If you guys know who Thor is, does anybody know who Thor is?
00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:16.240
If you don't know who Thor is, find a young person or find John in the back and they'll explain to you who Thor is.
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:18.720
But the other thing about Thor is Thor has this hammer.
00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:26.160
And Thor is supposedly the only one, other than Captain America, that has the ability to pick this hammer up and carry it and use it as a weapon.
00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:27.759
You have to be worthy to handle it.
00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:31.119
Well, I love this cartoon because it's a cartoon of Thor sitting down with Mr.
00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:32.000
Rogers.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.480
And he sets the hammer down next to Mr.
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:36.400
Rogers, and Thor is telling Mr.
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:38.079
Rogers how hard and heavy this hammer is.
00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:39.200
A lot of people can't pick it up.
00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:40.079
And as he's talking, Mr.
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:42.960
Rogers is very casting bad and picks it up like it's nothing.
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.960
And then he explains the story why that's possible.
00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:51.119
That's what Jesus is calling each of us to do.
00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.359
He's calling us to pick up a hammer.
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:59.680
Not to prove that anything, not to try and say what we're doing, that he's calling us to pick up a hammer out of love.
00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.400
Not out of his love for us, but because we love him.
00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:09.039
Not because our his love is forcing us to do it.
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.799
We're doing it because we genuinely love him and we want to do something.
00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:21.440
You love somebody, you want to show them you tell them you love them.
00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:25.839
You can say it all you want, you can, but in the end, at some point you want to show them that you love them.
00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:26.799
Right?
00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:29.440
You you you you want to do something to prove it.
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:33.279
Not because you have to, but because you want to.
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:35.839
You want them to experience it.
00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:42.240
So Jesus is calling us to pick up a humor.
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:43.599
See, Jesus came to you.
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:45.440
He loves you, he gave himself for you.
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:48.480
And by his grace, he saved you through faith.
00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:50.799
That's wonderful, that's awesome.
00:33:51.440 --> 00:34:02.880
That's a moment you should always remember, that's a moment you should celebrate, that's a moment you should come back to when everything else is falling apart, when you're when you're hurting and wounded, you should come back to that moment and remember Jesus saved me.
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:08.239
But after he saved you, you know what Jesus says, follow me.
00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:13.360
See, that's where a lot of people in the gospels got in trouble, right?
00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:15.679
They acknowledge Jesus, but they don't believe in Jesus.
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:18.639
When Jesus said follow me, he didn't always always follow me.
00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:25.119
He's saying follow me.
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:32.719
And here's the thing, when you follow Jesus, what Jesus does is he gives you his spirit so that way they can empower you to do what he calls you to do.
00:34:32.880 --> 00:34:37.760
And it's his spirit, because this thing, none of us are worthy to pick up that hammer on our own.
00:34:37.920 --> 00:34:41.199
None of us are qualified, none of us have the gift enough, none of us are smart enough.
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:45.760
But when he gives us his Holy Spirit, it's his Holy Spirit that makes us worthy.
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:47.599
So we can pick up that hammer.
00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:52.000
We were never meant to pick up, but pick up that hammer and use it for the glory of God.
00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:01.440
See, obedience is what happens when you trust that Jesus has done all those things.
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:02.480
Right?
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:08.559
When we trust that Jesus did die on the cross, did rise again, right, for my sins and for your sins.
00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:12.480
We believe that he rose again, ascended to heaven, and since it's all right.
00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:16.159
Obedience is what happens when you trust that Jesus has done all that.
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:22.960
And you pick up the hammer because you see something that needs done.
00:35:24.960 --> 00:35:27.920
You're doing it because your love is compelling you.
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:33.920
Remember the story of Jesus feeding, I can't remember if it's 5,000 or 4,000, maybe in post.
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:37.360
There's some other spots of the gospel's word it this way.
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:40.239
And it says, and and Jesus was compelled, right?
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:42.880
He felt compelled or moved to respond.
00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:44.719
I think when Lazarus dies, right?
00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:46.800
Jesus felt moved to do something.
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:53.840
Well, that word moved is a fun one because it's it's like it's like an inner compulsion.
00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:57.119
It's like, for lack of a better phrase, like you move to Taco Bell, right?
00:35:57.280 --> 00:35:59.199
Your stomach's responding to the Taco Bell.
00:35:59.920 --> 00:36:01.280
You know you have to move.
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:03.039
You better do something.
00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:10.480
When Jesus looked upon those crowds, he didn't move and act because he had to.
00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:12.079
Yes, that was the Father's will.
00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:12.960
That's what God wanted to do.
00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:18.559
Jesus looked upon the crowd, and he had this inner compulsion that said, I love them, so I'm going to do something.
00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:24.880
And when we love God, we develop this inner compulsion that we see it and you can find us and say, you know what?
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:25.760
I don't know how to do this.
00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:28.559
I'm not smart enough to do this, I'm not talented enough to do this, but guess what?
00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:32.719
By God's grace, this Holy Spirit, I'm gonna pick up the hammer, not get to work.
00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:40.400
And the church's history is full of people like that.
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:44.800
I was telling the kids in Sunday school this morning, the book of Acts is one of my favorites.
00:36:45.039 --> 00:36:51.360
Because yes, the whole that the apostles are full of the Holy Spirit, but the more you read it, the more you realize the apostles have no clue what they were doing.
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:54.719
They were just trusting the Holy Spirit going where God looks at them.
00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:57.599
I get that.
00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:00.000
I have no idea what's going on.
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:03.119
I'm just trusting the Holy Spirit.
00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:09.039
But they responded to it.
00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:11.679
They trusted him enough to pick up the hammer.
00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:20.880
You see, when you love, when you love the way that James is telling us the way that makes you respond, that this inner compulsion, right?
00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:23.280
It compels you to move like Jesus did, right?
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:25.199
The way Jesus moved toward the lepers, right?
00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:28.239
The ass of the society that nobody wanted.
00:37:29.519 --> 00:37:33.760
It compelled Jesus to move toward the tax collectors, the prostitutes, right?
00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:35.679
The people that nobody else wanted, thought were unworthy.
00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:43.519
Jesus went to that same love compelled Jesus to move towards you.
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:52.239
So when we love Jesus and we're filled with this Holy Spirit, that love is going to compel us to move, right?
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:59.280
Remember, dead things don't move, so dead faith doesn't move, but living things move, and living faith needs footprints.
00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:06.800
Remember, James gave us those, he gave us Abraham and Rahab as examples.
00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:10.960
Two very different people with very different stories.
00:38:12.559 --> 00:38:14.559
But they have one thing in common.
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:17.760
They trust to God enough to act.
00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:22.400
And that's where James leaves us.
00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:28.639
What is the next thing Jesus asking you to do?
00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:37.199
What is the next thing Jesus is asking you to do?
00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:42.559
Is it talking to someone you know about Jesus?
00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:45.199
I'm just throwing things out there, right?
00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:45.920
I don't know.
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:53.840
But maybe maybe there's somebody that as I've been talking this morning, the Holy Spirit gave you a face of a person and say, hey, I've been telling you to go talk to this person.
00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:54.960
Wait, wait, wait on.
00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:58.079
You need another sign, here it is.
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:01.920
Maybe that's a gift this morning.
