Atlanta Bible Baptist Church

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Well, if you have your copy of the scriptures or something that contains them. First one, James, a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. Greetings.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Father, thank you again for this day. Thank you for your love for us and thank you that we can sing about it. We can be encouraged. Even as David, he encouraged himself in the Lord. Even when things were at their lowest. You prayed and you asked you for direction and you guided him and he recovered everything that was taken. Thank you that we can put our trust in you. You are the faithful God.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: We thank you for this privilege to sit at your feet that you might speak to us and that you might instruct us and that your spirit might craft more of the character of Christ in us. And that's what we want. We want to mimic you. We want to be just like Jesus. And so we say yes to the spirit. Speak now because your servants are listening. Bind the evil one, so that only heaven is heard from.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And as always, we'll be careful to give you the praise and the honor and the thanksgiving. We ask all of these things in Jesus's name and for his sake. Amen.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Well, this morning, I'm going to start, we're going to start a new series, a new book, The Book of James, obviously. And I want to just this morning, I want to do a bit of an introduction to the Book of James. And we're only going to cover verses one and two. So I remember when I was going down to Florida, as some of you did this past week. We went down to Epcot. And you know Epcot had this ride called Test Track.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And you know, we get on that ride and it was a lot of fun, you know, going around the curb, pausing, stopping, you thought you were going to hit the wall and returning and all that kind of stuff. And it was a lot of fun. And then I was thinking about it. I said, you know, the test track is used, they use crash dummies for that. I thought, well, you know, I'm I'm replacing a dummy. And I didn't get about so exciting anymore after that.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: But you know, I I thought about that as I thought about the Book of James because James is full of trials and tribulations and he talks about the value of those things. And as we go through this book, there are a lot of things that we're going to learn about how to navigate the difficulties in life. So I'm really excited to go through this book.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: You know, I was reading this past week. It says that roses in the Balkan Mountains produce some of the world's finest perfume. But in order to get the best fragrance, the workers must pick them in the dark part of the darkest part of the night. They start right at midnight and finish within two hours. Scientific studies have shown that this is the interval where the blossoms give their most pleasing scent.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And that with the coming of day, they lose 40% of their fragrance. Trials and and temptations play that kind of role in our lives. It's like the sweetness of the savor of the the the uh the savior's presence comes to the forefront right in the midst of the difficulties. God allows us not to to side-step difficulties. He places them right in our path.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Because much like these roses, the sweetness of the grace of God comes out when we are going through those difficult moments. And so what I want to do is I I'd like for us to to think about James and the Book of James. So I'm going to ask a few questions today and then we'll go from there.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: First question, well, who is this James? Who is he? Because you know, there are at least four people in the scriptures with the name in the New Testament who are called James. And none of them are very prominent men. You you got the Apostle James, the brother of John, the son of Zebedee, one half of the Sons of Thunder. Then you have the Apostle James, the son of Alphaeus.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: There's another James called James the Less. And then there's James, the half-brother of Jesus. You know, Mary had more than one child. And I I don't know if the Catholic Bible just kind of removes all of those references because they they believe that Mary was a virgin perpetually. And they say that her mother was immaculate without sin.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And that way Mary was born without original sin and so she could have a child who was sinless. And because the soul that sins will die, then they believe that Mary could not have died because she never sinned. And so then they you have the teaching of the Assumption of Mary, that she was taken to heaven without death. None of that's true. But that's what's being bandied about.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: But anyway, Jesus's half-brother. As a matter of fact, you know, Jesus from the accounts in Matthew, he had at least six siblings. And James is always mentioned first in the when they list the names of them. So James was probably the second born. He was probably the oldest child after Jesus. And we believe that he's the one that was the author of this book.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Let me give you a bit of a timeline when it comes to James. James, uh, was a a skeptic, pretty mildly. He was a non-believer. He was he was a doubter of his brother. And even when they were adults, he still did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Now, that's instructive because you know, sometimes you you read these little stories about when Jesus was growing up and he performed all these little miracles.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: That's not true. Okay. Because these people grew up with him. And nothing in his life, apart from the fact that he never did anything wrong. Everything else was completely normal. In fact, I would imagine Michael Jr. talks about the fact that, you know, how would you like to be James and have Jesus for an older brother? And whenever his father would tell him, why are you, why are you doing this?

