Beacon Sunday Service: February 18th, 2024

Friends dish thy face and all men make trouble, men may trouble and stress me, twill my drive me to thy breast life with trials heart heart may press me. Heaven will bring me sweeter. Oh, tis not in grief to harm me while thy love is left to me. Oh, twer not in joy to charm meast go then earthly fame, go then earthly thing, treasure come disaster scorn pain in thy service pain pleasure with thy favorite.

I've called I have called thee father. I have stayed my heart on thee. Storms may highlight clouds, make gather all must work for me so then no thy salvation arise of sin. Joy to find restings still to be think what spear with me smiles on thy win thee child of heaven, canst thou remote to glory on my faith and wing prayer men's eternal days before yes, God's own hand shall guide thee there, soon shall close thy mission, soon shall cause thy pill hope shall change to glad fruition and prayer to pray.

Make me broken. Now I can be here.

And now I can't feel I want to run to you. My heart wide open. Make me broken. Make me empty. Make me empty. So I can be filled. Desire to hold on to my will. Now I'm completed. When you are with me, make me empty till you are my one desire till you are my one true love till you are my breath my everything.

Lord, please keep me. Make me lonely make me lonely so I can be your I want no one more than you, Lord.

I know you will hold me.

Till you are, till you are my one till you are my one true love till you are my breath, my every Lord, please keep me till you are till you are my one till you are my one true love till you are my breath my everything. Lord, please keep me.

In this question and answer, we will confess how God's grace enables us to obey him. And here's the question. Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God's word? And together, yes, because Christ having redeemed us by his blood, also renews us by his spirit, so that our lives may show love and gratitude to God, so that we may be assured of our faith by the fruits, and so that by our godly behavior, others may be one to Christ. That is what we're called to do, and that in faith we are called to do the works of the Lord as we as believers, as we believe in Him, and He has prepared these words for us to do for him. So may we continue to just uh worship the Lord this morning and let's ask the Lord to speak to us this morning in this speaker, Lord as we come to you to receive the food of your whole take your truth, plant it in us, shape and fashion us in your life that the light of Christ might be seen today in our sub and our death speak oh Lord and fulfill all your coffee for your glory and teach us, Lord follows, holy reverence true humanity test our thoughts and our titles in the radiance of your glory because our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majesty and of power that can never fail.

Let their truth prevail over speak oh Lord and renew our minds. Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us, truths unchanged from the time of time that will let go down through eternity by grace and by grace will stand on your promises, and my faith will walk as you walk with us and speak of Lord till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.

Good morning, brothers and sisters. And again, we just want to welcome you guys to uh the beginning where we have an opportunity just to worship our Lord and our Savior together in our corporate way. At this time, we will now uh confess our sins as a congregation. And as we recite this prayer together, I just want to remind us again that not only is this a prayer that we get to just confess with our own hearts, but as we hear our brothers and sisters next to us here it may we just be encouraged and edified that we together are coming before our Lord to confess our sins. And so if you could just draw your attention to the screen, let's all pray together. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed.

We have fallen short by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, for we have been lukewarm. We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us. Cause us to delight in your will and to walk in your ways.

But with the Lord there is forgiveness that he may be feared. As we just continue this time of prayer, uh, and as we just as a as a church continue to just pray into the Lord, I think the thing that the that that God just drew up on my heart is oftentimes we we come to Sundays oftentimes expecting to s to feel something, to hear something, for our hearts to be uplifted. And I think while the intent of that might be good, I think Sundays really are just a way for us as believers just to calibrate and just to remember what has the Lord been doing in the in the week prior. How has the Lord been faithful? And I think as a church, as we continue to see the fruit of the Lord work in our lives, the purpose of Sundays is to come and to celebrate God's faithfulness.

And so as we just as we just take uh a couple moments today, and as we just pray to God corporately, I want to invite each and every one of you just to think about what happened this past week and how has the Lord been working in your own personal life? How has God's fingerprints just been scattered throughout your interactions with your family, maybe it's coworkers, maybe it's teachers or students in school? And how has the Lord just been truly been faithful unto you? And so I just want to invite us to just take some time to thank the Lord and just to celebrate his faithfulness this morning.