00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:03.679
Maybe he's asking, just go talk to somebody about it.
00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:04.719
Maybe he's not even talking about it.
00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:14.320
Maybe he's not even inviting, maybe it's just sitting down and listening to him for a minute, hearing the story.
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:19.280
I don't know.
00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:24.960
Maybe, maybe the next step Jesus is telling you is maybe he's saying, I want you to get baptized.
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:30.239
I want you to make that public declaration of faith so that the world knows that you belong to me.
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:35.360
Not because it saves you, but because it's a testimony to you that you're changed now.
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:41.599
Maybe he's talking to you about joining the church.
00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:44.639
I would love for you to join the church.
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:48.480
I don't know, maybe maybe he's talking, maybe not.
00:39:50.400 --> 00:39:54.239
Maybe he's saying there's a ministry in this church that I would, you know, you see it.
00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:57.360
You know it needs help, you need somebody to tackle it, you need somebody to do it.
00:39:57.440 --> 00:39:59.440
And God's saying you need to be the one.
00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:02.159
He's been telling you for a while you could fight me.
00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:05.280
You want to hear a funny story about me?
00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:07.519
I was here in Ongahe one time.
00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:11.599
They asked me to sit, I was the associate, and they asked me to fill in in the nursery.
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.440
I got all bent out of shit and I was like, I don't work the kids, I'm paying what the means, right?
00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:18.239
My senior pastor had this big to-do over it.
00:40:21.039 --> 00:40:22.719
You wanna know it's funny?
00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:25.760
I taught the kids Sunday school class this morning.
00:40:26.800 --> 00:40:29.360
I teach the kids on Thursday nights right now.
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:31.840
I've learned more about teaching kids.
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:36.559
Learned more from them and about them by doing that than just about anything else I could have done.
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:40.639
Later on tonight and I teach teenagers again.
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:44.480
Talking to you all right now.
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:49.760
This kid from Martinsville, Indiana, that was weighing 75 pounds, stoked away.
00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:51.440
This hero on football.
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:54.639
Had no self-confidence to know anything.
00:40:57.760 --> 00:40:58.960
Here we are.
00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:07.440
So maybe it's stepping into ministry like that, or maybe it's finally just doing whatever it is you've been praying about for months.
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:08.960
God's like, you know, I want you to do this.
00:41:09.119 --> 00:41:09.920
You've been praying about it for months.
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:11.039
God would do up the doors.
00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:14.639
Sometimes it's I don't know.
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:21.280
Hey, if God's talking to something to you about something like that, come talk to me and say, hey, Pastor, I feel like God's telling me to do this.
00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:22.400
Awesome.
00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:25.119
Even if it's something we're not doing yet.
00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:26.880
Because maybe it's something we haven't thought of.
00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:30.239
Yeah, maybe we thought it was like, well, I can't ask poor nine to do anything else.
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:35.199
I can't get Patrick to do Jackson's doing everything he can't do.
00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:36.239
David's doing all he can't.
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.880
I can't ask him to do it, so we don't have it.
00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:41.119
Maybe you've seen it.
00:41:42.400 --> 00:41:44.079
Maybe God's asking you, maybe that is whatever.
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:44.639
I don't know.
00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:47.920
Maybe it's forgiving somebody, maybe it's letting go of business.
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:48.559
I don't know.
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:51.199
God is asking you to take some step of faith today.
00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:54.159
Whatever that step is, the question is, will you take it?
00:41:57.840 --> 00:42:04.000
See, God's not calling me to do everything, He's calling you to one thing right now.
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:06.320
But you have to pick up the hammer.
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.480
He's not gonna force you, He's waiting for you to pick it up.
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:15.599
And in order to pick up the hammer, though, you have to stop asking God to send someone else to do it.
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:22.639
Listen, if God was gonna send someone, I'm not saying he won't, but if God was gonna send someone else to do it, you probably would already send it by now.
00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:34.559
And he's probably like, I would send somebody else, but I put the hammer next to your hand for a reason so you can pick it up.
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.960
And here's the thing, whatever it is, say Jesus is trustworthy enough if you obey, right?
00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:43.119
He's trustworthy enough to give your love to you.
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:53.840
See, Jesus freed you to act in love because of his love, and his spirit will give you what you need to follow him.
00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:58.000
So, what is your next step?
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:03.360
Trust Jesus and take it today.
00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:19.440
Pick up the hammer, because living faith leaves footprints, and you cannot leave footprints until this question for a moment.
00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:23.280
What is the next thing Jesus is asking you to do?
00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:31.199
Not everything, not how you're going to fix your whole life, not how you're going to change the world by tomorrow.
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:33.519
What is the next step?
00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:36.880
Maybe you've known what it is for a while.
00:43:37.599 --> 00:43:41.039
You've prayed about it, thought about it, wrestled with it.
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:45.039
Maybe but and maybe even found some really good reasons to wait.
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:52.159
Somewhere along the way, I'm praying about it became another way of saying please send someone else.
00:43:54.639 --> 00:43:57.199
Maybe your first step isn't doing something for Jesus at all.
00:43:57.840 --> 00:43:59.440
Maybe your first step is trusting him.
00:44:00.480 --> 00:44:01.679
You've known about Jesus.
00:44:01.920 --> 00:44:08.079
You've heard people talk about Jesus, but you've never surrendered your life to him and said, Jesus, I'm yours.
00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:10.079
Wherever you lead, I'll follow.
00:44:10.960 --> 00:44:13.360
And you can do that right where you're at.
00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:18.800
Now maybe you followed Jesus for years, but your faith has been sitting on the shelf lately.
00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:21.679
Don't beat yourself up over yesterday.
00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:24.480
Jesus inviting you to move today.
00:44:25.519 --> 00:44:27.760
The hammer is in your hand.
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:29.519
Let's pray together.
00:44:30.079 --> 00:44:32.639
Lord, thank you for meeting us wherever we are.
00:44:33.519 --> 00:44:38.159
Thank you that we don't have to earn your love or prove ourselves worthy.
00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:40.320
Or work our way into your grace.
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:42.320
You came to us.
00:44:42.719 --> 00:44:44.239
You gave yourself for us.
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:45.760
You loved us first.
00:44:46.880 --> 00:44:52.159
For the person who's trusting you for the first time, meet them right now with your saving grace.
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:53.519
Forgive them.
00:44:53.760 --> 00:44:56.880
Make them new and begin leading them into the life you have for them.
00:44:57.920 --> 00:45:01.199
The person who knows the next step but has been afraid to take it.
00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:03.519
Give them your courage.
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:10.079
For the person who feels unqualified, remind them that you have always used ordinary and unlikely people.
00:45:10.960 --> 00:45:15.599
For the person who's been has grown comfortable with sitting with face sitting on the shelf.
00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:18.320
Breathe fresh life into them.
00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:22.639
Fill us with your spirit and empower us to do whatever you ask.
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:27.360
May our faith become visible through love, mercy, courage, and obedience.
00:45:28.079 --> 00:45:30.800
Help us leave footprints that lead people toward you.
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:32.239
In Jesus' name.
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:33.440
Amen.
00:45:34.159 --> 00:45:41.599
And friend, if you prayed that prayer, if you're trying to figure out what your next step is, or if you just need somebody to walk with you, reach out to me.