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Why can't you be like your brother? They'd ask yourself, what would Jesus do? And he probably said if I hear that one more time, Mr. Perfect. But we know that he was a non-believer because in John 7, we read these words, the Feast of the Jews, the Feast of the Booths was near. Therefore his brothers said to him, leave here and go up to Judea so that your disciples also may see your works which you are doing.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you are a man, show you the man, right? Prove it. How would they say this? Because verse five says, not even his brothers were believing in him. It wasn't until Jesus was 30 years old that he began to manifest all of the character of the Messiah. And 30 is instructive because it was at 30 years old that the priests went into the priesthood.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: So he began his public ministry at 30. He says to them, my time is not here. Your time is always here. You can go up anytime you want. But it's not my time. He says the world can't hate you. But it hates me because I testify of it. That it's deeds are evil. His brothers did not believe in him. However, there came a time when James went from being a doubter, a skeptic to being a believer.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And I believe that that took place when Christ appeared to him personally. You know, Christ saves each one of us individually. He puts us in the family of God. We jointly are the household of God, that we are saved individually as we put our faith in Christ. And it's interesting that in First Corinthians 15, Paul says Christ was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, Peter.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And then to the 12, after that he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. Most of whom remain until now. Some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James. He made a special appearance to James and then to all the apostles. And so it's at that time, I believe that James decided, okay, I mean, if if you're uh you see your your dead brother walking and talking, you probably would be convinced too.

Pastor P. Smith: Right? So, um, he converted. But then he didn't stop there. He became an active participant in the emerging the church. And I like that because he didn't just receive Christ and then he on the sidelines. He got involved. You know, we were talking yesterday about participation and how there are some since COVID, who they they can get up and go everywhere they want to go and feel they need to go.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: But on Sunday they they they pull up Zoom and Facebook. And then they they click in. Um, and I'm not to minimize the fact. I'm grateful that Zoom and Facebook and um, you know, these vehicles are available. Um, but there's something really wonderful about the church being the church. The church by definition, ecclesia, literally means a called out assembly.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And if you're not assembling, then and you're not called out, but you know, uh the church is is the church. When we come together, there's something special and as we talked about before, God has placed giftedness in us. We all have something really wonderful to give to each other. Uh, we can and we are blessings to each other. In Acts, the first chapter, notice what it says at the end.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: I'll read all of it, um, for the sake of those of you that feel that you can't just read a part. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives that would be the 11 which is near Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying. That is, Peter and John and James, this is James, the brother of John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and uh Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. Apparently, after James had um came to faith, the elder of the group, he was able to testify to his brothers, his sisters, yeah. Jesus is alive. And they all came to faith. And then they're all in the upper room with the disciples.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And the church was birthed out of that upper room, 120 or so. But James didn't stop at just being a participant. James eventually becomes the patriarch. He becomes the leader of the church in Jerusalem. And a few verses, I didn't put um, I didn't put Galatians two up there. But in Acts 12, remember when Peter was arrested after they killed James, the the um brother of John.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: But the sword, they locked up Peter and they were going to execute him in the morning. And while he was in prison overnight, chained between two guards, an angel came in, uh knocked the chains off, got him out, took him out and led him out of of the jailhouse. And um, they were praying for him. They had a prayer meeting for Peter. And uh he knocked on the door.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: This won't knock, that hurts. He knocked on the door and the maid ran to the door. She says, it's Peter. She opened the door. She ran back. Peter's out there. Peter's out there. No, don't. We're praying for Peter. Be quiet. You're interrupting our prayer time. But Peter, Peter, no, Peter's out there. Oh, be quiet. And she just her persistence. Somebody says, okay, let's go see.