WEBVTT 00:00.171 --> 00:00.552 [SPEAKER_00]: All right. 00:00.572 --> 00:01.453 [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, everyone. 00:02.574 --> 00:04.056 [SPEAKER_00]: Good to see you. 00:04.196 --> 00:05.998 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, Discovery Church. 00:06.639 --> 00:10.103 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're on you, or you're visiting, I'm just checking out Church for the first time. 00:10.403 --> 00:11.204 [SPEAKER_00]: You're so welcome. 00:11.365 --> 00:17.432 [SPEAKER_00]: It's um, this is going to be a great service and this is a place where you can figure out all things about faith and um, 00:17.712 --> 00:19.514 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so you're so welcome. 00:19.554 --> 00:25.401 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to everyone joining us in the parents room with your little ones or online as well. 00:25.802 --> 00:29.767 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to jump into the text, James chapter 5, verse 1 to 12. 00:30.207 --> 00:32.590 [SPEAKER_00]: But before we do that, just two things really quickly. 00:32.630 --> 00:35.294 [SPEAKER_00]: The first one is I want to apologize. 00:35.754 --> 00:40.235 [SPEAKER_00]: to those of you who perhaps have already heard me speak once today. 00:40.715 --> 00:53.699 [SPEAKER_00]: I've heard a couple of people say before the service that the light, 89.9, played a discovery message on the radio this morning, and so my apologies if you're subjected to me again. 00:55.079 --> 00:59.821 [SPEAKER_00]: That's bad, but it's okay, you know, we will persist, we will move on. 01:00.281 --> 01:00.741 [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, 01:02.221 --> 01:12.803 [SPEAKER_00]: During the week, Vincent, just into and myself, had the incredible privilege of meeting with the Board Chair and the current Interim Senior pastor at Ringwood Church of Christ, too. 01:12.823 --> 01:15.964 [SPEAKER_00]: So, Ringwood Church of Christ, they're a part of our tribe, part of our movement. 01:16.224 --> 01:22.185 [SPEAKER_00]: We're two very different churches, kind of reaching two very different groups of people and very different demographics. 01:22.545 --> 01:30.747 [SPEAKER_00]: But we had the best, generative, generous conversation this week, and we're really looking forward to the way that the Lord is continuing to move and grow. 01:31.167 --> 01:36.489 [SPEAKER_00]: and that the kingdom is advancing in and through Ringwood and the whole Shire of the whole marina area. 01:36.549 --> 01:38.470 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's really cool as well. 01:38.950 --> 01:44.892 [SPEAKER_00]: But with that in mind, why don't we open our Bibles to James chapter five? 01:44.912 --> 01:46.453 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be reading from verse one. 01:46.973 --> 01:48.914 [SPEAKER_00]: all the way through to verse 12. 01:49.254 --> 01:56.196 [SPEAKER_00]: This is going to feel like even though it's the second service, it's 1130, this is going to feel like a bit of a slap in the face. 01:56.616 --> 01:58.977 [SPEAKER_00]: So here we go. 01:58.997 --> 02:01.718 [SPEAKER_00]: I love these texts because we can't avoid them. 02:02.098 --> 02:04.319 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we have to go through them, not around them. 02:04.379 --> 02:04.879 [SPEAKER_00]: So here we go. 02:05.319 --> 02:06.560 [SPEAKER_00]: Come now, you rich. 02:07.520 --> 02:11.282 [SPEAKER_00]: Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 02:12.342 --> 02:16.284 [SPEAKER_00]: Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten. 02:17.244 --> 02:25.968 [SPEAKER_00]: Your golden silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. 02:27.218 --> 02:42.482 [SPEAKER_00]: You have laid up treasure in the last days, behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, and now crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 02:43.723 --> 02:46.624 [SPEAKER_00]: You've lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 02:47.364 --> 02:50.965 [SPEAKER_00]: You've fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 02:52.105 --> 02:55.226 [SPEAKER_00]: You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. 02:56.046 --> 02:57.186 [SPEAKER_00]: He does not resist you. 02:58.907 --> 03:02.868 [SPEAKER_00]: So be patient, therefore, my sisters and brothers, until the coming of the Lord. 03:03.748 --> 03:10.490 [SPEAKER_00]: See how the farmer waits for the precious fruits of the earth being patient about it until it receives the early and the late reigns. 03:11.291 --> 03:15.132 [SPEAKER_00]: You also be patient, establish your hearts, 03:16.273 --> 03:17.953 [SPEAKER_00]: for the coming of the Lord as at hand. 03:18.633 --> 03:24.314 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged, behold the judge is standing at the door. 03:25.735 --> 03:30.836 [SPEAKER_00]: As an example of suffering and patience, brothers take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 03:30.876 --> 03:34.456 [SPEAKER_00]: Behold, we consider those blessed to remain steadfast. 03:35.456 --> 03:42.998 [SPEAKER_00]: You've heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you've seen the purpose of the Lord how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 03:46.216 --> 03:59.924 [SPEAKER_00]: My brothers do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no so that you may not fall under condemnation. 04:01.825 --> 04:05.327 [SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, we acknowledge your presence in this place. 04:06.367 --> 04:12.411 [SPEAKER_00]: As we open your word, your revelation to us today, Lord God made it, may it be your words 04:14.208 --> 04:28.157 [SPEAKER_00]: May anything of me fall to the ground, but Lord may your eternal word take root in our hearts that it might make us confident and strong, that it might make us wise to salvation in Jesus Christ. 04:28.858 --> 04:32.000 [SPEAKER_00]: We pray this through His name, in Jesus name, amen. 04:33.883 --> 04:38.467 [SPEAKER_00]: OK, now every generation has their own protest songs. 04:39.367 --> 04:49.255 [SPEAKER_00]: You might have remembered Billy Holiday's song, Way Back, 67 is a song called Strange Fruit, which was about racial tension in America. 04:50.196 --> 04:58.482 [SPEAKER_00]: There was Bob Dylan's song, blowing in the wind, which was asking about how many roads can a man walk down until everybody is created equal. 04:59.343 --> 05:04.446 [SPEAKER_00]: There are other protests, songs, and maybe there are a little bit more closer to our time. 05:05.026 --> 05:08.288 [SPEAKER_00]: You might think about Tracy Chapman talking about a revolution. 05:09.248 --> 05:22.195 [SPEAKER_00]: You might think about this one still on the radio quite a bit zombie by the cranberries, which shines a light on the religious violence happening in Ireland. 05:29.895 --> 05:36.713 [SPEAKER_00]: or this is America by Childish Gambino for those who are on the younger end of our audience today. 05:38.332 --> 05:53.760 [SPEAKER_00]: All of these songs are there not just to entertain but to provoke, to tell us something not just about what something that's beautiful, but they tell us something about a rift or something that's broken in the world. 