00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:42.960
And I mean that.
00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:52.480
You may never sit in a pew at Rivenna Church of the Nazarene, but I would be honored to walk alongside you, be your pastor, whatever way distance allows.
00:45:53.199 --> 00:45:57.360
You can contact me by emailing me at dirtpathpastor at gmail.com.
00:45:57.440 --> 00:45:59.039
That's dirtpathastor.
00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:02.239
All lowcase all on word at gmail.com.
00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:07.199
If you need a little encouragement between episodes, you can find me on TikTok.
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:12.639
I share short dirt path devotions with throughout the week as we walk through scripture together.
00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:17.440
And there are just a few minutes to help us keep following Jesus in everyday life.
00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:23.360
And if this episode in particular encouraged your challenge you, share it with somebody who needs to hear it.
00:46:23.920 --> 00:46:27.119
Subscribe to the Dirt Pass Run Podcast so you don't miss what's coming.
00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:30.559
And if you'd like to support the show, just know you're not supporting me.
00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:42.000
Uh you're supporting uh you're supporting the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, specifically their emergency relief fund, which helps the church respond when disasters and emergency strikes.
00:46:42.480 --> 00:46:47.280
And they do that by providing practical care and assistance to people and communities facing quite crises.
00:46:49.199 --> 00:46:56.239
Now before you go, don't let this become one more sermon you heard, one more sermon you agreed with and put back on the shelf.
00:46:57.119 --> 00:46:58.880
You don't have to do everything today.
00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:03.840
But today I want to have the faith to take the next step.
00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:10.159
Make the phone call, have the conversation, forgive, serve, go say yes.
00:47:10.559 --> 00:47:14.079
Whatever Jesus put in front of you, trust him enough to move.
00:47:14.400 --> 00:47:16.000
Pick up the hammer.
00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:21.679
Living faith leaves footprints, and you cannot leave footprints until you move.
00:47:22.000 --> 00:47:26.079
Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:31.599
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Nastman Podcast.
00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:35.840
It was recorded live at the Ravenna Church Nazarene, located at 530 Bay Street.
00:47:37.679 --> 00:47:42.000
You can learn more about the Ravenna Church Nazarene by visiting Ravenaz.com.
00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:46.159
If you'd like to send me a message, just the link in the show.
00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:06.000
You can believe everything right about Jesus and still have a dead faith.
00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:10.640
If your faith is alive, eventually it has to move.
00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.400
I'm Pastor Jason Bonnet, and this is another passion of podcast.
00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.879
Hey, thanks for joining on the Dirt Pastor on Podcast.
00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.840
I'm Pastor Jason Barnett, aka the Dirt Past Pastor.
00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:34.560
And today we're wrapping up a series called Faith in Work Boots, where we've been walking through James and asking what happens when the faith we say we have actually meets real life.
00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:43.040
But you don't need to have heard other messages to jump in today because James asks us a question every follower of Jesus eventually has to face.
00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:48.799
That question is does what I believe actually change what I do?
00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.159
It's easy to believe the right things about Jesus.
00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:56.560
It's easy to agree that we should love our neighbors, serve others, and make disciples.
00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.719
But eventually, faith has to get up off the shelf.
00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:04.719
Whoever you're listening today, I want you to consider one question.
00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:08.639
What is the next thing Jesus is asking you to do?
00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:16.159
Now let's head to our Vinny Christian asking for pick up the hammer from James chapter 2, verses 20 through 26.
00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.599
Well, I get your Bibles through with me to James chapter 2.
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.080
We're gonna be in James 2 this morning.
00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.919
And as you're turning there, I'm gonna give you some of you already know this, but I love football.
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:36.719
I've been playing football.
00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:42.000
I played football from fourth grade until freshman year, and then everybody got a lot bigger than me, a lot faster than I could catch up.
00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:45.759
So I decided after ninth grade I probably shouldn't play.
00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:53.360
But I remember when I was in eighth grade, I was going to Martinsville West Middle School, and it used to be the high school, so that's our gym.
00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:54.719
It was huge.
00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:59.439
And our mascot was the artesians, it was an artesian well.
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.360
So you don't really get excited by the well of water as your mascot.
00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:05.439
But that was our mascot.
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.960
Um but I was on the West Middle, the eighth grade team.
00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:13.439
I played seventh grade and eighth grade, but eighth grade years is what I'm gonna focus on this morning.
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.479
And when I say played, I mean I played in the loosest sense of the term.
00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:18.960
Okay?
00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:21.520
Like I spent a lot of time on the bench.
00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:25.919
Matter of fact, on this team, I was part of a group called the Mighty Midgets.
00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:32.159
I was probably about Ben's height and weighed 95 pounds when it was with my gear on.
00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:39.120
And the color team would put us in that when he wanted disruptive kids with attitude that would hit people for no reason.
00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:41.599
We didn't do a lot of damage, but we had fun.
00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:47.199
But I was a part of that group, the Mighty Midgets, on a team that just wasn't very good.
00:03:47.520 --> 00:03:50.000
Just gonna be honest, we were not a good team.
00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:57.840
Matter of fact, our first game of the season that year, we got beat 48 to 0.
00:03:58.719 --> 00:03:59.919
It was bad.
00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:05.840
It was one of those games where no matter what you did, their team is better.
00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:07.680
And we found that out real quick.
00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:09.199
So we got clobbered.
00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:16.639
And so, you know how after a game, if you've ever played sports, after a game like that, though, your coach goes into, okay, I gotta boost the morale mode, right?
00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.319
So it's like, hey, you know, we learned something from this game, right?
00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:24.079
We learned some things that we've got to work on to get ready for this next game, right?
00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.759
And so we learned he said that, those typical coach things.
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:31.759
And we took it to heart, we practiced really hard that week.
00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:37.920
And then we go into our second game, and we lose that one 36 to 0.
00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:42.720
Now we got better by 12 points on defense, but our offense was terrible.
00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:49.600
Matter of fact, after that game was over, the coach comes up to us, he goes, Now, boys, I don't even care about winning anymore.
00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:51.600
I just want to score.
00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:58.399
And then he's then he proceeded seated to take the game from a stomp out in front of us.
00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.720
He goes, Boys, there's nothing to watch on this tape.
00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.120
Nothing we can learn from this one.
00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:14.879
Now, if you thought the coach had it rope with us, it was not nearly as bad as our poor cheerleaders.
00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:15.920
Right?
00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:18.399
We're getting pounded 48-0, 36-0.
00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.360
Meanwhile, they're standing on the you know in front of the booth saying, we believe that we're gonna win, right?
00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:25.279
Trying to pump the crowd up.
00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.120
That sailed midway through the first quarter, right?
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:32.399
After that first fumble.
00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.079
I get what they were trying to do, right?
00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:52.079
They they were they're trying to inspire us, they were trying to give our fans confidence in us, but let's be honest, there was nothing happening on that football field that gave anybody any confidence that we were gonna win that game.
00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.519
The boy in the fourth quarter, they were still chanting it.
00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:58.399
Give those cheerleaders credit.
00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:08.399
I mean, matter of fact, they the cheerleaders they could say it louder, they could they could even say to the point where the fans got involved, and they could have maybe even said to where we believed it, but guess what?