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And they open the door and there Peter was. Right? Then Peter he says to them, report these things to James and the brethren. Why to James and the brethren? Why not to the apostles, the older apostles? He puts James at the head because by now, when he moves to go to another place, James is the official leader of the apostolic group.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: James has grown in his faith and his leadership has come to the front. And now he's the, I won't call it the head honcho, but I'll say he's the man who is the principal man. We see in Acts 15 when they were debating about what to do because you remember if if you read Acts, what you'll see is that when Paul and Barnabas go and share with the Gentiles, the Gentiles receive Christ.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And when they received Christ and they gathered together the church, there were some Jewish believers that came along. And they were devout followers of Moses. They said to these people, well, you know, you received Christ now, you need to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. And then Paul and Barnabas saying, no, that's not right. You're not saved by keeping the law.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: You're saved by grace and putting your faith in Christ. You know, we're not trying to make Gentiles act like Jews and they have a a bit of an interaction that generated more light, more heat than light. Uh so they decided, well, let's take it over to the apostles. They traveled to Jerusalem to have this big council and they are discussing what to do, what to tell the Gentiles.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Peter gives his testimony about how he went to the house of Cornelius and how the Holy Spirit fell on those Gentiles just like the Holy Spirit fell on us, right? And then Paul and Barnabas, they uh shared their experiences in having Jews uh Gentiles come to faith and receive the Holy Spirit and all of this. And after they stopped speaking, James answers.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: James was like, he's the hooker, right? And he speaks everybody listens, right? And he says, brethren, listen to me. He says, Simon has revealed. He talked about with Simon uh said we kept you there. He says, and this agrees with what the scripture says. The James is conversion with the scripture. He said, therefore, it is my judgment. I'm the guy. It's my judgment that we do not trouble these who are turning to God.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: So at this point, James is the man. He's the one that speaks. You know, how sometimes you know, in Sunday school, there's a thing that happens in the men's Sunday school class sometimes. Guys are giving their thoughts back and forth, giving their thoughts. And then the pastor speaks. And after the pastor speaks, there's nothing else to be said about the issue.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Like, oh, pastor said this. I'm like, oh, pastor. I'm not God, Jr. But you know, but anyway, I appreciate that. But but he just speaks, right? But um, it's just that well, the authority has spoken. Nothing else need be said. That's always with James. And he says, okay, James is the undisputed leader of the church in Jerusalem.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And I I find it noteworthy because um you know, I mean that this is the next thing. But what I want to say, the reason I went through all that about James is because James's story is your story and my story. There was a time in which you didn't know the Lord. You were a pagan. You were boastfully ignorant of the fact that you were under the judgment of God.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And then Christ called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. If he had not called you, you would still be under judgment. But he called you out. And then he he made you a part of his forever family, which is what we are. It's why we're here together. It's why we love each other and how we care for each other. And why we do all those 21 one anothers that we find in the New Testament.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And but then we don't just stop with coming and participating. We continue to grow as Peter says, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You should grow to the point where you are able to put your arms around another younger believer. I don't mean uh younger in age. I mean younger in terms of the faith. And be able to mentor them in the things of God.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: You should either be being discipled or you should be making disciples. And so those of you that are halfway there, well, you're not halfway there. You're a good way there because you've gone through the discipleship courses. You know, the next thing for you when you finish the 2700 courses is to look around and say, Lord, who would you have me pour my life into and lead?

