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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 Welcome to James part 5, how faith comes alive. Take out your notes. They look like this in house. That's what they look like. Fill in the blanks, follow along. That's part of faith by work,0:25 by faith in works right there. Take out your phones if you're online or or your whatever Internet device you have. Go to waters church dot guide. It looks like that. You can click on today's message, and you can fill out0:35 the notes digitally. James part 5, how faith comes alive. This is the key text in James's book, everything before it points to it, everything after it points back to it. Faith0:48 without works is dead. I mean, we know that by heart. And it is actually kind of the most central0:59 part of our faith. What good is it, James says, if we don't have a visible demonstrative faith that people can see.1:12 So I titled this message, when faith comes alive because here's the question of the day. What do you do when faith has flatlined?1:23 When there's nothing visible on the screen. You know what I'm talking about. You've seen the movies. You've watched the television shows. The person's lying there. They've lost their pulse. There's no life in them,1:35 and it's a dramatic moment, and the tension increases, and you lean in. If you're sitting on the couch, you stop eating popcorn for a moment, and you pay a little bit more attention than you normally would. Are they1:45 gonna make it? Is the main character going to die? And they usually wheel out a machine in that moment. Does anybody know what the machine is? We have1:57 1 right here. The defibrillator. Now I'm gonna need a volunteer because this thing has been generously donated for the afternoon2:09 by Sturdy Memorial Hospital down the street. Don't clap. Pray that there's somebody who needs it. Amen. Sorry saving your aunt's life is gonna2:21 have to wait until pastor Tim's done preaching. Amen. This thing works. I can turn it on. It makes all kinds of noises. I thought it was on. Did I unplug it?2:33 It's unplugged or something. I don't know. It was working earlier, but nonetheless, don't worry about that. We've got sound effects ready to go. So what do they do? You know what happens. You you you2:45 see the person, and they test the pulse, and you hear the what do you hear? The flat line. And and I I learned this actually yesterday when I tested this out with a nurse from2:56 Sturdy. You're not supposed to do that. That I think that's just Hollywood being Hollywood. Yeah. Press the button. There's a charge, and then the word is Air.3:10 No. We already charged it, guys. It's been charged. It's on the bot. There we go. Okay. It's a work in progress up here. That's why they do that stuff in post production in Hollywood.3:22 And they listen for a pulse and no, it's still it's still yeah. So what's the word? Put all the body in.3:35 And then maybe there's a we saved a life. Feels so good. Yeah. You're even clapping because in the yeah. Yeah. You can stop it3:47 now. In in the movies, it's always most dramatic when someone comes back to life. Can I tell you that your faith3:59 can come back to life if it's flatlined? If you've got air in your lungs and you're breathing, but you've lost a bit of life to your faith, good news, it's4:11 not too late for you. But you need more than a nudge. You need more than a you can do it.4:25 You might need some spiritual electroshock therapy. Some that's what James is. I said this in week 1.4:36 James is blunt force truth, And he minces no words, does he, throughout this whole epistle. It's why so many Christians love this letter from James, the Lord's brother.4:48 It is to the point, it is impactful, and at some more points, it is shocking. It is electrifying. For instance, when he says,5:00 hey, faith without works is dead. I mean, it doesn't get any more serious than that. Now he's already talked about this in verse 22 of chapter 1. What did he say in verse 22 of chapter 1? He5:12 said, doer be doers of the word. And not hearers only deceiving yourself. When you have a professing faith, but not an active faith, you're deceiving you.5:24 You're misleading you. And then in chapter 2 verse 17, that famous phrase that we all can say from heart by heart, so also faith by itself if not accompanied by works is dead. And5:36 it seems so negative. In fact, we can say it so easily. It just rolls off the tongue. Faith without works is dead. Hey, know, faith without works is dead. And I think, yes, that's right. But I would like to flip the5:44 script, and I would like to take a what seems negative, a negative what seems like a negative phrase. It's not a negative phrase. It's actually a positive phrase because it's warning you. How many know that when you're5:54 about to, you know, do something terrible to yourself, the best news is sometimes the worst words, the