Our Heavenly Father, it is just with joy and gladness and thanksgiving that we are here gathered today, God. Lord, we know that you loved us so much that you sent your only son Jesus to die on the cross for our own sins, God. But Father, thousands of years later, we still are recipients of your grace and your mercy, that we get to experience each and every single day, God. And Lord, as a church, we're gathered here today just to remind ourselves of how faithful you are. We're gathered here today just to encourage and edify one another that Christ is working in our lives. That the gospel is still true as it was when Jesus was here on earth, walking and teaching and preaching and converting those who do not know you, God.

And what a joy it is for us, Lord, that thousands of years later that we can continue to carry on the same message, God, as you've placed each and every one of us in unique positions in our life, Lord. Whether we are husbands, whether we're wives, sons or daughters, whether we are colleagues or co-workers, teachers, students, God, each of us play a unique role in this in this tapestry that that is just that is just simply your your plan being unfolded before our very eyes, God. And Lord, the fact that you have called us to be your sons and your daughters, to experience the grace and the mercy, to experience the unconditional love of a a almighty and all-knowing and all-powerful God, Lord. God, we simply just come and we just need to humble ourselves.

We need to humble ourselves and just to simply just receive your word. And so, God, as we just worship today, Father, I pray that you would just uplift our spirits, that our hearts would just be so filled in just hearing your word being preached through the pulpit. God, in the songs that we sing, would our would our just spirits and our mind just be uplifted, and simply knowing that we worship a God that is greater than our own. We worship a God that is far wiser than any man has ever walked this earth, Lord, and that we simply have an opportunity to do life with other fellow brothers and sisters who hold our Savior and our God to this high degree, Lord. And so, Father, continue just to bless us, to just reign and just to pour your mercy upon us, Lord.

And God, as we just worship you, would you be the one that is magnified? We pray all these things in your son Jesus' name. Amen. Um at this time, I'm just gonna ask the kids to also just hang out here because we don't have a lot today, but we are going to uh turn over to a time of announcements. And so if you can just um draw your attention to um the the board here, we don't have a lot of announcements. And so uh simply uh simply said, um, we just want to continue to uh ask you guys to just give uh as the Lord has um has has led you to. And of course, if you're visiting, please don't feel obligated to give whatsoever. Um and maybe just kind of an ad hoc announcement. Uh a couple weeks from now, um, your leaders will be attending the Shepherd's Conference, actually, as well as another uh symposium that's hosted by uh the Master Seminary.

And so um, I just want to ask you guys, just if you're praying on behalf of uh Howard, myself, and Phil, um, that the Lord would just really allow this time to be a a week of just growth and learning, and that the things that we learn could simply just be applied here uh at the beacon as well. And so your prayers are coveted, and we would just um love for you guys to continue to be thinking of us as we um as we uh look ahead to the shepherd's conference. And so um with that, I have the pleasure of inviting up our speaker today, uh, Pastor Madison. Let's give him a round of applause. Hey, I get a I get to have the kids here today. And we're gonna start something today. I'll let them get that on the screen first.

We're gonna start the book of James. And you can see on the screen, uh, I'm gonna ask you to stand and and for the reading of God's word. Okay. Uh so let me just I will back up here. Okay. So this is James 1, 1 to 5. We're actually just gonna look at James 1, 1 today. But uh James 1, 1 to 5, and it says this. James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Now, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be killed.

This is the word of the Lord. Amen. You may be seated. You know, when we look at, and let me just advance here, uh, when we look at uh the book of James and just kind of the overview of James, I would want you to know that this book is one of the books of the Bible uh that there were some really prominent people that thought it shouldn't be in the Bible. Probably the most prominent that you've ever maybe heard of uh is Martin Luther. Now, Martin Luther was a Roman Catholic priest, and as a Roman Catholic priest, uh, he began to see uh in his church, oh, you had to do this, and you had to do this, and you had to do this, you had to go to confession, you had to get baptized. They they would have said in the Roman Catholic Church that there are ways to get God's grace.

They would actually call them means to getting God's grace. M-E-A-N-S. Well, by what means does this happen? That was the means of getting God's grace, they had to get baptized, they had to take communion. Marriage was even a means of grace. Now, I'll tell you you single guys over here, I'll tell you, that is a way to get more of God's grace. Because you're gonna learn from that difficulty, you're gonna be living with somebody that you've never lived with before your entire life, and all of a sudden you're gonna have to learn how to live with them, and it takes grace. So you want to get more of God's grace? What's interesting is God in his word, uh, there's only one place in God's word that he says you can get more of his grace.