05:54.041 --> 06:01.945 [SPEAKER_00]: These protests songs are songs that were written so that people would not just be entertained but they come with a message. 06:03.494 --> 06:13.442 [SPEAKER_00]: A message of brokenness, but also they hint towards perhaps maybe a surprising way that God might be, or that the world might be, it imagines a better world. 06:13.742 --> 06:18.966 [SPEAKER_00]: A world that might, we might be trending towards, or could become a reality in our day. 06:19.967 --> 06:23.450 [SPEAKER_00]: This is James' protest song. 06:25.746 --> 06:32.596 [SPEAKER_00]: But the interesting thing about this is it's not a protest song that's politically motivated. 06:33.397 --> 06:36.883 [SPEAKER_00]: It is a protest song of spiritual warfare. 06:38.277 --> 06:47.625 [SPEAKER_00]: It is a protest song that says, when things aren't going well, remain in the Lord and guess what, those cries that you cry. 06:48.006 --> 06:58.795 [SPEAKER_00]: The prayers that you pray, even though you may feel voiceless, are heard in heaven, God hears the protest song of your heart. 07:02.300 --> 07:08.387 [SPEAKER_00]: James, chapter five, helps us imagine a world that is coming, not just the world that is. 07:11.270 --> 07:20.201 [SPEAKER_00]: The cries have been heard, and so when the world is going wrong, it encourages us today church to remain in the Lord. 07:20.581 --> 07:20.882 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 07:22.095 --> 07:27.779 [SPEAKER_00]: So what we're going to do is we're going to unpack this in chunks, these verses give us a way through. 07:28.019 --> 07:37.044 [SPEAKER_00]: We're going to apply this to our lives and then see what might come of it, what might, how we might live differently because of the truth of these words. 07:37.284 --> 07:45.249 [SPEAKER_00]: And then we're going to end our service today around the table, celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus around communion, around the bread and the wine. 07:45.489 --> 07:48.491 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll pray for some people and make some space for prayer as well. 07:48.511 --> 07:49.352 [SPEAKER_00]: Does that sound alright? 07:51.032 --> 07:53.775 [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone said, bring it on, bring it on. 07:53.935 --> 07:54.996 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, here we go. 07:55.297 --> 07:56.398 [SPEAKER_00]: This is where it begins. 07:56.959 --> 08:04.287 [SPEAKER_00]: James chapter five verse one, come now, you rich, weep and hell for the miseries that are coming upon you. 08:04.307 --> 08:06.749 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a strong way to start a chapter, my friends. 08:07.751 --> 08:08.712 [SPEAKER_00]: Weep and hell. 08:10.138 --> 08:11.919 [SPEAKER_00]: for the miseries that are coming up. 08:11.979 --> 08:33.592 [SPEAKER_00]: I told you, you know, you come to church, you never know what you're gonna get, but going through these passages, it's like these help us confront things that maybe we wouldn't wanna read as readers of the text, but maybe even as preachers of the text, going through passages that helps us confront and contend with verses that perhaps, you know, Matt would not generally wanna preach on. 08:34.567 --> 08:37.308 [SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, here we go, here we are. 08:37.988 --> 08:39.429 [SPEAKER_00]: What is going on here? 08:39.709 --> 08:43.270 [SPEAKER_00]: Come now is this call to solemn attention. 08:43.750 --> 08:45.271 [SPEAKER_00]: And what is going on here? 08:45.331 --> 08:49.913 [SPEAKER_00]: This is a type of writing called a prophetic lament. 08:50.273 --> 08:53.234 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, do you remember back in the good old days when we had a newspaper? 08:53.554 --> 08:55.435 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the newspaper you would open it up. 08:55.695 --> 09:00.096 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the newspaper there was the editorial section, there was the letters to the editor. 09:00.296 --> 09:02.657 [SPEAKER_00]: There's the crosswords, there's the comics, 09:05.859 --> 09:07.400 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember that? 09:07.420 --> 09:07.620 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay. 09:08.280 --> 09:11.982 [SPEAKER_00]: They're all sort of different genres of writing, right? 09:12.383 --> 09:15.685 [SPEAKER_00]: The sports section is different to the crossword section. 09:16.385 --> 09:20.147 [SPEAKER_00]: The crossword section is different to the headline on the front of the paper. 09:20.587 --> 09:24.690 [SPEAKER_00]: And we can generally distinguish which parts are which. 09:25.410 --> 09:25.610 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 09:25.670 --> 09:29.572 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't try and fill out the comic section with the crossword section. 09:29.892 --> 09:31.033 [SPEAKER_00]: We can tell those parts. 09:31.373 --> 09:34.494 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible is written in the same kind of way. 09:34.855 --> 09:36.996 [SPEAKER_00]: In the Bible, you have prophetic elements. 09:37.196 --> 09:38.456 [SPEAKER_00]: There are Him elements. 09:38.716 --> 09:40.377 [SPEAKER_00]: There are teaching elements. 09:40.577 --> 09:41.938 [SPEAKER_00]: There are narrative elements. 09:42.158 --> 09:43.559 [SPEAKER_00]: There are historical elements. 09:43.759 --> 09:45.320 [SPEAKER_00]: There are poetic elements. 09:45.660 --> 09:51.462 [SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of times, if we're not careful, what we do is we read everything in the Bible through the same lens. 09:51.523 --> 09:52.283 [SPEAKER_00]: Does that make sense? 09:53.292 --> 09:56.834 [SPEAKER_00]: We just see it all in black and white, and we read everything the same. 09:56.874 --> 10:04.860 [SPEAKER_00]: Whereas just like you would go to a newspaper and be able to automatically tell that there are different sections in there, that's the same with the text. 10:05.160 --> 10:11.164 [SPEAKER_00]: And this of first six verses get categorized as a prophetic lament. 10:11.264 --> 10:17.469 [SPEAKER_00]: Now what that means is, James here is not talking to the church, he's writing to. 10:18.678 --> 10:19.939 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking over them. 10:20.939 --> 10:28.902 [SPEAKER_00]: So imagine where I'll hear and there's this group, and I'm talking to a group, another 200 meters away that way. 10:29.522 --> 10:35.145 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm yelling stuff at that group over there, but I know that you're in ear shot of me. 10:36.365 --> 10:40.427 [SPEAKER_00]: I am telling them something so that it encourages you. 10:40.507 --> 10:42.248 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what James is doing here. 10:42.488 --> 10:44.509 [SPEAKER_00]: When he says, come now you rich. 10:44.969 --> 10:48.491 [SPEAKER_00]: Weep and whale for the misery that's coming upon you. 10:48.731 --> 10:50.292 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not talking to the church. 10:50.572 --> 10:53.473 [SPEAKER_00]: He's talking to the unrighteous rich in their world. 