00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:15.759
It doesn't mean anything if our play on the field didn't back up what they were saying, right?
00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:27.519
Whatever they were saying, we need to be able to that belief need to show up on the field somewhere.
00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:33.920
And that's kind of the uncomfortable place that James has this today.
00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:41.600
If you've been journeying with us in this James series, one thing that's probably you've noticed that's pretty common at this point is James likes to make you uncomfortable.
00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:49.199
And that's what happens this morning because he's he's kind of coming out of a place where he's talking about how we can believe Jesus is Lord.
00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:53.600
We can have faith that Jesus is real, that he's Lord, that he's King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:59.040
We can believe that Jesus called us to love our neighbors and to go make disciples.
00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:05.279
But then James asks us, if you believe that, where's it at?
00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:08.560
Where's it at?
00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.680
You can believe it all you want, but is it is it showing up on the field?
00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.319
And that's what we're gonna look at today in James chapter 2.
00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:17.680
We're looking at James chapter 2.
00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.160
I'm gonna be reading verses 20 through 26.
00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:24.480
It says, Are you so slow?
00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:29.519
Do you need to be shown that faith without action has no value at all?
00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:32.639
What about Abraham, our father?
00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:38.319
Wasn't he shown to be righteous through his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.720
See, his faith was at work along with his actions.
00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.879
In fact, his faith was made complete by his faithful actions.
00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:53.360
So the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and God regarded him as righteous.
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:57.040
What is more, Abraham was called God's friend.
00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:03.759
So you see that a person is shown to be righteous through faithful actions and not through faith alone.
00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:13.040
In the same way wasn't Rahab the prostitute shown to be righteous when she received the messengers as her guest, and then sent them on by another road.
00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:18.959
As a lifeless body is dead, so faith without actions is dead.
00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.000
This is the word of God for the people of God.
00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:23.680
Thanks be to God.
00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:25.279
Alright.
00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:26.800
Everybody still awake?
00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:32.799
That wasn't nearly as long as some passages have I read, but if we need to do jumping jacks and do some movement to get going, we will.
00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:35.039
We good?
00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:36.799
Alright.
00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:42.320
Well, if you're just joining us today, we are wrapping up a series called Faith and Work Boots.
00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:47.519
And we've been kind of camped out in the book of James, and this is our last sermon in this series.
00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:54.000
And again, the book of James is one of those that James isn't interested in you just knowing what the scripture says.
00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:56.399
He's not just interested in you knowing doctrine.
00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.759
Those things are all important, those all those are all great things.
00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:04.799
But James has no interest in faith that just sits on the shelf.
00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:12.399
He's interested in us having faith that puts the work boots on and goes out and leaves footprints in people's lives.
00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.679
And so far, we've talked about how James showed us that we have to take responsibility for what's happening inside of us, right?
00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:24.480
It's when it's our sin is a result of us being tempted and us giving in to temptation.
00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.200
And we're tempted by the things that we desire.
00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:29.679
So he points that out to us.
00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:32.559
Then after that, he shifted our focus outward.
00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:40.159
He says, if we believe in Jesus, then as people who have received his mercy, we should share mercy with others.
00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:43.279
And he talks about how there's no place for favoritism in the church.
00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:51.039
Regardless of skin color, background, family name, or any of those things, we are to help each other share the load, right?
00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.960
Because we were given mercy, we should give mercy to our neighbors.
00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:00.240
Now here we are, because all that sounds great, right?
00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:06.080
I'm sure if we went around the room and I said, raise your hand, if you agree and believe with that statement, almost all of us would probably raise our hand, right?
00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:09.919
I believe in those statements, I agree with those things.
00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:14.639
Here's the thing, we can believe all that.
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:18.639
But does that faith ever get off the shelf?
00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:24.320
Or does it just stay up here in the mental library?
00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:27.919
That's what James is getting at here.
00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:29.840
So let's kind of dig in here.
00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:36.960
Our passage begins in verse 20, and Nicole and I had a good laugh at verse 20 this week because I love the way it starts here in the Common English Bible.
00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:42.799
In some of your Bibles, it might taper this down a little bit, but it's very jarring in what James says here.
00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:46.000
He says, Are you slow, slow?
00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:53.039
Are you so slow?
00:10:53.360 --> 00:11:00.960
Meaning like he's not trying to call you dumb, but the wording is it doesn't imply like empty-headed, empty knowledge, empty-handed.
00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:04.799
There's nothing really in it, nothing useful, nothing valuable in it.
00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:17.600
Because to him, this seems obvious.
00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.480
It seems like something that doesn't need to be said, but he's gonna say it anyway.
00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:30.159
And so he goes on, he says, Do you need to be shown that faith without actions has no value at all?
00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:36.639
Unless he doesn't say, you know, it has some value or it needs a little bit of training.
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:37.519
What does Paul say here?
00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:38.960
Or Paul, what does James say here?
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.159
He says, faith without actions has no value at all.
00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:52.000
He's saying that faith that isn't that has no actions with the faith that isn't working is not working.
00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:53.600
It's broken.
00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.519
It's a jarring way to start a conversation, isn't it?
00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:07.039
It's like sometimes a coal starts a conversation with me.
00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:08.159
She says, Jason, are you listening?
00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:10.559
Like, that's a weird way to start a conversation.
00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.759
That would have been a lot better if she wasn't in the room staring at me as I said it.
00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.519
She got it, she she made back.
00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:32.399
Anyway, so James says that now he's gonna go, he's gonna give us two big, two examples, sharing two examples with us about what he's getting at.
00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:36.480
And the first one he shares the example of is Abraham.
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:44.480
And you have to understand Abraham, James is writing this letter to the early church, but this early church in particular is full of Jewish Christians, right?
00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:49.440
Christians that came from the Jewish background, that are believers in Jesus and following Jesus.
00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:51.679
So he picks Abraham.
00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:58.639
That's like that's like going straight to the top of the most important people list in the history of the family and of the nation.
00:12:58.799 --> 00:12:59.120
Right?
00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:02.399
Because Abraham, he even says, Abraham, our father, right?
00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:04.720
Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation.
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:06.799
So he pulls Abraham out.
00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:09.919
And most of us, we know the story of Abraham, right?
00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:20.320
We know that he and his wife Sarah were barren for years, and then in Genesis 15, God goes to him and says, I promise that I'm going to give you a son, and you're going to become the father of many nations.
00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:24.159
And so he gives that promise to Abraham.
00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.559
And in Genesis 15, it tells us that Abraham believes God.
00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.279
He trusted God, he put his faith in God in that promise of God.
00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:42.080
Now there were some bumpy moments in between there, but he has faith in God that God's going to keep this promise and stay true to what he's told him would happen.
00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:45.679
So you fast forward to Genesis chapter 22.
00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:51.600
And at this point, that promised son has arrived, and his name is Isaac.
00:13:54.159 --> 00:14:01.360
And God tells Isaac, or tells Abraham, I want you to take Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice to me.
00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.039
And so he takes Isaac and they go up the mountain.
00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:07.279
If you read the story, he believes.
00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.480
He trusts God, he takes the step of obedience that God's calling him to.
00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.759
But also the whole time, he's trusting that God, God's got something in mind.