You see, grace is something free. That's why we sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Because it's free, and it's amazing grace. God doesn't, I can't do anything to earn it, he just gives it. But there's one place, and it happens to be in the book of James, where you can get more of God's grace. We'll talk about it in a second, but let me do this. Martin Luther, Roman Catholic priest, was reading through the Bible, and as he read through the Bible, and this goes back to 1500, the year 1500, and by 1517, he was reading through Romans, and as he read through the book of Romans, he read this. People who are saved, he calls them the just, J-U-S T. The just shall live by faith.

And he went, wait a minute. That's not what our church is doing. That's not what his Roman Catholic Church was doing. He was telling people, no, you have to do this, and you have to do this, and you have to do this, and then, and then they don't even know for sure that they're going to heaven, right? And so he said, Wait a minute. If the just shall live by faith, why am I teaching people that they have to do works? Why am I teaching them that they have to go to confession? So the priest sits on one side of the booth, the confessional booth, and you're on the other side of the confessional booth, and you tell him where you sinned. And then he, he, the priest, forgives your sins. But what are we taught in God's word?

Only who can forgive sins? Only God. And so why am I going to confession? And there's a sense in James chapter 5. He says, confess your faults to one another. And pray for one another, that you'll be healed. So there's a sense that we do confess to each other. Hey, I've struggled with this. I don't know if you have, but I want to encourage your heart. There's victory. But I don't go to confession to get God's grace. God in his grace wants to give it to me. So look at the screen. Here's why Martin Luther said, Oh, I don't think James belongs in the Bible. Because the book of James says, listen to me, faith without works, is dead. And then he says, was not, was not Abraham justified by works, was not.

You know, and he talks about people that had works. And so wait a minute. Martin Luther says, wait a minute, stop. It's not by works. So maybe that book doesn't belong in the Bible. But let me say it this way. Is it, is it about works? No, it's not. So look at the screen. It's really about faith. Although, wait a minute. The book of James is talking about works as well. So here's what happens. Look at the screen again. They begin to say, well, is it faith versus works? Is it, is it, wait a minute. Which is it? Is it faith? Like when we, when you play a basketball game against somebody, or when you went to basketball game or watch a football game, um, the Super Bowl, well, last was it last Sunday?

Or it seems like it's a lot longer ago than that. The Super Bowl last Sunday, when you saw one team, when one team versus another team, one team has to win, and one team what loses. So if it's faith versus works, uh, does one win and the other lose? No. Look at here's what James is all about. It's not faith versus works. I mean, let me just change it. It's about a faith that works. Our faith ought to work and serve the Lord. And so, let me drop it down this way and say, we don't work to get saved. If I were to ask you this question, just look at me for a moment. If I would ask you this question, if you were to die right now, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven? If you cannot answer yes to that question, then you don't know you're saved.

Okay? You ought to be able to answer absolutely, absolutely, I am certain that I'm going to heaven, and here's why, and you ought to be able to tell me from God's word. If you can't tell me, yes, I know if I had to die right now, I'd go to heaven. Then I want you to talk to me sometime soon, so that you can know based on God's word. He says, These things are written so that you might know you have eternal life. So I want you to be able to know based on God's word. So we don't work to get saved, but look at the screen. Here's why we work because we're saved. Do you see the difference there? And that's where Martin Luther was having a struggle because all his life as a Roman Catholic, and then as a Roman Catholic priest, he was taught confession, take your first communion, get baptized, get married.

These are all ways to get more of God's grace. And so for him, he goes, Well, wait a minute, when you begin to discover that it was by faith and faith alone, in Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, in Christ alone. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, God's word says, but according to his mercy, he saved us. So we don't work to get saved, we work because we're saved. That's why in James chapter 2, verse 26, he says this. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. So what he is saying here is this, as we start today to look through the book of James, I want you to understand that if you tell somebody you trusted Christ as your Savior, you ought to be able to serve them and serve the Lord and work for him, not so you can get saved, but because you're saved.

And if you have no desire to serve God and to serve others, then I want you to begin to ask yourself, am I really saved? Have I really trusted Christ? Because if I trust Christ as my Savior and invite him into my life, he lives in me. And when he came to earth, it says this.