10:54.094 --> 10:59.276 [SPEAKER_00]: Who are oppressing the church and he's telling them that so that the church is encouraged. 11:00.357 --> 11:00.937 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what I mean? 11:00.957 --> 11:03.038 [SPEAKER_00]: You know what it feels like when someone sticks up for you? 11:04.763 --> 11:05.703 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone sticks up for you. 11:05.743 --> 11:09.884 [SPEAKER_00]: You feel like, oh, I'm in this place and then someone comes over and goes, don't worry, they're with me. 11:11.445 --> 11:14.265 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, oh, it feels really good. 11:14.285 --> 11:17.406 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when you feel like, oh, no, I'm in a tight spot. 11:17.446 --> 11:25.288 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm in a tight spot and then someone else walks in and goes, oh, he, big brothers here, you leave him alone. 11:25.989 --> 11:26.409 [SPEAKER_00]: You know that? 11:27.329 --> 11:28.469 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what James is doing. 11:29.750 --> 11:31.290 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying, weep and how. 11:32.132 --> 11:33.475 [SPEAKER_00]: You unrighteous rich. 11:34.396 --> 11:35.599 [SPEAKER_00]: You've oppressed workers. 11:36.260 --> 11:37.562 [SPEAKER_00]: You've helped people down. 11:38.103 --> 11:43.374 [SPEAKER_00]: You've given them no voice, and God is coming to set things right. 11:45.159 --> 11:49.961 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's telling them that so that the church would be encouraged. 11:50.161 --> 11:53.523 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, someone's sticking up for us. 11:53.883 --> 11:55.644 [SPEAKER_00]: Someone's coming through for us. 11:55.964 --> 11:57.664 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is what is happening here. 11:57.864 --> 12:01.866 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying to the faithful, hang in there, help us on the way. 12:02.406 --> 12:05.668 [SPEAKER_00]: Just like remember, we read in James chapter one. 12:06.728 --> 12:10.772 [SPEAKER_00]: And James does address the church and he says, consider it all joy. 12:11.132 --> 12:17.419 [SPEAKER_00]: My brothers and sisters, when you go through trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 12:17.439 --> 12:18.059 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember that? 12:18.680 --> 12:19.541 [SPEAKER_00]: James chapter one. 12:19.941 --> 12:23.404 [SPEAKER_00]: Consider a pure joy when you go through trials of many kinds. 12:23.464 --> 12:23.725 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 12:23.765 --> 12:25.206 [SPEAKER_00]: Because there's a reward at the end. 12:25.466 --> 12:29.871 [SPEAKER_00]: So the idea is that the reward at the end, we bring that forward to bring us joy now. 12:31.205 --> 12:37.409 [SPEAKER_00]: The inverse is happening here, where he says to the rich, hey, there's a reward for you guys too. 12:38.850 --> 12:43.494 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you should start weeping and wailing now, because of what's coming. 12:44.274 --> 12:45.575 [SPEAKER_00]: That sounds a bit scary, doesn't it? 12:46.516 --> 12:47.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Sounds a little bit frightful. 12:49.517 --> 12:53.841 [SPEAKER_00]: But let's understand the church in this day had zero political power. 12:53.861 --> 12:55.162 [SPEAKER_00]: They were being held down. 12:55.562 --> 12:57.704 [SPEAKER_00]: They were fighting for their very existence. 12:58.425 --> 13:03.049 [SPEAKER_00]: And so big brother comes in and goes, oh, they're with me. 13:03.549 --> 13:04.330 [SPEAKER_00]: What does he say? 13:04.770 --> 13:06.271 [SPEAKER_00]: He talks about the destiny. 13:07.172 --> 13:08.293 [SPEAKER_00]: of these people. 13:08.333 --> 13:09.574 [SPEAKER_00]: But here's what's going on. 13:09.894 --> 13:15.079 [SPEAKER_00]: The God of the Bible does not ask a press people to pretend that everything is fine. 13:15.479 --> 13:17.961 [SPEAKER_00]: Your job is not to fake it till you make it. 13:18.601 --> 13:22.585 [SPEAKER_00]: If something is going wrong, you can bring those prayers to God. 13:23.790 --> 13:25.251 [SPEAKER_00]: You can offer those to him. 13:25.532 --> 13:30.937 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not sort of like a sanctified safety zone where only certain prayers are heard. 13:31.217 --> 13:32.938 [SPEAKER_00]: The prayer of the voiceless is heard. 13:33.219 --> 13:34.900 [SPEAKER_00]: The prayer of the oppressed is heard. 13:35.201 --> 13:48.353 [SPEAKER_00]: Your prayers when you feel under pressure, when you're feeling held in, when you're feeling hemmed in, when you're feeling held under, those prayers can go up to heaven, like spiritual warfare, and he hears the cries of our heart. 13:49.947 --> 13:54.689 [SPEAKER_00]: Your job is not to pretend everything is fine. 13:56.250 --> 14:00.591 [SPEAKER_00]: The protest of the church is not a cry into an empty sky help. 14:00.992 --> 14:03.273 [SPEAKER_00]: Here are us falling on nothing. 14:05.754 --> 14:08.255 [SPEAKER_00]: Some believers and some of you need permission to lament. 14:10.095 --> 14:12.637 [SPEAKER_00]: You need permission to say, you know what? 14:13.097 --> 14:16.018 [SPEAKER_00]: It's all good because not everything's all good. 14:18.229 --> 14:21.290 [SPEAKER_00]: but we can move forward from here. 14:22.691 --> 14:26.452 [SPEAKER_00]: James says, your riches, he speaks to the unrighteous rich and this is their destiny. 14:26.752 --> 14:33.215 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, your riches have rotted in your garments, a moth eaten, that reminds us of another text, doesn't it? 14:33.795 --> 14:41.998 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe James's half-brother, Jesus, who said, don't store up for yourselves, things that are gonna rust, things that are gonna get eaten, things that are gonna get stolen. 14:46.278 --> 14:49.759 [SPEAKER_00]: Your golden silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you. 14:49.779 --> 14:57.903 [SPEAKER_00]: You've laid up treasure in these last days, behold, the wages of the laborers who mode your fields, which you kept back by Ford, are crying out against you. 14:58.163 --> 15:02.265 [SPEAKER_00]: James here has got his old testament prophet KloCon. 15:03.281 --> 15:06.723 [SPEAKER_00]: And he's sort of channeling the Old Testament prophets. 15:06.743 --> 15:11.105 [SPEAKER_00]: He's also channeling Jesus here when he says, your clothes are moth eaten. 15:11.346 --> 15:18.710 [SPEAKER_00]: He's reminded of the sermon on the Mount, where Jesus doesn't lay up for yourselves, things that are gonna rot, things that are gonna spoil. 15:19.863 --> 15:22.065 [SPEAKER_00]: But he also is calling him to mind. 15:22.345 --> 15:30.412 [SPEAKER_00]: Things like, as he kills seven, where he says they will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an apparent thing. 15:30.712 --> 15:34.756 [SPEAKER_00]: Their silver in their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. 15:34.976 --> 15:37.058 [SPEAKER_00]: They cannot satisfy the appetite. 