hardest words, the most alerting or alarming words. Yes? Yeah. Okay. So these are alerting, alarming,6:05 shocking words, but I'd like to flip them on their head and turn them into a positive. And you're gonna write this down in just a moment, but before I give you the fill of blanks, I bet you could help me say it. Now, I6:17 want you to think about it. If faith without works is dead, faith with works is alive. There you go.6:29 It's alive. So fill that in. If faith without works is dead, then faith with works is alive. This is how your your faith can come alive. A lot of Christians want more faith. If you want more faith,6:41 oh, yeah. How do you do it? How do you do it? James has the prescription here. And 4 points we've got from this text, and then we're done.6:53 Number 1, faith comes alive when it benefits me. And you say, well, that sounds selfish. Like, my faith should benefit yes. It should benefit you. You're gonna benefit the most7:05 from your faith, by the way, because your faith brings you to heaven. I don't know about you, but I wanna go there. K? So it's a self7:16 preserving, self interested belief system. It really is. Trust Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you go from7:28 hell to heaven. But before you get there, you need to live. Like, you know, you come to Christ and you don't instantly disappear and go to heaven.7:40 Anybody notice that? So there's a lot of life to live as a Christian on this earth, and we want living faith. How many of you want to experience living faith? A faith that you can sense God7:52 is with you. It's not this idea. It's not this philosophy. It's not this theory of I of of faith. It's an active faith. It's a living faith. It's a relationship with God where you sense him at work through you and in8:04 you, and there's life to your walk with Christ. Living faith. Well, it comes alive when it benefits you. And James says this in verse 14, he says, what good is it brothers8:16 if someone says they have faith, but they have no works. And then he asked this question, can that faith what? Save. Save him. The word save in heap in Greek is sozo. It's more than just8:28 eternal salvation. It's more than just going to heaven. The word so so in Greek is a word for healing. It's a word for deliverance. It's a word for wholeness. It's a word for health and wellness. Salvation8:39 is more. Friends, listen to me. Salvation is more than just going to heaven. Salvation is about wholeness. It's about8:51 healing. It's not just about spiritual healing, it's about physical healing. By the way, everybody who's saved gets physically healed.9:03 Everybody who's saved gets physically healed. It's just we might have to wait until the resurrection. Now temporary healing does happen along the way. And if9:14 anybody's ever been healed at all of our locations, just raise your hand if you've ever been healed. Yeah. Praise God. Look at miracles all over this place. Praise the Lord. You've been healed by God. So there is a9:24 physical aspect to salvation. Hey, listen to this Gen z, Gen alpha. Listen. Ready? There's a mental healing that happens through Jesus. He9:36 calms the spirit. He calms the mind. He brings peace that the world cannot take away. Amen? There's a9:47 spiritual healing. You're not you're not thrown off by every little upsetting experience in your life. You don't fly off the handle when things come9:59 at you in unexpected way. No. Why? Because the work of the Holy Spirit is not just about getting you to heaven, it's about bringing heaven into your heart. There's10:11 peace in you, outside of you. And listen, you are the main beneficiary. But you're a physical being. Now here's where a lot of10:23 Christians disconnect with faith. They think it's all about the spiritual or the mental. It's about the physical. They think it's all about thinking, or professing, or believing. But James is going to be clear here. It's10:34 not about all that only. It is about that, but it's not about all that. It's also about physical things that you should do. Physical things that you should do that will10:46 build up or bring your faith to life. As Paul says in Philippians chapter 2 12, he says this, work out your salvation. Work what?10:58 Out. So that implies, where is your salvation? In. God puts it in you. It's your job to work it out of you with fear and trembling, for it11:10 is God who is still working where? In you to will and to work outside of you for his good pleasure. Can I tell you that there are physical things that you can do that11:22 will build up your inward faith? Because your body is body and spirit. Yes? How many know this that when you go to the exercise equipment or you go11:34 to the gym, you might not feel like it. You might you might walk in like, ugh, I just don't wanna be here today. How many know what that feels like? Not enough people raising their hands because you don't go11:46 