He came not to be served, but to serve. And if he lives in you, what are you going to do for other people? You're going to serve him. You're going to serve the Lord. So let me highlight here. Faith without works is dead. I'm wanting to challenge you. Have you seen a change in your life once you trusted Christ? So that there are works in your life, but not to get saved, and not to stay saved. Let me say it this way. You cannot be saved by works. And if you can't be saved by works, you cannot be kept by works. Did you catch that? So what the Lord is saying, though you ought to have some works in your life, not the not so that God goes down, oh, that was good. He did that. So that Jesus is in you.

And Jesus is wanting to minister to other people. And he wants you to just serve other people. So let's do this. On the screen, the word works. Because I'm telling you, James is about works, right? And that's why Martin Luther had a hard time with it. Because he was saying you ought to work. But not to get saved, but because you're saved. So here's what I'm going to do. In the next, oh, we'll probably be in this uh in the next half year. Lord willing, you'll have your pastor before that. But through the book of James, it's only five chapters. So here's the deal. Works. There are five letters and there are five chapters in James. So what I want you to do this week, if you're thinking about it, only five chapters.

So if you read a chapter a day, tomorrow, chapter one, Thursday, chapter two, Wednesday, chapter three, Thursday, chapter four, then chapter five on Friday. As you read through the book, I want you to take the word works, and I want you to turn it. I'm going to do it on the screen here in a second, but I want you to turn it on its side. And I want you, so from now on in, when anybody talks to you about the book of James, you're going to know it's about works. Not to get saved, but because you're saved. And so anybody says, What's what was James about? Well, it's about what? Works. Now I want you to take the W and I want you to come up with a sentence that describes what's in chapter one. And the O for describing what's in chapter two.

Now look at the screen and let me do it for you. And then I want you to do it on your own. Okay? Look at the screen. I'm dropping works down that way. And chapter one, it ought to be easy to remember. Because what's what's the key word? Works. Got it? So what's the what's the first chapter about? Working. So take works. And so now you're working through trials and tests when God tests us. Let me put the verse on the screen. James, look at here. James 1, 2 and 3. Considered a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. So what's chapter one about? Working through trials and tests that the Lord allows to give into our lives.

Chapter 2, the letter O. I'm going to tell you what is in chapter 2. Obedience that accompanies faith. Obedience that accompanies faith. So if you say you're a believer, and uh I'll give you time to write these down so that obedience that accompanies faith. Now, look at the screen. In chapter two, he's going to talk about these kind of laws. Look at it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Got it. So if I have faith, I ought to have obedience. There ought to be an obedience in my life. Okay? Chapter 3. The R. Here's what it is. Restraining the unbridled tongue.

Now in chapter 3, he's really talking about uh how people how the tongue, the tongue can no man. It's just we brag about it, we curse other people. You know, you hear people, and what do they do on the highway? You know, you you drive somebody and they're upset with you, and they're screaming out out their window at you. You know, they're and he said, My brother, and these things not ought not to be so. Can uh can a tree both have good fruit and bitter fruit? No. So let me put the verse on the screen that goes along with that. James 3, 7 and 8. Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no no one can tame the what tongue. You know, I my wife and I were down in in uh Mexico a few years back.

We were with some friends. We were with those friends, same friends in Louisiana last week. And and he was uh he worked at NASA, uh flight surgeon, and so we were down in in um uh Puerto Vallarta or somewhere down in that area, and um my buddy, uh Dr. Carrier and I, we wanted to swim with the dolphins, and so we're uh we went over to the place where they had a lot of dolphins and we're swimming with the dolphins, and you know, the people would be up front, and the dolphins, you know, they would do a gesture, and the dolphins would all come up and jump and get on the you know and do their thing in the water, and then they said, Okay, now we want you to do this. Uh hook your arm on your on your buddy's arm.

So uh Dr. Carey and I hooked arms, and they had two dolphins come up and kiss us on our cheeks. So they they would just come up with and just and kiss us. And then we were able to swim around with them. So you hung on to them. You weren't able to have rings or anything like that on because that could cut their skin. And so, but you can hang on to them, and you're going through the water because every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But uh, one thing can't be tamed. What is it? The tongue. So, chapter three, he's dealing with how to re- how do you gonna restrain this tongue? He said you put bits in horses' mouths, and you can control them. And somehow we ought to, and so our mouths, and that's what he's gonna talk about in chapter three.