15:37.318 --> 15:43.063 [SPEAKER_00]: Nor can they feel their stomachs for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling. 15:45.045 --> 15:46.126 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what James is saying. 15:48.328 --> 15:52.979 [SPEAKER_00]: You guys who are oppressing everyone out there, you wait till my brother gets back. 15:54.703 --> 15:55.224 [SPEAKER_00]: He's coming. 15:56.227 --> 15:57.791 [SPEAKER_00]: The judge is standing at the door. 15:59.364 --> 16:18.274 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, there are things that we can deal with now, there are things that we can, that we can persevere through now, that we can be steadfast through now, because we know that the age that we are in is not eternal, it is not the age that's going to be here forever, but there is a new age that's coming, and James knows the guy who's doing it. 16:18.534 --> 16:25.318 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, it's part of his family, James says, my brother is coming back, and all of this is going to change. 16:29.148 --> 16:35.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Because soon enough, the oppression is going to stop and they'll be weeping and wailing. 16:36.432 --> 16:39.334 [SPEAKER_00]: And then the voice of the voiceless will be heard. 16:39.574 --> 16:39.915 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 16:41.095 --> 16:41.536 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 16:42.296 --> 16:42.836 [SPEAKER_00]: And amen. 16:44.698 --> 16:48.220 [SPEAKER_00]: James uses this literary device here of personification. 16:48.640 --> 16:53.183 [SPEAKER_00]: He says that the riches that you've stored up, they get a voice too. 16:54.222 --> 16:59.970 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, because when someone stores up wealth, what is it, why do we store up wealth to provide what? 16:59.990 --> 17:01.351 [SPEAKER_00]: Security and safety, right? 17:02.375 --> 17:04.417 [SPEAKER_00]: So we put it to make us feel comfortable. 17:04.437 --> 17:10.901 [SPEAKER_00]: So we store up all of these things, and someone who's piles up wealth on wealth on wealth, why? 17:10.921 --> 17:19.207 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I feel relaxed, I feel safe, and the money says to you, it's okay, you're safe, you're all right, you're gonna be okay. 17:19.508 --> 17:26.313 [SPEAKER_00]: And what James here says is, on that final day, when Jesus returns, that money's gonna have a different voice. 17:27.623 --> 17:30.366 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus turns up, and the money's gonna go, you know what? 17:30.826 --> 17:33.269 [SPEAKER_00]: This guy didn't really give anything to anyone, he was selfish. 17:36.231 --> 17:39.975 [SPEAKER_00]: And so James is saying, your money's voice is going to betray you. 17:40.976 --> 17:47.843 [SPEAKER_00]: You thought it was going to speak safety and security to you forever more, but it's not, it's going to testify against you on the final day. 17:49.895 --> 17:51.537 [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to testify against you. 17:51.937 --> 17:55.281 [SPEAKER_00]: There was wrong being done to day laborers. 17:55.562 --> 17:58.125 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we pray this prayer because it's in the Lord's prayer. 17:58.165 --> 17:59.947 [SPEAKER_00]: Give us this day our daily bread. 18:00.267 --> 18:01.188 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyone know that prayer? 18:01.944 --> 18:03.205 [SPEAKER_00]: give us a stay our daily bread. 18:03.585 --> 18:08.967 [SPEAKER_00]: We pray that, but it was actually something, it was a common custom in the ancient Near East. 18:09.467 --> 18:15.430 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you were a worker, if you were a laborer, you would go to work, get up early in the morning, go work in the fields. 18:15.990 --> 18:26.535 [SPEAKER_00]: Spend your day working in the fields and at the end of the day you would receive your wage, which would include bread or could be mostly bread, so you would work a day and get food for a day. 18:26.875 --> 18:32.037 [SPEAKER_00]: work the next day, get through the next day, work the next day, so imagine what happens when you don't work? 18:34.599 --> 18:35.999 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't eat, right? 18:36.940 --> 18:42.442 [SPEAKER_00]: But what was happening here was people were working and can you imagine getting to the end of the day? 18:43.283 --> 18:48.805 [SPEAKER_00]: You spend an entire day in some rich dudes' field and get to the end of the day and there's a long line of you and then the 18:55.944 --> 18:56.984 [SPEAKER_00]: We just spend all day. 18:57.165 --> 18:57.905 [SPEAKER_00]: What am I going to do? 18:58.485 --> 18:59.866 [SPEAKER_00]: How am I going to feed my kids? 19:00.846 --> 19:03.227 [SPEAKER_00]: Go home, get out of here, rats, gone. 19:04.768 --> 19:07.949 [SPEAKER_00]: And James says, that might fly right now. 19:09.210 --> 19:12.812 [SPEAKER_00]: But when my brother gets back, we're in a whole new regime, my friends. 19:14.112 --> 19:18.914 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the meantime, your prayers are being heard in heaven. 19:22.136 --> 19:24.597 [SPEAKER_00]: So this is not just about asking, have I stolen? 19:26.212 --> 19:29.534 [SPEAKER_00]: This is about saying, have I benefited from someone else being underpaid? 19:30.875 --> 19:34.457 [SPEAKER_00]: Have I treated somebody as a convenience, rather than as a neighbor? 19:36.118 --> 19:41.441 [SPEAKER_00]: What am I storing up that God has intended me to share? 19:43.382 --> 19:47.424 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I will say this, and this is a useful qualification at the end. 19:48.265 --> 19:53.288 [SPEAKER_00]: James is not teaching that every wealthy person is automatically condemned. 19:54.368 --> 19:58.549 [SPEAKER_00]: as a senior pastor of a church, we operate on the generosity of people. 19:59.149 --> 20:13.413 [SPEAKER_00]: And there are certain people who are a part of our community and they've been given the gift of generosity, the gift of giving God has made them extraordinarily successful in either business or some other form, some other endeavor. 20:13.753 --> 20:19.895 [SPEAKER_00]: And what that has done means that they are able to give generously way more than the regular person. 20:20.655 --> 20:27.636 [SPEAKER_00]: and that is incredible, and as someone who works as a part of this organization, I'm incredibly grateful for it. 20:27.956 --> 20:33.438 [SPEAKER_00]: James is not saying every wealthy person is automatically condemned. 20:33.658 --> 20:37.198 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember the one who got the ten talents and the one who got the five talents? 20:37.438 --> 20:39.779 [SPEAKER_00]: Both here the same thing from the master, which is what? 20:40.139 --> 20:41.879 [SPEAKER_00]: Well done, good and faithful servant. 20:42.199 --> 20:45.460 [SPEAKER_00]: Faithfulness is what matters, not the amount is what matters. 20:50.623 --> 20:51.663 [SPEAKER_00]: You only need one. 20:52.664 --> 20:56.525 [SPEAKER_00]: If you've been blessed with five, give four, because you only need one. 20:57.226 --> 20:59.006 [SPEAKER_00]: Where can we be generous? 