A Curative Remedy | James 4:7-17
Diagnosing a broken bone doesn't heal it. If a doctor looked at a dislocated elbow, correctly named the problem, and sent you home, you'd still be broken. James spends three chapters diagnosing the church. In chapter four, he stops describing the injury and starts prescribing the cure.
In this message, Pastor Dennis walks through five steps of God's curative remedy for a church that wants a faith that actually works: submit to God, draw near to him, humble yourself, prioritize your life around his will, and then do what you know to do.
In This Message:
- Where we left off: the fruit of righteousness sown in peace (James 3:18)
- Diagnosis versus remedy, and why naming the problem isn't enough
- Step 1: Submit to God (v. 7): Properly aligning under authority, and why "resist the devil" is a daily stand and not a one-time victory
- The truth many of us live by: we want a God who loves us, but not a God who's in our business
- Step 2: Draw Near (v. 8): Cleansing the hands as an outward act, purifying the heart as an inward one
- What verse 9 does and does not mean, and why holy conviction isn't the same as gloom
- Step 3: Humble Yourself (vv. 10-12): Two evidences of healing: we stop speaking evil, and we stop judging
- Why a church that writes people off has already stopped being the church
- Step 4: Prioritize Your Life (vv. 13-16): Having a plan built on relationship with God, and living by "if the Lord wills"
- Life is a vapor: what unexpected loss teaches us about our calendars
- Step 5: Have a Faith That Works (v. 17): Knowing the good and doing it
- What God is already doing at 242, and what's ahead