Chapter four, let's get back to that, keeping humble before the Lord, keeping humble before the Lord. And now in chapter 4, I'll put this on the screen. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Two places in James 4, James 4, 6, says, God, listen to me carefully. Okay, I know you're right in notes, and I don't want to keep you from doing that, but God resists the proud. And this is the only verse in Scripture where he says you can get more of God's grace. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

When when God was going to destroy the earth with a f uh the flood, it says, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He found grace. He didn't do something to get it, it was just grace. But if you want to get God's grace, then humble yourself. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Okay? That's chapter four. What do you think in chapter five? It's about works now. I'm gonna put five S's on the screen, okay? Because here's what happens in chapter five suffering, sickness, and sin. And that's what he deals with in chapter five. I have to I have to smile as I as I preach and as you take notes with your phone or whatever, you know, and in the in the church I planted in in Palmdale, and we were in the first service there this morning, because I had to pray in that service and be involved in that.

Um, but as people, as I'm out there preaching, we have five screens in our church up there, and people are they got their phones up and they're taking pictures of of different parts of a sermon stuff, so that then they have it and then they don't even worry that I went too quickly. But here's the outline of this book. So if somebody asks you in the future, what's James all about? Well, let me give you the word works, and it's working through trials in chapter one, it's being obedient that accompanies faith in chapter two. It's about restraining your tongue in chapter three, it's about keeping humble before the Lord in chapter four. Oh, it's dealing with suffering, sickness and sin in chapter five.

Let me give you a couple of verse for that. James 5, 13 and 14. Is anyone among you suffering? You should pray. Is anyone cheerful? You should sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? You should call the elders and and confess your faults to one another. Confess your sins to one another. By the way, this is where the Roman Catholic Church gets the idea of going to confession. James 5, confess your faults. Oh, but it what's what's God's word say? Does it say confess your faults to a priest? No, it says confess your faults to one another and pray for one another. That's how the church functions. Because if somebody thinks you never have any problems, they're not gonna come to you and talk to you about how do you handle this?

Because they think, oh, he's perfect, he doesn't have any problems. So you can say, Yeah, yeah, all of us, there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. So, look at me, whatever you're facing in difficulty. Everybody else faces. Not maybe then not the same sin, the same way. I've never been uh tempted to go out and get drunk, you know, it's never been a problem of mine. Some people have that problem, but I have other problems at times, and and for me to share that with you when you have a need, then you go, oh, he has to work on an area too. Because God is working on all of us. Okay? So that's the area. How's the verse start out? James 1. James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, we're going to look at just verse 1 here today. Because who's this about? He comes right out the get-go. When we write a when you write a letter to somebody, and I don't think many of you write letters anymore. Do you write letters? Read your hand if you write letters. Okay, we got we've got one here. You know, that writes a letter. We do emails or you send text, so you get on the phone and call. Uh but when we write letters, we usually say, if I were writing a letter to Howard, I'd say, hey dear Howard, and then I would write the letter, and then I would sign my name at the bottom. They didn't do that, and the reason they didn't do that is because they didn't have notepads that they could write on.

All theirs was on a scroll. And you would unwrap that scroll and read the letter. And so you didn't unwrap the whole scroll to get to the end and find out who wrote you the letter. They started right from the beginning. So as soon as you started to unwind the scroll, it says, What? James. A slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes, King James says it this way, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. And that's the dispersion. They're dispersed. Some over here, some over here, some over there. So he's going to say that to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. Ha, greetings. And then he gets into what we're going to talk about next week. But right now, James is kind of the focus here.

So let me uh say it this way. If somebody asks you, what did Pastor Madison talk about today? I will always try to reduce the sermon down to a sentence. And here's the sentence.

And he can change your life too. So what do I know about James? Well, let's do it this way. There are several issues in James' life that will show how he was changed. Okay? So let me give you something right from the start. He was a half-brother of Jesus. Now we're not talking about Peter, James, John, and Andrew, you know, disciples. Because Peter and James and John and Andrew, they were two sets of brothers. This is another James, and he happens to be the half-brother of Jesus. Now, yesterday, I was down here yesterday, and we were at I brought my grandson down and we were setting up some stuff in the back. And so on the way back, he said, uh, he calls me Papa. He says, Papa, well, what are you preaching about tomorrow?

He's 10. I said, we're talking about James. He said, Oh, is it gonna be James 1.5? Because he knows James 1.5. If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. But I said, No, it's gonna be James 1. It's gonna be about James. And he said, What about James? And I said, Well, did you know that James was a half-brother of Jesus? Now a 10-year-old is kind of thinking through, well, wait a minute. How are you a half-brother? You know, it's because a 10-year-old is not quite sure how everything comes about. But I said, Well, uh, let me ask you this. His name is Titus. I said, Titus. Who was who was the mother of Jesus? He said, Mary. I said, Titus. Who was the father of Jesus? He said, Joseph. And I went, and because Joseph was the man who was willing to become a dad to him.