at all. Okay. You don't feel like walking, but you get the exercise and you get the blood flowing and the endorphins are released in your physical body. And suddenly, have you ever thought about this? Your11:58 physical activity changed your spiritual or emotional condition. That's just how God made you. Likewise,12:11 there are some physical things you can do. Think about this. There are some physical things you can and should and are commanded to do in scripture that will bring more faith, greater faith, living12:23 faith out of you. So what are those things? These are the things that benefit you. Write this down. Works of faith that benefit me. Number 1 or letter a, baptism and communion.12:36 Baptism is really step 1 of physical faith. In the words of Olivia Newton John, let's get physical.12:47 If you are a believer, first thing. Ready? Get baptized. The only people who should not get12:59 baptized are nonbelievers. The Bible does not ever say, believe on the Lord Jesus, and then spend a good year and a half13:11 praying about whether or not you should get baptized, or thinking about it, or wrestling with it. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for your13:22 sins, you get baptized. And your body goes through a physical experience, doesn't it? It goes under the water. It13:34 comes out of the water. You are physically identifying with Jesus' death, his resurrection coming out of the water. You are doing this in front of people that you know and don't know. Good news,13:46 everybody. You've seen it enough at Waters Church. We're going to clap for you. We're going be like, amen. That was awesome. Right? It's kind of embarrassing to get wet when you're the only 1 getting wet. You know what13:55 I'm saying? It's kind of embarrassing. But not with baptism. It should be a proud moment. You should look forward to it. You should be like, absolutely. My sins have been washed away by Jesus Christ. But some of you say,14:07 well, what if I what if I fail God after my baptism? Spoiler alert, you will. I still fail God. I still fail God. Good news though, that wherever sin abounds14:19 in my life, grace much more abounds in my life. God never runs out of grace. Amen. So baptism, communion. This is a meal that we share on first Tuesday at14:31 Waters Church. And next Sunday at Waters Church, will be sharing communion. And we also encourage this in our life groups, in our small groups, because the Bible actually says in the book of Acts that they gathered in14:42 each other's homes, and they broke bread. They shared the Lord's Supper in their homes. I like to do things the way the Bible says to do things. I don't know about you. It doesn't have to be this really14:53 exuberant, you know, meticulous experience in the church building only. It can be in the comfort and in the coziness of your life group where you share communion. You eat the body15:05 of the Lord, you drink the blood of the Lord, you are identifying with Christ through a physical action. And the Bible says, when you do this, you examine yourself. See, what we have to remember is that we are you our15:17 cars are usually due for an inspection every once in a while. Amen? If we want to open a restaurant, and we want to run around, they come and they inspect. If we want to build a house, if we want to build a structure,15:28 they come and they inspect, and the inspection process makes it sure that it's going to last and it's going to stand. Here's the question for some of you. Have you had an inspection process for your faith lately? That's15:39 what communion is. Examine yourself. How am I doing? Maybe I need to confess some sins I haven't even realized. I've been maybe it's like, I've been cursing a lot, Lord. I I remember I just lied the other week, Lord. I15:49 don't even know why I did that. Or, I mean, I've been doing some stuff. I should be Father forgive me. Cleanse me. I receive the blood body. I receive the blood physically to speak16:01 to my spiritual reality that I'm sharing a meal that's 2000 years old. I'm brothers and sisters with Peter, James, John, the apostles, and with the Lord Jesus16:13 Christ. Amen. By the way, in the book of Acts, these were the 2 practices of the church that were con that were continual throughout the whole book. And16:25 I I thought about it this week. The 4 gospels tell us about the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is the life of Jesus. There's 1 book that's dedicated to the life of the church, and that book is called16:37 acts. Notice that it's never called the feelings of the apostles. It's not called the emotions of the apostles. Hey. It's not even called the sermons16:49 of the apostles because faith without works is dead. There's no benefit. Listen to me. Those of you who say, I believe in God.17:01 Oh, I believe in I I don't totally believe in God. I'm not an atheist. I don't but does your life show it? Does it