00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:16.720
God's got a plan, but I'm gonna do what God tells me to do.
00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:17.200
Right?
00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:23.519
And then God sends the ram out of the weeds at the last minute, you know, and Isaac breathes a sigh of relief.
00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:32.720
Um so what James is saying here about Abraham, though, so chapter 15 of Genesis, that's where Abraham places his faith in God.
00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:34.320
That's a moment, that's a crisis moment.
00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.960
That's a moment where he puts his faith in God, says, God, I trust you, I believe your plan is gonna work out.
00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:44.799
Genesis 22, though, that's where Abraham's faith becomes what he lives out.
00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.919
He lives it out, he lives from it.
00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:58.080
It's not just something up here now, it's not just faith on the shelf, it's not just something he's holding on to, it's something that he steps out and he does.
00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:09.840
In verse 22, it says, actions, oh my god, James isn't saying that actions boosted Abraham's faith to completion, right?
00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:14.320
He says that in this verse that made Abraham's faith complete because he did that.
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:20.399
It wasn't that Abraham had 80% faith, and then he did the action, and that gave him the other 20% to make his faithful.
00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:30.720
No, what it was was he taking that action and being obedient to God was living his faith out in a way that produced the fruit that God wanted it to produce.
00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:41.679
The fruit that he started out chasing grew in that moment in Genesis 22.
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:46.320
In that moment, Abraham's faith left footprints.
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.159
You see, Genesis 22 is where the faith of Genesis 15 went.
00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.080
So that's the first example he gives.
00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:09.279
Second example that James gives us is actually kind of the exact opposite of Abraham.
00:16:09.440 --> 00:16:09.600
Right?
00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:15.120
He picks Abraham first, and he picks Abraham why because Abraham's the our father, the father of the Jewish nation.
00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:20.000
Something, a big important figure that the whole nation could get behind and understand what he's talking about.
00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.360
But then he changes gears and he picks Rahab.
00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:28.879
Which I don't know if you know this, but Rahab is in the genealogy of Jesus.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:36.960
But if you don't know Rahab's story, um James kind of gives you a big clue.
00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:40.559
He says she was a Canaanite woman who was a prostitute.
00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.960
He doesn't hold back, he doesn't sugarcoat it, he doesn't try to hide.
00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:46.639
He says that's who she is.
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This is what she does.
00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.919
And her story is in the book of Joshua, right?
00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:58.879
Joshua, when you know the Israelites get out of Egypt, they get they're getting ready to enter the promised land, and she lit Rahab lives in the city of Jericho.
00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:01.279
You know, the city of Jericho, we sing the song about.
00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:03.919
You know, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, right?
00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.200
We sing that song.
00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:07.440
That Jericho, she lives there.
00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:09.119
But before the song, right?
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.599
She lives in it, Jericho, to the buildup of the song.
00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:24.400
And all she knows about God is that this God is the God of Israel, and this God of Israel is doing things that can't be explained.
00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:28.559
That was the extent of Rahab's knowledge of who God was.
00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:35.599
When Joshua says, and James is pointing this out to us, Rahab believed God.
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:43.759
Now it wasn't Mig in depth, it wasn't, she probably wouldn't pass our theology class or Bible exams.
00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:57.039
She probably would struggle in nine and Sonia school class, but she knew one thing that this God was different, and that I'm gonna believe in him.
00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:09.039
So she puts her faith in God, and so she puts this faith in this God that she doesn't even know, barely knows about, and all of a sudden there's a knock on her door, and it's these Israelite spies there to scout the city out.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:11.119
And so what does she do?
00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:18.559
She invites him into the house, and then when the government officials show up to ask where those spies are, she hides them and helps them get away.
00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:22.960
And James says that was an act of faith.
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.799
See, Rahab didn't just hear about God, she believed.
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.200
And her belief came with a demand, right?
00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:38.160
It came with a demand when the Israelites knocked on the door.
00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:44.240
I don't know if we understand do we understand the gravity of what Rahab did in that moment?
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:50.400
Those people were spies there to scout out her country, the place where she lived.
00:18:50.640 --> 00:18:54.640
She welcomed them into her house and she hid them to protect them.
00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:56.079
That is it.
00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:04.400
This woman barely knows who God is, barely knows about him, but she had enough faith to say, I'm gonna trust him and I'm gonna take his messengers in and protect them.
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.920
And that's what she does.
00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:13.440
And she does this at a great risk to her own life.
00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:22.000
She showed mercy to actual people when doing so cost or something.
00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:26.400
Rahab's faith left footprints.
00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.079
You see, her belief in God existed before the spies knocked on the door.
00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:40.960
But that sure that faith that became a tree that produced fruit when the knock came to the door.
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:50.319
Then James chapter 2 ends on verse 26.
00:19:50.799 --> 00:20:00.960
And it ends with as as the as the lifeless body is dead, so faith without action is dead.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:09.759
Now that the NIV translates as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:18.960
Now that word spirit is a fun one, both in the Hebrew and in the Greek, because it can also mean breath.
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:34.319
And if you look at a body with no breath in it, it looks like you just know something is off, something isn't where it's supposed to be, it's not functioning the way it should because there's no breath in it, there's no life in it.
00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:40.480
It's clear something fundamental is missing.
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:48.240
And so what James is saying here is he's saying that works are the evidence that faith is breathing.
00:20:53.119 --> 00:21:00.000
Dead things can be remembered, dead things can be talked about, and dead things can even be displayed.
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:03.440
But living things move.
00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:09.759
That's what James is talking about when it comes to faith.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:14.160
You see, he's telling us that living faith leaves footprints.
00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.279
Living faith leaves footprints.
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:27.359
Now let me give you a disclaimer about what the sermon is not, because I'm sure most of you have heard this sermon 500 times if you've been to church at all.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:33.359
This sermon is not telling Jesus, James is not telling us that good Christians do more stuff.
00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:38.400
Just because you're doing things doesn't mean you have faith in Jesus.
00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.279
You can be doing a lot of things for no reason.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:48.880
You can be doing a lot of things just trying to impress people, trying to make people think you're holy and look like you're holy.
00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:52.160
James isn't talking about that.
00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.359
Because you can't do enough stuff to make yourself holy.
00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.759
He's not telling us that after.
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.240
You work hard enough, Jesus will save you.
00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:02.720
Right?
00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.559
This is not a works-based salvation.
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:08.319
You can't work enough, you can't do enough to pay off the debt that you owe Jesus.
00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.319
But the good news is, Jesus asked you to.
00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.319
He said, just put your faith in me.
00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:23.039
And just so I know Nicole's not hiding a sign-up sheet back there that is, as I'm preaching, it's going to go around asking you to sign up for different ministries of the church.
00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:23.519
Right?
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:25.279
Don't worry, you're not going to walk out here now.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.519
You're teaching children's church next week.
00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:33.680
If you'd like to, we could use somebody that wants to do that, but we're not going to, we don't force people into that.
00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:34.160
Okay.
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.039
That's not what the sermon's about.
00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:50.880
But James is saying in this passage is that when we genuinely trust God, that eventually changes what we do.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:59.440
If we genuinely put our faith in Jesus, we genuinely put our trust in God, then we're not going to live the same way that we used to live.