Pastor Ray P. Smith: That's what you should be doing with that. But anyway, James's story should be our story completely. So now we're to the features of the book. Uh, there is just a family in James with the Jewish audience. He's written uh to Jewish Christians. He talks about the 12 tribes. And that's a way of describing the Jews who were dispersed throughout the world because you remember, um there was this persecution that scattered them in chapter 8 of Acts.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Uh not only that, remember even in Acts chapter 2, uh there were Jews from all over the world that came for uh Passover and Pentecost, right? And um, it was at that time that the spirit came and birthed the church. These Jews were from and they named all of these regions from all over the world where they were living. James is writing to Jewish people.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And one of the things that we'll notice as we go through this book is how all the illustrations in the Book of James, they all come from the Old Testament. Either that or else they are from nature, which is what Old Testament prophets frequently did. And another thing are the strong similarities between what James says and what he emphasizes and what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus's interpretation of the law. This the law in shoe leather. This is what it looks like. And when you look, in fact, I have a chart. I probably won't give it to you because it's rather extended. But it's a chart it it it lists all of the points of the Sermon of the Mount and all of the ways that James addresses the same topics.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Another feature is the admonitions that we find between faith and works. Faith and works, we're going to talk about this every single week that we talk about James. Because the balance that has to come between faith and works, biblical faith, true biblical faith does work. You don't work to be saved, but when you're saved, you will be doing the work that God has called you to do.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: So the two go together. And then this the thing that that we see in the Old Testament is how the writers they craft it such that you see when the children of Israel obeyed God, God blessed them and they were victorious. And they prospered. When they fell into disobedience and turned their backs on the Lord, they were subjugated. They were taken into bondage. They were persecuted.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And that thing recurred over and over and over. And we can see that faith and works, works, obeying the things that you know God wants you to do, that's what we find over and over in the Book of James. So why should we preach through the Book of James? Let me give you. I won't say how many reasons. But there are three points that I happen to notice here.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: James wants us to realize that genuine faith, it informs us, it tells us what to believe and it impacts us. It shows how we behave. Kind of like Ephesians does, where it tells you who you are and then tells you how you should live in light of who you are. James puts the two together in a wonderful way. So it examines the relationship between faith and works and then explores how faith impacts our everyday decisions.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And so James is very, very practical. And he addresses some things that are really, really wonderful. In fact, James addresses many practical issues. And I've listed them trials. He talks about poverty. He talks about riches because rich people tended to oppress the poor. He talks about materialism. What would it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lost his soul?

Pastor Ray P. Smith: What can a man give in exchange for his soul? Uh, he talks about favoritism. Uh you know, big eye, little you. Uh and because you're a big shot, then I give you the nicest stuff, the biggest and the best and the nicest seat. Uh social justice. We don't always think of James as an advocate for social justice, but you know, he really, really is.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: In fact, James, I think about a fourth of the Book of James deals with uh advocating for the rights of the the poor and the ones who are taking advantage of. And in fact, as far as I know, the only New Testament writer that does that besides James is Jesus himself. And so older brother, he does pick up what older brother emphasizes.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And he talks about the tongue. When you get to chapter three, maybe I shouldn't even tell you what we're going to say because I don't want you to stay home that day. But the tongue and then worldliness and boasting and making plans and praying, right? The doing when we're sick, all these things and a lot of other things that we're going to touch on when we go through the Book of James.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Uh, James Pratt, um, in in his um, David Pratt. I'm sorry, not James. I'm full of James today. He makes this statement that I I thought was really radical. I was read it to the guys yesterday. I gave him his prayer request. Um, faith moves Christians to get involved. To lead Bible studies at workplaces in neighborhood, to help addicts in rehabilitation centers, to serve food at homeless shelters, to teach orphans in learning centers.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: To care for widows in retirement homes, to provide hospice care for the elderlies, elderly, to train men and women in job skills, to tutor men and women, to rock sick babies in the hospital, to help patients in AIDS clinics, to teach English to international. And the list goes on and on and on. He says, faith moves Christians to take steps to uh radical obedience to make the gospel known all around the world.