change how you live? Do how about17:13 this 1? Do people see it? Do they ask about it? If it becomes a crime, heaven forbid, to be a Christian in17:24 this country, would there be enough evidence to put you away? That's what James is talking about here. Here's letter b, prayer and bible reading. Prayer and bible17:36 reading. How many believe in the in the power of prayer? Amen. Well, we don't believe in the power of prayer. Believe in the power of God, but prayer is what brings God's power down. Amen. And yet, we don't do17:48 it. We don't do it like we should. And listen to me. Some of you say, I just don't have time to pray. A prayer could be 1 sentence. In fact, Jesus, I love this18:00 about him. In Matthew 6, he says, listen, when you pray, don't go running your mouth for hours on end, thinking that God will be impressed because you piled up a18:12 bunch of liturgies, a bunch of languages, a bunch of a bunch of words and sentences. He already knows what you need. Keep it simple stupid.18:25 Keep it simple saints. Keep it simple saints. Just let them know what you need. That's conversation up. Bible reading is conversation18:37 down. Bible reading is when you let God speak to you. Do you understand? That's why this should be the most precious possession in your life. This is God Almighty speaking to18:49 you. And enough of the excuse. I I just don't understand it. There are parts I still don't understand. You're it's a learning process. Look, if you've got a19:00 God that you totally understand all the time, can I tell you? You've got a God of your own making. There is mystery to this God. There19:12 are things we will never understand about this God. That's kind of what makes him God and what makes us not God. Right? But the fun of it, the glory of19:24 it is in the searching, is in the finding out. That's what the psalmist says, I have searched out your commandments. The unfolding of your word. The unfolding. It's like it's like a gift19:36 that God has given you, and you and you tear open the outer packaging, and you see the box, and you lift up, and the more you examine, the more you read it, the more you listen, the more it comes alive to you.19:48 It's a lifelong pursuit. I've been doing this for 40 years of my life. I've been doing this. I've been studying the word for that long, and still and I I got something at the end of the sermon I'm so excited to share.20:00 Still, I'm seeing things that I never saw before. It's a lifelong exploration. Letter c, hearing the preaching of the word. We had we don't have to cover this 120:11 long. You're doing it right now. You're doing it right now. And can I tell you? Here's the guarantee of scripture. Romans 10 says, faith20:23 comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. So you are all going to walk out of this building today with more faith20:35 than you walked in with.20:38 Amen, somebody. Somebody tell you something.20:40 I'm going out with more faith. I'm going out with more faith. That's the promise of scripture. Letter d, fellowship with other Christians. 1 of the best things that you could do this week at all of our20:52 locations is LifeGroup. Sign up. Show up. Be there. And it's exactly like the gym. You'll sign up21:06 5 6 30 Thursday nights at Jill and Jim's house, and you'll be like, 5 30 on Thursday night, you'll be like, who are21:17 Jill and Jim anyway? What kind of cult have I gotten myself into? I don't think I wanna go that far with this whole thing. You know? That that's what's gonna happen. That's what's gonna happen. The devil's gonna mess21:29 with you, or your flesh is gonna mess with you, or you are gonna mess with you. Get over that and show up. Because like the gym, you don't wanna go, but then you come out, you're like, woah. That felt good.21:41 Faith comes alive when we fellowship with other Christians. I'm trying to tell you. I'm trying to tell you. This is not just espousing a certain set of beliefs.21:54 James is gonna tell us later that the demons believe. You ever think about this? The demons have the proper theology. Do you know in the gospels who said Jesus was the Christ more often than22:05 anyone else? Demons. Every time a demon ran into Jesus in the gospels, they were like, please, holy son of God, don't cast me into the abyss. Please, just leave me alone. They knew. They22:18 knew who he was. Some of you, this is a wake up call for you today. You know the right beliefs. You know the truth, but there's no22:30 life to your faith. Wake up. I don't know if you're watching the news that I'm watching. I don't know if you're seeing the world that I'm seeing, and I don't know if you're seeing all the things happening that I'm seeing22:41 happening, but I do know you know you're seeing it. And the world is asking the church to wake up. Christ is coming. This is not a time to sleep on our faith. This is not a22:53 time to mail it in. This is not a