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:07.440
At some point, what's up here in our head on the bookshelf is going to come out as knowledge and practical living.
00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.200
See, that's why he gives us the examples of Abraham, right?
00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:20.079
Abraham trusted God enough to obey.
00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.359
It sounded crazy.
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:27.200
But Abraham said, I'm gonna trust God knows what he's doing.
00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:28.480
I'm gonna take that step of faith.
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:32.079
I'm gonna step out in obedience to do what God's called me to do.
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.799
Rahab, she trusted God enough to act.
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:45.759
And now James is asking you and me, where are your footprints?
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.319
What is your faith doing?
00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:53.440
Is it just sitting on the shelf or is it out making footprints?
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.400
Because living faith leaves footprints.
00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:04.799
Again, some of us we can say, I know a lot about Jesus, right?
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:12.000
Like you've been to you've not missed a cult or nine of Sunday school class or Nicole Sunday school class in two years.
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.039
If they were to give you a test tomorrow, you'd pass.
00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.640
You've been studying the Bible from cover to cover, you read through it once a year, right?
00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:24.400
You do a little Bible planning, you read it in a year, you make it every year.
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:44.400
So we know a lot about Jesus, but whenever somebody comes to us and says, Hey, can, or we whenever we open our eyes and we see something, right, that's wrong in our community or wrong in our life or wrong in somebody else's life, we begin to pray, and there's nothing wrong with praying, but we pray and say, God, would you send somebody to do something?
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:50.319
It's kind of like Moses at the burning bush, right?
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:53.440
Moses, God tells Moses, hey, I want you to go and tell Pharaoh, let my people go.
00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:58.480
And as Moses say, he's like, uh, you know, pardon your servant here, Lord, but I think you've got the wrong guy.
00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:00.240
Could you pick somebody else?
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:12.240
Or we can say, God, would you get God, would you send somebody else, or would you give me a sign that you want me to do this?
00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:16.079
He's like, What other sign do you want me to get?
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:17.599
You saw what the problem was.
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:32.079
It's like one, I think I told this story, but one time I was working at a car dealership in Colorado, and uh we had this, we you know, it was a car in the service department, it was a Ford Escape, and it caught on fire as it was waiting to go in the shop.
00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.319
Now I didn't see it, but one of the salesmen did it.
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:37.119
We had these little radios because the lot was big and we had to communicate.
00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:40.799
And so he comes on the radio and says, Hey, there's a car on fire.
00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:43.279
We're all like, okay.
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:51.359
Five minutes goes by, I don't hear any fire trucks, but I hear the same salesman get back on again and he goes, Hey, there's a car on fire here in the parking lot.
00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:53.759
We're like, okay.
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:57.440
Wait, listen, no fire truck.
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.920
Finally, the salesman gets the same salesman a third time and goes, Hey, there's a car on fire in the parking lot.
00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.319
Finally, the salesman is like, Call the fire department.
00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:05.839
What do you want us to do?
00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.480
That's kind of what James is saying here.
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:18.160
He's like, We see the car is on fire, we know 911, we know the fireman can come and put it out.
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:22.400
So why are we waiting for somebody else to call it when we have the number in our hand?
00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:29.440
Faith is seeing that need and saying, God, I trust you enough that this is where I'm supposed to go.
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:32.960
And that's how you leave footprints.
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:45.119
Some of us we have we have footprints, but our footprints, there's stories that we share about what God did 20 years ago.
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:46.400
And that's great.
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:47.759
I'm glad that God moved.
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.359
God did wonderful things 20 years ago in your life and the lives around you.
00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:58.559
But if your footprints stopped on the beast 20 years ago, you're stuck.
00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:03.119
Your faith isn't moved because remember, living things move.
00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:05.119
Dead things don't.
00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.279
What about your footprints today?
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:15.519
What are you what's your faith doing right now?
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:27.359
Now some of us were sitting here with thinking, you know, like, you know, I'm a brand new believer in Jesus.
00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.440
I don't know enough yet.
00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:33.680
Actually, I remember when I first accepted the call to be a pastor, I was 16 years old.
00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.519
And you all have heard this story before too.
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I was 16 years old, and um a couple of weeks after that happened, our pastor preached a sermon and he gave an invitation at the end, and the altars were flooded.
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I mean, it's one of those old fashioned services, right?
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When people respond, they come down the altar to pray.
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And as he was overwhelmed, he couldn't pray with everybody up there by himself.
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So he said, Hey, every minister that's here, because we had some retired guys there, too.
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Can everybody, every minister in here, come up and help me pray?
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I stayed in my seat and didn't move.
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And when the service is over, one of the old retired guys walked up with his cane, he poked me in the chest and said, Hey, why didn't you go up here?
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Well, I don't know enough yet.
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Did God call you?
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Well, yeah?
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That's enough.
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Get up there.
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So Rahab was like that, right?
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Rahab didn't know a whole lot about God.
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She said, This was the God of Israel.
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She had heard the stories probably of Egypt going through the room and all those things, but she had heard the stories of how they defeated these other places coming up to Jericho, but all she knew about God was that.
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She didn't know anything about the temple, she didn't know anything of the dietary restrictions.
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She probably barely knew who Moses was.
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Probably got confused with Aaron, right?
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Because that's what happens when you have siblings.
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They always think it's your sibling and not you.
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She didn't know any of that.
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All she knew was that this God was different.
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And she trusted that God enough to open the door when strangers knocked on it.
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She trusted enough to take those strangers in and risk your life to protect them.
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So if that's you, then you're saying, well, I don't know enough.
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It's not about your spiritual resume.
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You can have a long spiritual resume, but that doesn't mean anything because at the end of the day, it's about will you surrender to what God's calling you to do?
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Will you take the step that God's saying you need to take this step?
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Again, it's not about another pastor demanding you do something to earn salvation.
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And it's not like I got a gold star chart, right?
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That when David does something good, I put a gold star next to his name.
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I'd put one next to Warren's name, but he's been skipping church lately.
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I'm just picking on, he's been working.
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But there's no gold star cheating charts or anything like that, right?
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Here.
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Your resume could be great.
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That's wonderful, that's awesome.
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God's easy.
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You've left footprints before, but don't just rely on that resume.
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If you don't have a resume, don't think that disqualifies you.
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Sometimes my ministry needs a fresh new look, a fresh new idea, a fresh new person going into it to do it a different way.
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One of the things I told our teenagers, which Jaden's the only one here, but Billy's here somewhere too, but I won't pick on Billy because she doesn't know me that well yet.
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But but I told our teenager, do you realize this is not my youth group?
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That's why I told my lawyers, this isn't my youth group.
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I'm almost 40 years old.
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I'm definitely not a teenager anymore.
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I'm twice removed from being a teenager.
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This is your youth group.
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I'm here to help you teach you about Jesus and help and show you some stuff along the way.
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But in the end, this is your youth group.
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You're gonna respond to it.
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That's what God's saying to all of us.
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This is this is your walk with me, this is your journey with me.
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Be faithful to what I'm calling you to do.
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Take the next step I'm calling you to take.
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And you see, here's the thing about this though.
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We're not taking that step because we're trying to earn anything with Jesus.
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Remember, Jesus already loves you.
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He already loves you, he doesn't care.