But he wasn't his biological dad. The Holy Spirit came on Mary. And she conceived. Not from a man, but from God. That's the reason Jesus never sinned. Because he didn't have the sin nature that came through Adam. But you and I. Sad to say we have that sin nature. But Jesus didn't. So in this case, James, I should say my grandson is kind of processing that. Let's see. Oh, yeah. What do you mean, half brother? I said, well, because I I said, well, let's say Grammy for her. I said, let's say Grammy, let's say I, after your uncle and your mom were born, let's say I passed away. And Grammy remarried. And then Grammy had children by that husband.

I said, those people would be a half-brother and half-sister. They'd have the same mom, but different dads. And so Jesus had four brothers. And they're spelled out in scripture. And he also had at least two sisters. And then we don't know how many sisters he had. He could have had more than that. But in the text it says, and the sisters of Jesus were there also. So my grandson said, oh yeah, if it had been just one, it would have said sister. I said, yeah, but sisters could have been two, three, four, five. We don't know. Because they weren't named. But his brothers are named in Scripture. So here's as it starts out. I'm going to tell you about him. Okay. Matthew 13, 53. When Jesus had finished, and I'm going to talk about this for a second.

When Jesus had finished these parables, he left there. Okay? Now, later on in the text, it's going to tell you who he was teaching these parables to. And it's going to be his brothers. But let's do this. Look at the screen. Let me quickly go through this so I don't take extra time here. But Jesus had finished teaching these parables. The Greek word, I'm going to put it on the screen. The Greek word for parables looks like this. Parabalay. Parabelay. Okay. And look at the screen. So you can kind of if you need me to give you this information later, I'll be glad to do this. I'll call you, we'll spend time, whatever. But parabola is the Greek word for parable. It comes from two parts. By the way, just so you know, the Greek language, the Greek alphabet is where we get our English alphabet.

It has those those letters. The very first Greek letter is alpha. The second Greek letter is beta. So guess where we got our word alphabet from the first two letters of the Greek language. Alpha beta, alphabet. So now this one, parabola, let me divide it into two parts, just like we would if we were going to understand the word. Para means beside.

This line is parallel. Parallel. So if a line is beside another line and never crosses, they are what? Parallel. The first part of this word, para, P-A-R-A, means beside. The second part of the word, balay, means to throw. And we get our English word almost ball from it. Bale. B-A-L and then A. To throw. Okay? Now, when you put this word together, Jesus is teaching with what? Parables. So what's a parable? Look at the screen. Parable means to throw beside. So Jesus would do this. And I put the railroad tracks on here so that you can see. One track is right beside the other. Got it? So now I'm going to tell you what parable is. Parable is an earthly story that is thrown beside a heavenly story to help us understand it.

That makes? So now Jesus is has been throwing earthly stories. Now let me say this to you. Because we want to exposit God's word all the time. Okay? I want to stay with God's word, and that's what we're teaching right now. But there are times that a pastor or a Sunday school teacher, or even you, if you're teaching, you want to have an earthly story that can be thrown right alongside, just like Jesus did. Jesus is the master teacher. And he never taught without parables. He always threw earthly stories to help us understand heavenly stories. And so he talked about sheep. And he talked about the lost coin. And he talked about the lost son. And then he said, and you are lost without me. And then people, oh yeah, I understand that.

And when the woman had the lost coin and she found it, she got all excited. He said, When a sinner repents and he's no longer lost, we rejoice in heaven. The same way. And so he always did that. So you want to encourage I want to encourage you to think of earthly stories that will illustrate to your friends these heavenly things. So use parables. Now let me take you back to the text in Matthew 13 where we were.

What's it say? He went to his what? His hometown. And began to teach in their synagogue. So that they were astonished and said, How did this wisdom and these miracles come to him? Because now he's in his hometown. If he's in his hometown, there are kids in the town that know him. Oh, and by the way, he's in his hometown. And how many brothers does he have? Four. He has at least two sisters. And they're hanging around the hometown. And so they're saying, how this wisdom and these miracles come to him. Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary and his brothers? James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. See that in the text? They're going to spell right out. Here are his brothers. What's interesting in the Roman Catholic Church, they don't they want to say that Mary was a perpetual what?