20:59.046 --> 21:05.049 [SPEAKER_00]: Where can we give rather than store up for ourselves? 21:05.509 --> 21:08.710 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, here's the turn in this passage. 21:09.530 --> 21:16.173 [SPEAKER_00]: We get to the end of chapter of verses one to six, and then James says this, therefore. 21:19.935 --> 21:23.418 [SPEAKER_00]: helpful teaching moment, Bible nerd moment. 21:23.819 --> 21:29.203 [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you see a there for, in scripture, you should always ask what it is there for. 21:32.106 --> 21:32.386 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 21:33.247 --> 21:42.195 [SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you see it, because what the there for does is says there, in light of everything that we've just talked about, now do this. 21:43.421 --> 21:45.142 [SPEAKER_00]: It's sort of lawyer-speak, right? 21:45.162 --> 21:54.405 [SPEAKER_00]: You tell Bill J.K.'s Bill J.K.'s Bill J.K.'s Bill J.K.'s Therefore, because of everything that we've just talked about over here, here's what the ramifications of it are. 21:54.705 --> 21:56.326 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what James does here. 21:56.746 --> 21:57.727 [SPEAKER_00]: He builds this up. 21:57.967 --> 21:58.807 [SPEAKER_00]: God is coming. 21:58.827 --> 22:00.008 [SPEAKER_00]: My big brother is coming. 22:00.548 --> 22:05.910 [SPEAKER_00]: The righteous that God hears the cries of the oppressed, and so therefore, 22:06.330 --> 22:07.471 [SPEAKER_00]: What should we do? 22:07.551 --> 22:09.091 [SPEAKER_00]: What is the church have to do? 22:09.412 --> 22:11.052 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we now live this out? 22:11.293 --> 22:16.795 [SPEAKER_00]: The answer is going to stun you and send hair rising on the back of your neck. 22:16.835 --> 22:17.356 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you ready? 22:22.038 --> 22:23.979 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, be patient. 22:26.981 --> 22:27.701 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient. 22:30.182 --> 22:30.863 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient. 22:37.283 --> 22:42.425 [SPEAKER_00]: Sisters and brothers, that word of delfoy means it's translated brothers, but it means sisters and brothers in a family. 22:43.606 --> 22:46.047 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient therefore until the coming of the Lord. 22:47.187 --> 22:49.788 [SPEAKER_00]: See other farmer weights for the precious fruit of the earth. 22:50.248 --> 23:00.973 [SPEAKER_00]: This word patience is more than, it's a bigger word than, oh man, the lines long at the supermarket today. 23:02.417 --> 23:06.959 [SPEAKER_00]: That's alright, I'm a good person, I'm kind and I'll let him go. 23:07.299 --> 23:08.100 [SPEAKER_00]: It's bigger than that. 23:08.580 --> 23:14.643 [SPEAKER_00]: This word, patience, means to be long sold, long spirited. 23:15.323 --> 23:17.664 [SPEAKER_00]: Just like you would say someone's long head, right? 23:19.231 --> 23:22.554 [SPEAKER_00]: or short-sighted, long-spirited. 23:22.594 --> 23:25.817 [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna have a long spirit to follow the person of Jesus. 23:26.257 --> 23:26.617 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 23:26.657 --> 23:31.581 [SPEAKER_00]: Because they're not everything is right in this world and God is coming back to set it all right. 23:31.802 --> 23:39.788 [SPEAKER_00]: He's using us in the process of making it right, but on the meantime, while we get there, you're gonna need to be long-sold. 23:41.450 --> 23:42.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Long-spirited. 23:46.191 --> 23:51.675 [SPEAKER_00]: Patience is trusting God's promised harvest when we cannot control the season. 23:52.916 --> 23:57.881 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a farmer because the farmer can't control the rain and the sun, do they just do nothing? 23:59.322 --> 24:03.065 [SPEAKER_00]: I sit back and blame a harvest. 24:03.145 --> 24:06.247 [SPEAKER_00]: I can't really do anything really unless this, no. 24:07.389 --> 24:08.350 [SPEAKER_00]: What does the farmer do? 24:08.450 --> 24:15.897 [SPEAKER_00]: Get things ready, prepare the stuff, start to cultivate the land, do all the things that you can do. 24:15.937 --> 24:25.307 [SPEAKER_00]: There are things that you can do and there are things that the Lord can do and they're very separate things but in the mean time you can be patient, patience isn't inactivity. 24:28.490 --> 24:31.433 [SPEAKER_00]: It's faithful activity without frantic control. 24:34.148 --> 24:37.530 [SPEAKER_00]: So, what faithful thing can you do while you wait? 24:38.871 --> 24:40.232 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the question today for you. 24:41.353 --> 24:47.997 [SPEAKER_00]: And for me, what faithful thing can we do right now while we wait? 24:49.098 --> 24:54.902 [SPEAKER_00]: It might be praying, it might be serving, it might be speaking truth, it might be forgiving, it might be refusing retaliation. 24:54.962 --> 24:56.283 [SPEAKER_00]: What faithful thing can you do? 24:59.085 --> 25:00.005 [SPEAKER_00]: James goes on and says, 25:04.327 --> 25:06.608 [SPEAKER_00]: establish your heart. 25:09.370 --> 25:11.811 [SPEAKER_00]: We establish our heart because we have a future hope. 25:11.851 --> 25:13.612 [SPEAKER_00]: We have something that we're looking forward to. 25:13.632 --> 25:20.076 [SPEAKER_00]: And care your heart in the character and coming of Jesus. 25:21.177 --> 25:21.577 [SPEAKER_00]: I love it. 25:21.697 --> 25:25.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Establish your heart for the coming of the Lord as at hand. 25:27.880 --> 25:32.123 [SPEAKER_00]: To establish your heart is to strengthen it, to steady it, and to make it firm. 25:33.857 --> 25:38.918 [SPEAKER_00]: a settled heart is not a heart without questions, by the way, you can still have questions, but you know where to take them. 25:39.799 --> 25:43.880 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, when you establish something, it makes it clear, it makes it firm. 25:44.400 --> 25:56.923 [SPEAKER_00]: There are internal challenges that we have, internal challenges within ourselves, within our emotions, within our, within the things that we think and what happens in our day, that destabilize us, they shake us from our morings, right? 25:57.163 --> 26:02.945 [SPEAKER_00]: They're trying like, they're like storms that come, that take the ship of our lives and shake it off the pier. 26:03.445 --> 26:05.006 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the internal world does. 26:05.026 --> 26:13.533 [SPEAKER_00]: But then also externally, there are things that happen to us, things that happen around us that are like storms, that shake us from our mornings. 26:13.853 --> 26:24.081 [SPEAKER_00]: And James says, establish your heart, stay locked in, stay connected, stay fixed on what Jesus is doing. 26:24.461 --> 26:30.806 [SPEAKER_00]: Say, establish your heart because the coming of the Lord is at hand at hand means within reach. 