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: God saved you to use you to be a difference maker in the lives of those around you. And faith causes me to look out and say, who needs my help? And then how, how can I best help them? See, the person who says he has faith, James says, but he doesn't work out on the earth, he says, his faith is worthless. That's a strong statement. But faith is active.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And as we go through this book, and we talk about what active faith looks like, we'll all be a a bit we'll all sit up in a attention. This is a brief outline. Um, I just look, I highlighted just the things. Either five chapters. The first chapter we're going to talk about suffering and why God uses it. Second chapter we're going to talk about service and what that looks like.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Third chapter we're going to talk about speech, the tongue. Fourth chapter we're going to talk about separating and how to tell uh whether there's worldly wisdom which is satanic and versus godly wisdom. And we're going to talk about in chapter five, the second coming and its impact on all of us. This is going to be an exciting exciting book. And I'm looking forward to um walking through it.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: See, I'm done. Look at that. What does God want me to know and to feel and to do about the Book of James? Well, number one, he wants me to realize that genuine faith is seen in the real, real, right? Genuine faith isn't just something that I talk about. Genuine faith that I is something I put in shoe leather and I walk about. And as people see me walking, they can make sense.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: We are walking epistles, walking, living letters known and read by people. And so faith, genuine faith is like that. Number two, I got you got some some savior up in you, right? You know, I I I put it like this. Every part of my being got saved. You know, I let me you know what my tongue got saved when I got saved. I quit cussing. My tongue got saved.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And so I quit saying a lot of things that didn't need to be said, right? And the spirit's still teaching me that, you know, you don't got to say a whole lot, you know. Cuz uh there was a time in my life when people say, you know, you just talking talking too much. And so I had to learn to stop talking too much, right? But you know, now when I talk, my speech needs to be edifying.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: It needs to be that which brings people up. It doesn't tell people down. It doesn't take shots at people. Although yesterday, I have to admit, I did that to one of my favorite brothers. I said something about him that wasn't kind to say. He said to me, he said, Pastor, you're going to feel guilty the rest of the day. He was right. I did. I still feel guilty.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: It was fun. I mean, anyway. But you know, the spirit of God he he takes the word of God and he crafts my my speech. So that my tongue doesn't wag in ways it shouldn't wag. You know, my body, my anatomy got saved when I came to faith in Christ. And so I don't put my hand where it doesn't belong. I don't put any part of my anatomy where it doesn't belong because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who's in me, who's in my house of God.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And I'm not my own, I've been bought at a price. So the body that God gave me my body because my whole body is saved. You know, um, sometimes I I think about I I probably probably shouldn't even say this. This is this is just me in my thinking. This has nothing to do with you and where you might be convicted about.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: When the little people, the the the guys from the hood, I used to take them to play ball. Uh we would be driving, I'd take them home in the van and one day they asked me, Pastor Smith, um, is it right to wear tattoos? And I said, well, well, I don't, I don't wear a tattoo. Why not? And I said, because, you know, God, God says don't make graven images.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: But God has made an image of himself. That image is me. I my body, I bear the marks of Christ and I represent God in this body. This body is to testify to the greatness and the glory and the grandeur of God. And so my body's given to me to advertise him. And that's what I do. So I don't I don't put something on my body, his body to advertise something else.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: I mean, that's me, that's my, that's my mindset. But because my body belongs to Christ, I don't want to put anything on my body that doesn't represent Christ. Because the body is given to me. Psalm 40 says, a body you've given to me. And it's in this body that I delight to do your will, oh my God. Your laws with the heart.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Now, I I I say that rather rather timidly because I don't want any of you to say, oh no, I have a tattoo. I'm not saying anything you about your tattoo, right? I'm just saying this is what I believe is right for me. So I don't, I don't have any tattoos. And I'm never going to have a tattoo. And I I think it's because my body belongs to Christ.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And that's all I want to say about that. The third thing, uh, you know, one of the movies that I wasted my time watching was called Undercover Brother. I don't know if you ever saw that. If you didn't, don't waste your time, right? But I I put the the the title there because, you know, sometimes, you know, we think like that, you know, we don't want anybody to know that we belong to Christ.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: We're secret disciples. Well, God don't need no undercover brothers. You know, the scripture says in Psalm 107, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, right? Fly your colors, right? If you're on the Sea of Life, raise the flag and let him know that you fly under the banner of the king of the universe, right? That just makes sense. And then the last thing, spiritual maturity is not by the ability to to reproduce, you know?