Do you know what? Virgin. And that Jesus didn't have any brothers. And so how they how do they interpret a passage like this? They they have a more difficult time with this. But when they when the word brother is used in the Bible, I I may say, hey, John, you're a believer in Christ, I'm a believer in Christ. We are what? We're brothers in Christ. And there are times I write people and I say, hey, brother, how you doing? Because, but that's we use that in a in a general sense. But I I only have one physical brother. But Jesus had, and he spells it right out here. He's teaching, he's teaching these people and his brothers, and why would we name specific people who are brothers when he talks about every believer who's a brother in Christ or a sister in Christ?

So he's a brother. When was the last time you thought about being a slave to your brother or sister? Now, let me look up here a second. In James 1, how's he start out? James, a servant of God, a slave of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. When's the last time you ever called your physical brother or sister and said, I'm their slave, and I want to be their slave. Yesterday when I was talking to my grandmy grandson about this, I said, He's the oldest. He's 10. He has a sister eight. He has another sister, five, is a brother three. And I said, are you willing to be the slave to your brother? Your sisters and brother? And he's kind of no. And I said, and how do they treat you? When you try to tell them you're the oldest in the family, and you try to tell them how to do things, then I go, Yes, Titus.

Thank you. I'll do whatever you say. No, man. They fight you, don't they? Now, who was the oldest in Jesus' family? Who was the oldest son in Jesus' family? He was the firstborn of Mary. So what does that make him? The oldest. So James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas are all younger. And Jesus says the older brother. And do they want to always do what he says? No. Just like when you see kids here. When the older brother tried to put the younger brother down, put the sister in place, they go, You're not in charge of me. And that's what was going on here. James was the half brother, younger half brother of Jesus. And because of that, he resisted Christ all his days until Jesus appeared to him in the resurrection.

And God changed his life. So let's go back here to what I said the sermon was about. The Lord changed the life of James. He can change your life too. Here are the issues. He was a half-brother of Jesus. Ah. But he was willing to become a what? He was changed from just being a half-brother to being a what? A slave. What does James 1 1 say? James. A slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. By the way, the Greek word for slave is doulos. Dulos.

In English. Okay. Doulas. And what's interesting is when translations are done in the Bible, most of the time, we don't. Translations have taken on the American culture. And we don't like, we are opposed to slavery. Is that not true? We had a civil war over it. We say, no, slavery was wrong. And so when they go to translate the Bible, they don't like to use the word slave anymore. Almost always in the contemporary translations of the Bible, they'll call it a servant. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the real word, if you're going to translate it literally, is slave. He was willing to be.

After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee. We're in John 7 here. After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee since he did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him. The Jewish festival of tabernacles was near. So his brothers said to him, not just, I mean, we didn't have brothers in Christ except the disciples at that point. Right? There were people that were just coming to know him. It wasn't all the brothers. These were brothers taunting him. His physical brothers, his four physical brothers. And his brothers, verse 3, so his brothers said to him, Leave here and go to Judea, so your disciples can see your works that you are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he's seeking public recognition.

If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed in him. Who is that? James. Oh, the one that ended up writing one of the books of the Bible. Listen, I'll say it to you this way. This means that James didn't believe what Jesus was saying while he was alive. And what have I said to you? The Lord changed James. And he can change you too. There are people that don't believe, and all of a sudden they become believers. And you go, wow, twice. Wow, they've changed. And sometimes people don't know, wow, what changed them. And then they say, Ah, I trusted Christ as my savior. Look at there are several issues that are going on here. James was a half-brother of Jesus and became a slave.

He was an unbeliever, became a believer. He was among those, ah, who saw the risen Christ. That's what changed him. When he said, Wow, this was my brother. I know they killed him. And he's alive. And he tells me that if I believe in him, I'll never die, I'll live forever in heaven. Here's what the text says in 1 Corinthians 15. For I passed unto you as most important, what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised from uh raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas. By the way, Cephas, that was another name for Peter in scripture. So he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve, to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at one time. Now, this is where the Catholic Church goes back and says, See, it's using the word brother, and he didn't have 500 brothers, physical brothers. So you have to put it in its context and say, okay, who are we talking about here? Feared to 500 people at one time. Most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. They've died. So what he's saying there is, you can ask them. They saw him. This wasn't just one or two people. These are 500 people. I'm writing about this, and if I'm not telling you the truth, one of these 500 people are going to stand up and say, Oh, that's not so. Verse 7. Then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles.