26:34.211 --> 26:37.435 [SPEAKER_00]: Remain in me is what Jesus said. 26:38.897 --> 26:40.559 [SPEAKER_00]: Without me, you can do nothing. 26:43.442 --> 26:45.104 [SPEAKER_00]: Remain in me. 26:47.327 --> 26:50.390 [SPEAKER_00]: So the answer here is not having greater confidence in ourselves. 26:51.952 --> 26:54.015 [SPEAKER_00]: It's greater confidence that Jesus is coming. 26:56.814 --> 27:04.836 [SPEAKER_00]: And establishing our heart happens through repreated practices, things like Scripture, prayer, worship, communion. 27:04.876 --> 27:08.197 [SPEAKER_00]: What you're doing today, what we're doing together today is a church. 27:08.557 --> 27:16.460 [SPEAKER_00]: My self included as we all sit under the Word of God together is we are establishing our heart through a repeated practice. 27:17.740 --> 27:23.302 [SPEAKER_00]: We're reminding ourselves of the steps to take when we forget how to do the dance. 27:24.411 --> 27:27.752 [SPEAKER_00]: And you see other people doing the dance, and then you go, oh, that's right. 27:27.792 --> 27:33.513 [SPEAKER_00]: Reminds me, it reminds me how to live this life of faith with Jesus when I watch other people doing it. 27:33.793 --> 27:37.815 [SPEAKER_00]: It establishes my heart when I see other people's hearts being established in faith. 27:38.035 --> 27:45.457 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm, oh, that's how I remember again now, how to do, I remember the words of the song, oh, because we're all singing it together. 27:45.477 --> 27:47.057 [SPEAKER_00]: It establishes my heart. 27:50.004 --> 27:54.548 [SPEAKER_00]: We keep rehearsing what's true until it becomes the ground beneath our feet. 27:56.870 --> 27:59.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Thirdly, don't grumble, he says. 28:00.593 --> 28:02.154 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't grumble against one another. 28:03.295 --> 28:06.597 [SPEAKER_00]: So that you may not be judged, behold, the judge is standing at the door. 28:06.858 --> 28:07.418 [SPEAKER_00]: I love this. 28:07.798 --> 28:12.202 [SPEAKER_00]: I picture Jesus here on the other side of the bedroom door, just listening. 28:12.903 --> 28:21.307 [SPEAKER_00]: Not to judge, not to be like, oh, I can't, you know, I'm just waiting for to catch them out because they're gonna say something wrong. 28:21.807 --> 28:24.209 [SPEAKER_00]: But just a gentle listen, ear against the door. 28:25.049 --> 28:27.270 [SPEAKER_00]: The judge is standing at the door, so don't grumble. 28:28.210 --> 28:29.571 [SPEAKER_00]: Why does James say this? 28:31.592 --> 28:33.813 [SPEAKER_00]: Why does he bring this one up in the list of things? 28:33.873 --> 28:37.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient, establish your heart, and actually don't grumble why? 28:41.051 --> 28:55.460 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens is this, when pressure rises and the church that James is writing to is under incredible pressure from the Roman Empire, and when pressure rises, there is a great temptation in us to make our brothers and sisters the enemy. 28:57.862 --> 29:02.685 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who is married or is lived in a family for more than five minutes knows this. 29:04.052 --> 29:04.232 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 29:04.832 --> 29:05.432 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what happens. 29:05.572 --> 29:10.714 [SPEAKER_00]: You have a bad day at work, you come home, you throw your keys down, you put your stuff down. 29:11.994 --> 29:25.657 [SPEAKER_00]: That was a day, and then you're loving spouse or you're loving sibling walks up to you and all of a sudden their face changes to the person who didn't send you an email five hours ago and then you take it out on them. 29:26.537 --> 29:26.877 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 29:26.957 --> 29:29.798 [SPEAKER_00]: Because they're close, they're proximate, and they love you. 29:31.716 --> 29:31.956 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 29:32.497 --> 29:35.299 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you test, trips off him, and it's good nothing to do with it. 29:35.319 --> 29:37.961 [SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, whoa, what happened there? 29:40.803 --> 29:43.185 [SPEAKER_00]: And we go mad at that person, you can walk. 29:43.505 --> 29:46.047 [SPEAKER_00]: Tasmanian devil star, around the house. 29:46.327 --> 29:48.649 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, a sign, everyone's like, gee, what's going on? 29:48.829 --> 29:51.411 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's got nothing to do with the person that you live with. 29:53.292 --> 29:56.255 [SPEAKER_00]: James says that that can happen in the church. 29:58.558 --> 30:04.123 [SPEAKER_00]: James says that suffering communities often have the temptation to hurt one another. 30:05.645 --> 30:09.268 [SPEAKER_00]: Frustration travels sideways, my friends. 30:11.250 --> 30:18.657 [SPEAKER_00]: Pain that is not brought to God, this in pain that's not brought to God will be transferred onto somebody else. 30:20.215 --> 30:30.863 [SPEAKER_00]: If you do not process your own hurt, your own pain, and look, I know it's hard sometimes that process time is the five minutes that takes you to get from your work to your home. 30:31.123 --> 30:34.225 [SPEAKER_00]: But you've got a process it or do a couple of laps around the block. 30:34.485 --> 30:39.249 [SPEAKER_00]: Because by the time you get there, you don't want to transfer that onto the people in your house. 30:40.110 --> 30:42.631 [SPEAKER_00]: Now what happens in the church is exactly the same. 30:43.512 --> 30:50.074 [SPEAKER_00]: Somebody offended you, somebody hurt you, somebody upset you, or you feel pressure from the outside business isn't doing well. 30:50.314 --> 30:52.435 [SPEAKER_00]: Something's not going well, family's not going well. 30:52.655 --> 31:00.878 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the first person that you see in your small group, or the first person you see on a Sunday, cops it, because you have unresolved stuff going on elsewhere. 31:02.399 --> 31:03.659 [SPEAKER_00]: James says, don't grumble. 31:05.800 --> 31:08.461 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember there are people who are next to you they love you. 31:11.762 --> 31:27.187 [SPEAKER_00]: And so before you criticize another believer, before you criticize another leader, before you criticize another church, before you criticize another movement, I want you to ask yourself this, is this person truly the source of the problem? 31:28.247 --> 31:31.108 [SPEAKER_00]: Or are they simply close enough to receive my frustration? 31:32.909 --> 31:36.190 [SPEAKER_00]: Are they just neemy and so therefore they're gonna get it? 31:39.713 --> 31:48.563 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, sufferings not evidence that we're outside of God's will, and there are things that go on for us every single day, but our main job is not to grumble. 31:49.680 --> 31:52.621 [SPEAKER_00]: to wait and be patient, fourthly, to remain steadfast. 