time to just espouse certain creeds. This is a time to be the church of Jesus Christ in action. In23:04 deeds. It's time to staple some deeds to our creeds. Amen. Which brings me to number 2, faith comes alive23:16 when it benefits people other than me. So the first person to benefit from my my my faith is who? Me. Me. That's 0.1. No. I do a lot of flying,23:28 and I always have to endure the speech. You you know the speech. You've been on an airplane. There are 3 exits. Blah blah blah blah blah. In the case of an emergency, blah blah blah blah, there's a seat23:40 there's a, you know, flotation device under your seat. And and there's a, you know, life jacket. You put it on. You blow the thing. I'm like, ugh. I've seen this, like, 1000 times. Then they tell you this part. If the23:51 cabin experiences a sudden loss of air pressure, what's going to happen? Little oxygen mask is going to drop. And they always do this little thing with the rubber band, they snap it to their face. And they always24:03 give you a qualifier in that part of the speech. What's the qualifier? Yeah. You know, put your own mask on first before you help somebody else.24:15 And I thought about it. This is where some of you are. You've got to put your own faith to work for you. Those things that we just talked about.24:27 You know, baptism and communion, bible reading and prayer, fellowship under the word so that you can go out and help some people who are suffocating in life. So24:39 hopefully, 0.1, we've snapped on the mask. Now it's 0.2. Let's help some people. Verse 15, James says, if you see a brother or sister and they're poorly clothed so notice that James gives us the real24:50 nitty gritty here. He says, look, you gotta look out for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Where should our deeds go first? The church. This is not a25:02 call for communism or socialism. This is not a call for just handing out money to strangers. Look after the church first. Galatians chapter 6 verse 10 says, as we have opportunity, let's25:14 do good to all people, especially those who belong to the household of faith. First things first, bless your brother and sister. This is why we're raising money for the Apollo Beach location at25:26 waters church dot org slash give. The drop down menu, benevolence. You can go there right after the service. You can go there online, right after this message, and give and help us get resources into the hands of our25:37 struggling brothers and sisters. It's been tough. You're down I'm down there. I could feel it. There's just a weight in the atmosphere. This is a perfect opportunity for the church to be the church. Bless each other.25:48 Show each other. You know why you know why young people are calling on socialism so much today? You know why? Because the government was never intended in this country to take care of us.26:01 The church was. And the separation of church and state thing was really a great idea. True. It is good. I'm glad that there's no official state church so that the state does not control the church. But what the founders26:13 really intended was that there would be a living, breathing church that would do so much good for so many people that the government wouldn't have to. Maybe the problem with the younger people longing for26:25 socialism, cradle to the grave government intervention for their life is because the church failed to do what it was supposed to do. We we need to care for the people of this world. We need to26:37 reach out. Let me just ask a simple question. When was the last time you reached out to somebody that you hadn't seen in a while and said, hey, how are you doing? Can can I help you? Can I serve you? Can I bless you?26:50 If your brothers and sisters without clothes and you just say, go in peace, what good is that? What good? That's useless faith. And and so I I have first John chapter 3 17 in your notes. If anyone27:01 has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? It's not there. So I got 4 works of faith that benefit others. 4 works of faith that27:13 benefit others. Letter a, serving. Again, making that phone call, sending that text. How are you? I haven't seen you. You 1 of the Christians that is always expecting the church27:25 to serve you? Why didn't anybody call me? Why didn't anybody check on me? Well, why don't you check on somebody else? Why don't you be the person who initiates27:37 that conversation? You know, this is a 2 way street. Like the the phone, I don't know if anybody knows this. It goes both ways. Texts go both ways. Some people say, I left that church27:49 because nobody reached out to me. Why don't you reach out to others? Because the scripture says that a generous man will be blessed, and he who refreshes others will be refreshed28:01 himself. The onus is on the Christian living outwardly, not inwardly. Are you hearing that? The onus of scripture, all of the