And so here's his half-brother. Seeing. Wow, this is alive. I can't believe that. I know he, I know, I know he was dead. I know they crucified him. Look. He changed the life of James. He can change your life too. He was a half-brother of Jesus who became a slave. He was an unbeliever, became a believer. He was one who saw Christ at the resurrection. And so he could write about it and talk about it and tell others about it. And that's why he wrote the book of James. He was at the first prayer meeting in Jerusalem. I mean, if you're an unbeliever, do you take time to go to a prayer meeting? If you don't believe that God answers prayer or hears you. No. But James decided he's going to go. And in Acts 1, it says this.

They returned to Jerusalem from the mount called the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem. A Sabbath day's journey away. When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew. You're listening the disciples there. And Judas, the son of James. All these were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus. Look at the text. And his brothers. Now, this is where the Catholic Church had a hard time then with using brothers. Because we just listed all the disciples. And now he's saying, uh, and his brothers. Well, why would you say that? Why not? Why list all these people and then call and say, and and the brothers were also there.

Aren't these guys brothers? Yeah, because they're brothers in the Lord, but they're not physical brothers. And so James says, hey. I look at the change. I'm going to put this change on it. This means that James went from an unbeliever to a person of prayer. He's going to be there with 120 in the upper room when the Holy Spirit came down for the first time. What a change. And this is what the book of James is all about. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you one last thing here. What went on that changed his life.

He was an unbeliever, but he became a believer. He was among those who saw the risen Christ, and wow, he goes, that's unbelievable. He was at the first prayer meeting in Jerusalem. And let me give you one last thing that you can really see the change in his life. He was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. When the church got started in Jerusalem, it was the half brother of our Lord that started it. Here's what the text says. Acts 12, 16. Peter had been arrested, was in jail. They were praying that he be released. God allowed him to be released. He came out and he went to the home of the of where they were praying for his release. Remember how he knocked on the door? And they and Rhoda came and said, Oh my goodness.

And she leaves and tells them all, it's it's Peter. And they say, No, it can't be. You know, but thank God he kept knocking. He kept saying, Hey, love you in, love me in. Peter, however, kept on knocking. And when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Verse 17, motioning to them with his hand to be silent. Peter explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Report these things to who? To whom? James. And the brothers. He said, look, he was at the church in Jerusalem. Galatians says it this way. When James, Cephas, and John recognized his pillars, acknowledged the grace that had been given to them. They gave the right into fellowship to Paul and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles.

And they would go to the circumcised. That happens to be Jewish people, Jewish men. They were going to go to the Jewish men, and the others were going to go to the Gentiles. But look at what it says here at the top. James was recognized as what? One of the pillars of the church in Jerusalem. Again, James, what is he? A slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm wondering if you're willing to be a slave. If you if you trust the Christ. You're willing to do whatever he wants. Because you're a slave of his now. He's the master, and you're the slave. Again, I told you in our society, people don't want to use that word. And we don't we don't use that of other people. You're not my slave. But I can, I'm willingly a slave of Jesus.

You can be a slave of Jesus. And to serve him. The question I have for you, look, the Lord changed James. He had to change his heart. And so I put it this way on the screen. You know, change your life. I could say it this way. Change your heart. Change your life. If I can change your heart, it will change your life. I'm going to ask us to close it.

Just as we are encouraged by the change that was that occurred in James's life. His heart was changed when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection.

Just look to him and offer up our lives and hearts to him.

So change my heart. Change my heart oh God.

Change my heart oh God. May I be like you then again change my heart. Change my heart of God.

Make it ever true.

Change my heart of God.

You are the part.

This is what I pray. Change my heart of God.

Change my heart, oh God.

Change my heart of God. Make it ever true. Change my heart all God.

May I be like you're not going to be able to do the I am claim.

Make it ever true.

Change my heart.

May I be like you more time. Change my heart. Change my heart of God. Make it ever true. Change my heart oh God. May I be like you. Oh, Father. That's what we've just sung. May we mean what we say. May we mean what we say. So change us this week to be like you. Use us this week as we go out and work on our families, our friends.

Now may the blessing of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit go with you now to serve him this week. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Have a great week in the life.