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He doesn't care that you've been sitting in the same same pew for 125 years, collecting does not do anything.
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He still loves you.
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He still loves you if this is your first Sunday here, and even last night you were out partying and doing all the things that you probably wouldn't know the church people wouldn't like you doing.
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Jesus still loves you.
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So it's not about you doing these things to make Jesus love you or earn Jesus love you.
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He he already loves you.
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So it's not about us earning anything or proving we are good enough.
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It's about us, for lack of a better term, is about us picking up the hammer.
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Right?
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I love this picture.
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If you guys know who Thor is, does anybody know who Thor is?
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If you don't know who Thor is, find a young person or find John in the back and they'll explain to you who Thor is.
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But the other thing about Thor is Thor has this hammer.
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And Thor is supposedly the only one, other than Captain America, that has the ability to pick this hammer up and carry it and use it as a weapon.
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You have to be worthy to handle it.
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Well, I love this cartoon because it's a cartoon of Thor sitting down with Mr.
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Rogers.
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And he sets the hammer down next to Mr.
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Rogers, and Thor is telling Mr.
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Rogers how hard and heavy this hammer is.
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A lot of people can't pick it up.
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And as he's talking, Mr.
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Rogers is very casting bad and picks it up like it's nothing.
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And then he explains the story why that's possible.
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That's what Jesus is calling each of us to do.
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He's calling us to pick up a hammer.
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Not to prove that anything, not to try and say what we're doing, that he's calling us to pick up a hammer out of love.
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Not out of his love for us, but because we love him.
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Not because our his love is forcing us to do it.
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We're doing it because we genuinely love him and we want to do something.
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You love somebody, you want to show them you tell them you love them.
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You can say it all you want, you can, but in the end, at some point you want to show them that you love them.
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Right?
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You you you you want to do something to prove it.
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Not because you have to, but because you want to.
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You want them to experience it.
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So Jesus is calling us to pick up a humor.
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See, Jesus came to you.
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He loves you, he gave himself for you.
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And by his grace, he saved you through faith.
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That's wonderful, that's awesome.
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That's a moment you should always remember, that's a moment you should celebrate, that's a moment you should come back to when everything else is falling apart, when you're when you're hurting and wounded, you should come back to that moment and remember Jesus saved me.
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But after he saved you, you know what Jesus says, follow me.
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See, that's where a lot of people in the gospels got in trouble, right?
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They acknowledge Jesus, but they don't believe in Jesus.
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When Jesus said follow me, he didn't always always follow me.
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He's saying follow me.
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And here's the thing, when you follow Jesus, what Jesus does is he gives you his spirit so that way they can empower you to do what he calls you to do.
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And it's his spirit, because this thing, none of us are worthy to pick up that hammer on our own.
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None of us are qualified, none of us have the gift enough, none of us are smart enough.
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But when he gives us his Holy Spirit, it's his Holy Spirit that makes us worthy.
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So we can pick up that hammer.
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We were never meant to pick up, but pick up that hammer and use it for the glory of God.
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See, obedience is what happens when you trust that Jesus has done all those things.
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Right?
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When we trust that Jesus did die on the cross, did rise again, right, for my sins and for your sins.
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We believe that he rose again, ascended to heaven, and since it's all right.
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Obedience is what happens when you trust that Jesus has done all that.
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And you pick up the hammer because you see something that needs done.
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You're doing it because your love is compelling you.
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Remember the story of Jesus feeding, I can't remember if it's 5,000 or 4,000, maybe in post.
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There's some other spots of the gospel's word it this way.
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And it says, and and Jesus was compelled, right?
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He felt compelled or moved to respond.
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I think when Lazarus dies, right?
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Jesus felt moved to do something.
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Well, that word moved is a fun one because it's it's like it's like an inner compulsion.
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It's like, for lack of a better phrase, like you move to Taco Bell, right?
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Your stomach's responding to the Taco Bell.
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You know you have to move.
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You better do something.
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When Jesus looked upon those crowds, he didn't move and act because he had to.
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Yes, that was the Father's will.
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That's what God wanted to do.
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Jesus looked upon the crowd, and he had this inner compulsion that said, I love them, so I'm going to do something.
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And when we love God, we develop this inner compulsion that we see it and you can find us and say, you know what?
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I don't know how to do this.
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I'm not smart enough to do this, I'm not talented enough to do this, but guess what?
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By God's grace, this Holy Spirit, I'm gonna pick up the hammer, not get to work.
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And the church's history is full of people like that.
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I was telling the kids in Sunday school this morning, the book of Acts is one of my favorites.
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Because yes, the whole that the apostles are full of the Holy Spirit, but the more you read it, the more you realize the apostles have no clue what they were doing.
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They were just trusting the Holy Spirit going where God looks at them.
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I get that.
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I have no idea what's going on.
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I'm just trusting the Holy Spirit.
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But they responded to it.
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They trusted him enough to pick up the hammer.
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You see, when you love, when you love the way that James is telling us the way that makes you respond, that this inner compulsion, right?
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It compels you to move like Jesus did, right?
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The way Jesus moved toward the lepers, right?
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The ass of the society that nobody wanted.
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It compelled Jesus to move toward the tax collectors, the prostitutes, right?
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The people that nobody else wanted, thought were unworthy.
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Jesus went to that same love compelled Jesus to move towards you.
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So when we love Jesus and we're filled with this Holy Spirit, that love is going to compel us to move, right?
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Remember, dead things don't move, so dead faith doesn't move, but living things move, and living faith needs footprints.
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Remember, James gave us those, he gave us Abraham and Rahab as examples.
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Two very different people with very different stories.
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But they have one thing in common.
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They trust to God enough to act.
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And that's where James leaves us.
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What is the next thing Jesus asking you to do?
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What is the next thing Jesus is asking you to do?
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Is it talking to someone you know about Jesus?
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I'm just throwing things out there, right?
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I don't know.
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But maybe maybe there's somebody that as I've been talking this morning, the Holy Spirit gave you a face of a person and say, hey, I've been telling you to go talk to this person.
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Wait, wait, wait on.
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You need another sign, here it is.
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:01.920
Maybe that's a gift this morning.
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Maybe he's asking, just go talk to somebody about it.
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Maybe he's not even talking about it.
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Maybe he's not even inviting, maybe it's just sitting down and listening to him for a minute, hearing the story.
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I don't know.
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Maybe, maybe the next step Jesus is telling you is maybe he's saying, I want you to get baptized.
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I want you to make that public declaration of faith so that the world knows that you belong to me.
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Not because it saves you, but because it's a testimony to you that you're changed now.
00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:41.599
Maybe he's talking to you about joining the church.
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I would love for you to join the church.
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:48.480
I don't know, maybe maybe he's talking, maybe not.
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Maybe he's saying there's a ministry in this church that I would, you know, you see it.
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You know it needs help, you need somebody to tackle it, you need somebody to do it.
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And God's saying you need to be the one.
00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:02.159
He's been telling you for a while you could fight me.
00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:05.280
You want to hear a funny story about me?
00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:07.519
I was here in Ongahe one time.
00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:11.599
They asked me to sit, I was the associate, and they asked me to fill in in the nursery.
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.440
I got all bent out of shit and I was like, I don't work the kids, I'm paying what the means, right?