scripture is you28:12 stepping out of you and caring for somebody other than you. And that is where faith comes alive. You've put the oxygen mask in yourself. You prayed. You've read your bible. You've done your communion.28:24 You've done all and now you're alive in the Lord. Now, Lord, use the things that you have poured into me to pour into other people. Serve somebody. Let her be giving. Who are you giving to?28:36 And I'm not talking about tithing. We'll get to tithing in a moment. This is beyond tithing. Sponsoring children through Compassion International, an organization that I have had a very personal relationship with over28:47 the years. Compassion dot com, amazing organization, planting churches and building schools in destitute areas of the world. I've met children that I sponsor. It's unbelievable.28:59 Beautiful beautiful experience. The 1 child Cheryl and I met in Uganda, he traveled on the back of a motorcycle for 3 hours to come and meet us. And we took pictures and we hugged him,29:11 and I'll never forget, he said, can you come home with me and we'll have chicken? I said, wow. They even have chicken here too. Okay. That's I mean, it's like a staple. So, you know,29:23 serving others, giving to others, who is benefiting from you financially because Jesus has saved you? Letter c, forgiving.29:35 This one's hard because some of you are here. You're like, I don't wanna give them. I don't wanna forgive them. I don't wanna forgive them. They're here here's what some of you say. They're not worthy. Here's what some29:46 of you say, they haven't asked for forgiveness. They haven't acknowledged their hurt against me. And some of you say this, I'm just not ready to forgive them. I'm29:58 just not ready to forgive them. Okay. There's a problem. Christians, non Christians, you can completely ignore me, but Christians, you can't. Ephesians chapter 4 says,30:10 forgive as the Lord Jesus Christ forgave you. Okay. Pop quiz. Have you acknowledged every sin that you have ever committed?30:24 Have you asked for forgiveness for every single sin that you've ever committed? And aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that when you ask for forgiveness, God, Jesus is in heaven, he's not like,30:37 I'm just not ready. Watch out for this. Jesus takes this 1 pretty seriously, Christian. He takes this 130:49 really serious. He says, this is how you should pray. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our30:57 sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. No. Don't stop reading. For if you do not31:08 forgive your brother his sins, your father in heaven will not forgive your sins. Big deal. Big deal for Jesus. That's31:20 the only qualifier that he gives to the entire Lord's prayer. Let me revisit this forgiveness thing, because I know my people are gonna come up with all kinds of stupid excuses for why they don't forgive.31:33 And I'm paying for your sins with my blood, Jesus says. And as they nailed Him to that cross and ripped out His beard and spit in His face, He said, Father forgive them for they know not what31:44 they do. This is big. And here's another word of warning, because some of you are holding out on this. There's a fork31:56 in the road for you. Forgiveness and free you're at the fork. Forgiveness and freedom or bitterness and resentment. And Hebrews warns us.32:08 Hebrews warns us about this. Are you ready? Be careful not to let a root of bitterness spring up and defile many. You know what happens with bitterness when you don't forgive? It defiles32:20 not just you. It defiles your family. It defiles your marriage. It defiles your children, and it's just gonna become part of your32:32 ancestry DNA, spiritually speaking, for generations. Somebody say, you don't understand pastor. They ruined my childhood. They stole my virginity.32:44 They ripped me off. They set me back 30 years. You don't under you stand up there, and you preach at me, but you don't understand. And I say, you're 100 percent right.32:56 I don't understand. I've had a really good life. But he understands. He's a he suffered at the hands of wicked sinful people33:08 innocently, and he forgave them. And if he has forgiven your sins, and you want your faith to come alive and not turn into a bitter, old,33:20 grumpy person, because let's be honest, we all know them. They're out there, aren't they? They're usually complaining about the weather no matter what and, you know,33:32 never sending you a birthday card. You know who they are. Don't become like that. Forgive. Let them go. Letter d, witnessing. Witnessing is sharing your faith.33:44 Jesus said, you shall be my witnesses. Witnessing is sharing your faith. Now this is where some of you come up with a whole another list of excuses. I don't know what to say. What if they ask me a question I can't33:55 answer? What if they start arguing with me? What if they debate me? And it always leads