31:53.021 --> 31:53.661 [SPEAKER_00]: I love this. 31:54.061 --> 32:04.705 [SPEAKER_00]: James is on this sort of old testament tear here anyway, where he's talking about, he's sort of channeling a Zikil here with some of his prophetic lament, and then he goes, oh, I want you to stay steadfast. 32:05.005 --> 32:10.306 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me think about someone who you guys will know that definitely stayed steadfast over time. 32:10.686 --> 32:15.408 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yeah, Job, the guy who loves everything and still hung in there with God. 32:17.352 --> 32:18.613 [SPEAKER_00]: That shouldn't encourage us. 32:18.913 --> 32:21.034 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, look to Job's example. 32:21.694 --> 32:22.755 [SPEAKER_00]: He lost everything. 32:22.955 --> 32:26.276 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, did Job just take it quietly and silently? 32:26.536 --> 32:29.258 [SPEAKER_00]: No, he questioned, he was loud. 32:29.518 --> 32:30.798 [SPEAKER_00]: God, why are you doing this? 32:31.078 --> 32:31.959 [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on? 32:32.159 --> 32:33.419 [SPEAKER_00]: Have I done something wrong? 32:33.600 --> 32:35.180 [SPEAKER_00]: Has someone else done something wrong? 32:35.400 --> 32:36.541 [SPEAKER_00]: His friends are talking to him. 32:36.781 --> 32:37.461 [SPEAKER_00]: What's happening? 32:37.641 --> 32:40.123 [SPEAKER_00]: But one thing that Job didn't do was walk away. 32:41.443 --> 32:42.584 [SPEAKER_00]: He dug down deep. 32:43.838 --> 32:49.413 [SPEAKER_00]: And my friends, the player of your life is one that needs to dig down deep. 32:49.433 --> 32:52.019 [SPEAKER_00]: What a trees do when it's drought season. 32:54.342 --> 33:09.071 [SPEAKER_00]: We somehow think, well, if we copied a tree in drought season, what we would see is forest, just picking up their roots and walking down, can you imagine all of your silver trees, walking down the street and go, oh, the dams, pretty empty, we're going to plant ourselves somewhere else. 33:09.352 --> 33:10.572 [SPEAKER_00]: No, they don't do that. 33:10.933 --> 33:16.256 [SPEAKER_00]: Trees, roots go deeper and deeper and deeper until they can find a source. 33:18.697 --> 33:24.021 [SPEAKER_00]: And so staying steadfast is our goal. 33:24.453 --> 33:24.773 [SPEAKER_00]: lot. 33:27.414 --> 33:35.197 [SPEAKER_00]: And I love the end to you when he says, you've heard of the steadfastness of Job, you've seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 33:35.217 --> 33:40.898 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, sometimes we'd love to see the compassion and mercy of God at the beginning of a trial. 33:42.679 --> 33:46.700 [SPEAKER_00]: When we... but often it's not till the end. 33:47.741 --> 33:48.561 [SPEAKER_00]: And you go through it. 33:49.661 --> 33:51.642 [SPEAKER_00]: And you think, fire out, that was tough. 33:52.403 --> 34:00.028 [SPEAKER_00]: And then you look back, you know, oh my gosh, the compassion and the mercy of God was there with me the entire way. 34:00.348 --> 34:04.271 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you had a given up, halfway, you wouldn't have seen it at all. 34:06.972 --> 34:15.238 [SPEAKER_00]: And then finally, lastly, James, it sort of feels like a bit of a, it feels like a weird one to end on, but I like it, he says this, tell the truth. 34:16.722 --> 34:17.582 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the final thing. 34:17.682 --> 34:28.767 [SPEAKER_00]: Above all, my sisters and brothers, do not swear either by heaven or by earth, or by any other earth, but let your yes be yes, and your nobino that you may not fall under condemnation. 34:28.807 --> 34:29.647 [SPEAKER_00]: So here's what's going on. 34:29.887 --> 34:37.110 [SPEAKER_00]: The world's going around the churches feeling pressure, the voice of the voiceless is not being heard, but it's heard by God, what do we do in between time? 34:37.350 --> 34:41.552 [SPEAKER_00]: Be patient, be steadfast, be established, our year, and make sure you tell the truth. 34:41.932 --> 34:42.793 [SPEAKER_00]: This seems weird. 34:44.653 --> 34:45.614 [SPEAKER_00]: But why is he saying it? 34:46.853 --> 34:59.295 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying it because often times this was a cultural thing in the day, you would have, okay, imagine I'm making a meeting, I say, I'll see you at 9 o'clock tomorrow, 9 a.m. tomorrow. 35:00.896 --> 35:03.936 [SPEAKER_00]: And that could be a maybe he'll be there, maybe he won't. 35:04.696 --> 35:11.958 [SPEAKER_00]: But then I can say, I swear by the sun and the moon and the stars, I will be there tomorrow. 35:12.733 --> 35:16.934 [SPEAKER_00]: And then someone goes, whoa, now the sun and the moon and the stars are involved, that's serious. 35:17.534 --> 35:20.595 [SPEAKER_00]: He must really be telling the truth, right? 35:21.255 --> 35:25.836 [SPEAKER_00]: But I also still have a little out because if I don't turn up and they say, where, where, where you at nine a.m. 35:26.736 --> 35:33.798 [SPEAKER_00]: I say, well, the sun didn't really come out that good and the moon, it was a, it was a crescent moon and the stars, it was a misty night so I couldn't make it. 35:34.518 --> 35:35.198 [SPEAKER_00]: I still get an out. 35:36.207 --> 35:45.489 [SPEAKER_00]: And then so people keep searching for higher and higher and higher things that they can swear by to tell them, to tell people around them, business associates, family, friends, whatever. 35:45.769 --> 35:48.910 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm, no, no, no, no, no, I'm for reals this time. 35:49.190 --> 35:50.270 [SPEAKER_00]: This is really happening. 35:51.430 --> 35:53.731 [SPEAKER_00]: And James goes, you're part of a new kingdom. 35:54.691 --> 35:56.351 [SPEAKER_00]: You're part of a coming world. 35:56.572 --> 35:57.712 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't need all of that. 35:57.992 --> 35:58.872 [SPEAKER_00]: Just tell the truth. 35:59.632 --> 36:00.832 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you gonna be there or not? 36:02.133 --> 36:02.853 [SPEAKER_00]: Just be honest. 36:04.452 --> 36:07.094 [SPEAKER_00]: It's like, you know, if old Facebook events that had the maybe button. 36:07.134 --> 36:07.634 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember that? 36:10.316 --> 36:13.778 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a weird sort of 2010s throwback. 36:13.838 --> 36:14.619 [SPEAKER_00]: Sorry for that one. 36:14.959 --> 36:16.040 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a bit of whiplash. 36:17.881 --> 36:20.483 [SPEAKER_00]: Just make a SPS and you know, be no. 36:21.123 --> 36:22.144 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you gonna be there or not? 36:22.164 --> 36:23.105 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you gonna do it or not? 36:23.125 --> 36:23.885 [SPEAKER_00]: Just tell the truth. 36:24.986 --> 36:26.947 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the way we live in the coming kingdom. 36:29.289 --> 36:30.370 [SPEAKER_00]: No two faceness. 36:31.937 --> 36:34.979 [SPEAKER_00]: No sort of, oh, I'm not really sure, just, yes or no. 36:38.761 --> 36:41.863 [SPEAKER_00]: Because all of those protest songs that we talked about. 