00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:18.239
My senior pastor had this big to-do over it.
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You wanna know it's funny?
00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:25.760
I taught the kids Sunday school class this morning.
00:40:26.800 --> 00:40:29.360
I teach the kids on Thursday nights right now.
00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:31.840
I've learned more about teaching kids.
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:36.559
Learned more from them and about them by doing that than just about anything else I could have done.
00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:40.639
Later on tonight and I teach teenagers again.
00:40:42.800 --> 00:40:44.480
Talking to you all right now.
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:49.760
This kid from Martinsville, Indiana, that was weighing 75 pounds, stoked away.
00:40:50.079 --> 00:40:51.440
This hero on football.
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:54.639
Had no self-confidence to know anything.
00:40:57.760 --> 00:40:58.960
Here we are.
00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:07.440
So maybe it's stepping into ministry like that, or maybe it's finally just doing whatever it is you've been praying about for months.
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:08.960
God's like, you know, I want you to do this.
00:41:09.119 --> 00:41:09.920
You've been praying about it for months.
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:11.039
God would do up the doors.
00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:14.639
Sometimes it's I don't know.
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:21.280
Hey, if God's talking to something to you about something like that, come talk to me and say, hey, Pastor, I feel like God's telling me to do this.
00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:22.400
Awesome.
00:41:23.199 --> 00:41:25.119
Even if it's something we're not doing yet.
00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:26.880
Because maybe it's something we haven't thought of.
00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:30.239
Yeah, maybe we thought it was like, well, I can't ask poor nine to do anything else.
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:35.199
I can't get Patrick to do Jackson's doing everything he can't do.
00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:36.239
David's doing all he can't.
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.880
I can't ask him to do it, so we don't have it.
00:41:40.320 --> 00:41:41.119
Maybe you've seen it.
00:41:42.400 --> 00:41:44.079
Maybe God's asking you, maybe that is whatever.
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:44.639
I don't know.
00:41:45.119 --> 00:41:47.920
Maybe it's forgiving somebody, maybe it's letting go of business.
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:48.559
I don't know.
00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:51.199
God is asking you to take some step of faith today.
00:41:51.280 --> 00:41:54.159
Whatever that step is, the question is, will you take it?
00:41:57.840 --> 00:42:04.000
See, God's not calling me to do everything, He's calling you to one thing right now.
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:06.320
But you have to pick up the hammer.
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.480
He's not gonna force you, He's waiting for you to pick it up.
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:15.599
And in order to pick up the hammer, though, you have to stop asking God to send someone else to do it.
00:42:16.639 --> 00:42:22.639
Listen, if God was gonna send someone, I'm not saying he won't, but if God was gonna send someone else to do it, you probably would already send it by now.
00:42:27.840 --> 00:42:34.559
And he's probably like, I would send somebody else, but I put the hammer next to your hand for a reason so you can pick it up.
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.960
And here's the thing, whatever it is, say Jesus is trustworthy enough if you obey, right?
00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:43.119
He's trustworthy enough to give your love to you.
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:53.840
See, Jesus freed you to act in love because of his love, and his spirit will give you what you need to follow him.
00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:58.000
So, what is your next step?
00:43:01.360 --> 00:43:03.360
Trust Jesus and take it today.
00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:19.440
Pick up the hammer, because living faith leaves footprints, and you cannot leave footprints until this question for a moment.
00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:23.280
What is the next thing Jesus is asking you to do?
00:43:24.320 --> 00:43:31.199
Not everything, not how you're going to fix your whole life, not how you're going to change the world by tomorrow.
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:33.519
What is the next step?
00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:36.880
Maybe you've known what it is for a while.
00:43:37.599 --> 00:43:41.039
You've prayed about it, thought about it, wrestled with it.
00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:45.039
Maybe but and maybe even found some really good reasons to wait.
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:52.159
Somewhere along the way, I'm praying about it became another way of saying please send someone else.
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Maybe your first step isn't doing something for Jesus at all.
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Maybe your first step is trusting him.
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You've known about Jesus.
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You've heard people talk about Jesus, but you've never surrendered your life to him and said, Jesus, I'm yours.
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Wherever you lead, I'll follow.
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And you can do that right where you're at.
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Now maybe you followed Jesus for years, but your faith has been sitting on the shelf lately.
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Don't beat yourself up over yesterday.
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Jesus inviting you to move today.
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The hammer is in your hand.
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Let's pray together.
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Lord, thank you for meeting us wherever we are.
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Thank you that we don't have to earn your love or prove ourselves worthy.
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Or work our way into your grace.
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You came to us.
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You gave yourself for us.
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You loved us first.
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For the person who's trusting you for the first time, meet them right now with your saving grace.
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Forgive them.
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Make them new and begin leading them into the life you have for them.
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The person who knows the next step but has been afraid to take it.
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Give them your courage.
00:45:04.400 --> 00:45:10.079
For the person who feels unqualified, remind them that you have always used ordinary and unlikely people.
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For the person who's been has grown comfortable with sitting with face sitting on the shelf.
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Breathe fresh life into them.
00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:22.639
Fill us with your spirit and empower us to do whatever you ask.
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:27.360
May our faith become visible through love, mercy, courage, and obedience.
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Help us leave footprints that lead people toward you.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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And friend, if you prayed that prayer, if you're trying to figure out what your next step is, or if you just need somebody to walk with you, reach out to me.
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And I mean that.
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You may never sit in a pew at Rivenna Church of the Nazarene, but I would be honored to walk alongside you, be your pastor, whatever way distance allows.
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You can contact me by emailing me at dirtpathpastor at gmail.com.
00:45:57.440 --> 00:45:59.039
That's dirtpathastor.
00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:02.239
All lowcase all on word at gmail.com.
00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:07.199
If you need a little encouragement between episodes, you can find me on TikTok.
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:12.639
I share short dirt path devotions with throughout the week as we walk through scripture together.
00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:17.440
And there are just a few minutes to help us keep following Jesus in everyday life.
00:46:18.320 --> 00:46:23.360
And if this episode in particular encouraged your challenge you, share it with somebody who needs to hear it.
00:46:23.920 --> 00:46:27.119
Subscribe to the Dirt Pass Run Podcast so you don't miss what's coming.
00:46:27.599 --> 00:46:30.559
And if you'd like to support the show, just know you're not supporting me.
00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:42.000
Uh you're supporting uh you're supporting the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, specifically their emergency relief fund, which helps the church respond when disasters and emergency strikes.
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And they do that by providing practical care and assistance to people and communities facing quite crises.
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Now before you go, don't let this become one more sermon you heard, one more sermon you agreed with and put back on the shelf.
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You don't have to do everything today.
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But today I want to have the faith to take the next step.
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Make the phone call, have the conversation, forgive, serve, go say yes.
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Whatever Jesus put in front of you, trust him enough to move.
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Pick up the hammer.
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Living faith leaves footprints, and you cannot leave footprints until you move.
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Until next time, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus.
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Thank you for listening to this episode of the Nastman Podcast.
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It was recorded live at the Ravenna Church Nazarene, located at 530 Bay Street.
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You can learn more about the Ravenna Church Nazarene by visiting Ravenaz.com.
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If you'd like to send me a message, just the link in the show.