Pastor Ray P. Smith: The ability to reproduce. How do you know when a child uh physically has a mature body? They're able to reproduce, right? That doesn't mean that they should before they get married, but they do have that ability. Well, I'm going to read you something in in conclusion. Think about the the life of James and the testimony to James's life.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: I'd like to read you this about how by his latter days. There was a second century Christian named Hegesippus or something like that. He wrote this about James and about James's death, quoted by Eusebius, a first century historian. You know, James had some nicknames. The nickname that he had among people who were not believers, he was called James the Just.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Because his life was so upstanding and in so full of piety and righteousness that whatever James said, they took his word. He was always believable. Another nickname that he had was Camel's Knees. They called him Camel's Knees, an old Camel Knees, because James spent so much time on his knees in prayer, that his knees formed calluses, and they were hard like camels.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: And so he was known for speech that was upright and for seasons of prayer continually. And you know, as we go through this book and listen to what he says, um and think about his life, uh our hearts will no doubt be convicted. But this is what um was said about him. He says, James the Just is so well respected by even the non-Christian Jews that when James tells them Jesus is the savior, some of the ruling class become believers.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: These were the Jewish leaders who begged James to speak to the crowds. The Jewish leaders take James to the summit of the temple where the crowd can see and hear him and cry out in a loud voice. We are all bound to obey you as you are just. The people are confused and following the dead man named Jesus. Tell us about this crucified Jesus.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: James called out just as loudly, why do you ask me about Jesus? He sits in heaven at the right hand of God, and I'll return on the clouds of heaven. Many people are convinced then and there that Jesus is the resurrected Lord. And they start praising him on the spot. Because these words were spoken by James the Just, such as his testimony.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: The leaders then were beside themselves. They shout to the people, oh, the just man is confused, is confused himself. And they push him down from the height, expecting him to die. However, he's not killed. So then the leaders started stoning him. James does what he's always done. He kneels, and he asks God to forgive them for what they do.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: The stones continue to bare his body until the priest yells, stop, what are you doing? The just one is praying for us. Everyone stops. Except one man, a laundress, who takes the club used to beat the clothes. He throws it at James's head, and then the just one finally dies. James's testimony, irrefutable, impressive, awesome, inspiring.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: Noteworthy, effective. God wants to do through you and and through me. He wants to impact those around us. He wants to use our testimony. He wants to to to put us there where we're walking like James in justice and mercy and caring and loving and nobility. God wants pagans to see what it's like when a real follower of Jesus stands up.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: May that be you and me. Father, thank you again for this day. Thank you for watching over us. Thank you for your word. Give us as we began our our treatment of the book. There's so many things to say. I'm I'm humbled by the the the way that James even begins the book. He calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ, a bond servant, a slave.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: He doesn't even know this is this is James the half brother of Jesus. He doesn't even mention the relationship. He is much like his brother Jude. Jude calls himself a servant of slave of Jesus and the brother of James. But he doesn't even mention that he is the half brother of Jesus. That's humility. Like John saying, we're not worthy to untie his shoes.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: As we think about James and his message, may we may our hearts be pricked. May we be so looking forward to hearing what you have to say through this choice servant. May we be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. But may it be that we're quick to obey. Make us walk in just righteous paths like your righteous servant.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: We ask these things. And I pray again, Father, as I always do. If there's anyone here, perhaps they've not acknowledged Jesus in the parting of their sins. Uh perhaps they're just playing the religious game, thinking that if they're among the crowd, they'll be okay. But you you call us individually to yourself. And I pray that if there's anyone here who's not bowed the knee to Jesus, having surrendered to him as saving Lord.

Pastor Ray P. Smith: May they not leave here in the same state. Break their heart for their own sake that you might heal their heart in righteousness. Strengthen those of us who know you to walk like you. And we ask these things in Jesus's name and for his sake. Amen.