36:43.440 --> 36:46.823 [SPEAKER_00]: are all causing us to notice the poor and the forgotten. 36:47.503 --> 36:52.527 [SPEAKER_00]: But what James does, he goes the next level down, or the next level up, whichever you like. 36:53.227 --> 36:56.570 [SPEAKER_00]: And says, you know, those forgotten ones are not forgotten by God. 36:56.910 --> 36:58.772 [SPEAKER_00]: Your life is not forgotten by God. 36:59.112 --> 37:00.453 [SPEAKER_00]: My life is not forgotten by God. 37:00.713 --> 37:10.861 [SPEAKER_00]: And especially the times where I feel like I've got no voice, your voice is heard by the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the angel armies. 37:15.613 --> 37:20.923 [SPEAKER_00]: So because Jesus is coming, the judge is at the door, Jesus is coming to set the world right. 37:23.025 --> 37:26.927 [SPEAKER_00]: don't let the world take you away from him. 37:28.067 --> 37:32.409 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't let what's wrong with the world take you away from him. 37:33.590 --> 37:35.091 [SPEAKER_00]: And this passage is beautiful. 37:35.631 --> 37:38.372 [SPEAKER_00]: I love how it's the sort of twin A and B. 37:38.632 --> 37:41.834 [SPEAKER_00]: This first section, this cosmic mystery. 37:42.614 --> 37:50.458 [SPEAKER_00]: Reef and whale, you rich for the miseries that's coming upon you, the judge, the cosmic king of heaven and earth is standing at the door. 37:51.868 --> 37:58.411 [SPEAKER_00]: And you think, whoa, this is a big picture, a giant picture of all that God is doing. 37:58.891 --> 38:05.634 [SPEAKER_00]: And then, he goes, and so, in the meantime, just be patient, tell the truth, and watch what you say. 38:07.654 --> 38:08.595 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, we have them better. 38:08.735 --> 38:10.916 [SPEAKER_00]: We have this, my macro picture. 38:11.196 --> 38:17.178 [SPEAKER_00]: And then over here, we have this micro little picture of what happens, what I need to do tomorrow, or maybe the soft denoon. 38:19.659 --> 38:20.940 [SPEAKER_00]: And in the same way, 38:22.324 --> 38:26.167 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the experience is when we come to the table, when we come around communion. 38:27.688 --> 38:30.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Because communion tells this meta story, this big story. 38:32.072 --> 38:35.574 [SPEAKER_00]: The great salvation plan of the King of heaven and earth. 38:36.996 --> 38:48.144 [SPEAKER_00]: The God of the Father would send His Son to give a life to bring redemption, salvation, freedom, hope, and mercy into our lives. 38:49.666 --> 38:51.407 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a big amen. 38:52.125 --> 39:00.348 [SPEAKER_00]: that's like a big picture story, but the way that that gets communicated to us is through bread and juice. 39:01.908 --> 39:02.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Microwave. 39:03.789 --> 39:04.329 [SPEAKER_00]: Really small. 39:05.810 --> 39:10.431 [SPEAKER_00]: And in a minute what we're going to do is the team are going to come. 39:10.511 --> 39:16.093 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to invite you all to come and stand in a minute and come forward. 39:16.133 --> 39:17.734 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to move around the room. 39:17.894 --> 39:20.235 [SPEAKER_00]: There's stations of community and set up around 39:22.387 --> 39:43.496 [SPEAKER_00]: And there's bread that was baked this morning, and there's juice, I don't think we're squeezed this morning, but they're here, and they remind us of the broken body of Jesus, which makes away, and the spilled blood of Jesus, without which there's no forgiveness of sins. 39:45.170 --> 39:52.598 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to ask you to come, receive communion at one of these stations and take it back to your seat and take communion in your own time. 39:54.280 --> 39:59.606 [SPEAKER_00]: The other thing that's going to happen at the same time is we're going to open up the front of the auditorium here for prayer. 40:00.725 --> 40:08.007 [SPEAKER_00]: because like Roman says, and it's up on the screen, I'm yearning to see you that I may impart and share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen and establish you. 40:08.467 --> 40:10.508 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us today need to be strengthened. 40:10.948 --> 40:12.688 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us need to be established. 40:13.048 --> 40:16.049 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are just going through it, and you need someone to stand with you. 40:16.569 --> 40:22.591 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've prayed with people already this morning from a whole range of different scenarios and different situations. 40:22.911 --> 40:27.532 [SPEAKER_00]: And some people, it's just about, it's about their best, they're just bringing their best tomorrow. 40:28.637 --> 40:29.938 [SPEAKER_00]: to their family or to work. 40:29.958 --> 40:35.602 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we'd love to be able to pray with you, elders, the leaders, team will be here to pray with you. 40:36.123 --> 40:38.344 [SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to do all of that at the same time. 40:39.405 --> 40:39.705 [SPEAKER_00]: OK? 40:40.426 --> 40:53.256 [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to pray, then I'm going to ask you to calm receive communion, get some prayer, and then we'll take some time with that a few minutes just so you can reflect and take communion your own time, and then we'll come back together in song. 40:53.356 --> 40:54.537 [SPEAKER_00]: So, Father, we thank you. 40:55.673 --> 40:56.894 [SPEAKER_00]: for your presence in our midst. 40:57.934 --> 40:59.675 [SPEAKER_00]: I thank you that you're drawing hearts. 41:00.556 --> 41:02.997 [SPEAKER_00]: I thank you that you're drawing us to yourself. 41:04.098 --> 41:12.463 [SPEAKER_00]: I thank you, Lord God, that you are calling patience in us, you're establishing us, you're bringing strength to us by your Holy Spirit. 41:12.483 --> 41:19.907 [SPEAKER_00]: I thank you, that you're exposing our hearts through your word. 41:21.488 --> 41:23.209 [SPEAKER_00]: And we thank you that Jesus is coming. 41:27.325 --> 41:46.945 [SPEAKER_00]: that the judge is at the door, and he's going to set all things right, and we borrow from that reality right now that brings hope into our lives, but it also makes us sober to remind ourselves that we're still on that journey. 41:49.282 --> 41:54.410 [SPEAKER_00]: And so for those of us this morning who've put their faith in Jesus, we thank you for the table. 41:55.652 --> 42:01.762 [SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for the feast of who you are that's been given to us. 42:02.062 --> 42:05.227 [SPEAKER_00]: And we thank you that we get to share that together today to establish us. 42:06.570 --> 42:11.738 [SPEAKER_00]: And for those, Lord God who need prayer today, we want to thank you and already we pray. 42:11.778 --> 42:14.021 [SPEAKER_00]: We thank you that you're working in their hearts as well. 42:14.082 --> 42:15.824 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus name, amen.