to Trump, and it's just horrible, and I don't know where to go with that. Because it does.34:08 And and it it's really simple if you think about the word witness. We use witnesses in our court system, don't we? A crime happens, and the attorney calls forth34:20 what? A witness. Now the witness takes a stand. Does the witness have to have a law degree? Does the witness have to have a forensic science degree? Or how about a criminal justice degree? No. The witness34:31 gets up. The witness could be some backwoods farmer from Iowa that doesn't even have a smartphone. And he gets up on that stay stand, and all he34:43 says is what? What he saw. Witnessing, do you understand? Is just telling people what you saw. Just telling people what34:55 Jesus did to or for or in you. That's all it is. It's not arguing. It's not politics. It's not social issues. It's not nothing like that.35:06 It's just and look, I know you struggle with faith. I know you don't understand this stuff, and I know you might not agree with me about all these, but let me tell you that I was this way. Now I'm this way, and35:18 Jesus is the difference. Amen. That's it. And they can't argue with that. And you well, what if they Pastor, what if they say, well, that's good for you? Then say, yes. You're right. It's35:30 very good for me. It's not an it's that's not an insult. But I think this is it's so important for some of you because you never have witnessed, and you35:42 should. And you've felt the Holy Spirit nudge you at certain moments. Amen? You know what I'm talking about. You have felt it. You felt the Holy Spirit say, say something about me. Mhmm. And you said, I35:54 don't know enough. I'm not smart enough. I don't have a theology degree. I don't didn't go to seminary. No. You're saved. Jesus saved you. Talk about that. Yes. And leave the results with God. Amen, somebody.36:06 So James says, someone will argue, you have faith. I have deeds. How can you me your faith if you don't have if you don't have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds. In John Bunyan's36:18 classic Christian book, The Pilgrim's Progress, he talks about a man named Pilgrim who travels to the Celestial City. It's an allegory about us. It's about it's an allegory about faith. And he meets several different36:29 people with unique names along the way. And 1 of the persons that he meets is named Talkative. And Talkative he says this about Talkative. His religion was only in his tongue. He just talked about36:41 it. He just debated. He just wanted to sit down and have bible studies all day. Sit down and talk. Sit down and chat. Sit down and, you know, pick the ears of everybody else. Man, can I tell you, I I don't I avoid those36:50 people like the plague? I I don't wanna talk. I I really talkative. I do enough talking for a living. And talkative, he says this. I wanna do stuff. You know what happened this past week? Forge night up here, men37:01 gathered together, did bible studies. Amen. Praise God for that. That's a wonderful thing. You know what happened in Apollo Beach? Forge night was hurricane prep. And a group of men in Apollo Beach,37:13 thank God for these guys, showed up and screwed plywood to every window of the place and worked. And then the hurricane struck through. 0 damage to the37:25 church. Praise God. In fact, we did the work, and then we said I said, guys, let's lift up our hands over the building, and let's pray that all of our work that we did today was useless. It's the first time I ever prayed37:36 that way. And and and was. It turned out it was useless. Although there's branches everywhere, maybe it wasn't useless. But nonetheless, then the next day after the hurricane, they all showed up again and took all that37:46 stuff down and swept and cleaned and put all the brush by the street. Amazing men of God. Can we give them a hand? All you guys at Apollo Beach, God bless you guys. Deeds,37:59 visible deeds goes beyond just showing up at church. Who cares that you go to church? You know that the38:11 devil goes to church. You understand that there are demons listening to me right now? Because here's what they're gonna do. They're taking notes, better than some of you. They're taking notes, and they're writing down38:22 quotes, and they're saying, okay. Now here's what pastor Tim said today to the church. Waters you're all familiar with Waters Church. We're all familiar with Waters Church in in the demon world. And so what we wanna do38:33 is we wanna we wanna counter that statement with this lie and that statement with this lie, and they're waiting for you in your car right now so that they can have an argument38:45 about what you heard today all the way home. So that by the time you get home, you're like, yeah. Wasn't that wasn't that big of a deal. Watch out for this. Faith without works is dead. So numberShow more
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