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Well, good morning. How we doing? It's good to have you here. My name is Blake. If I haven't met you, I'm so glad that you came today. It's wonderful to have you. Um, let's do something every week. There's people that join us online all around the world. Will you guys tell them you love them? Grateful to have you no matter where you are. Awesome. So I'm fired up because today we're launching a brand new series, and it's called Words Matter. Words matter. Everybody say words matter. We're gonna do a deep dive into the book of one of my favorite studies in the Bible. It's the book of James. And so I'd like for you to finish this sentence. Are you ready? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may never hurt me. My sermon today is called Sticks and Stones. I'm convinced that whoever said that words may never hurt me, clearly they must have skipped middle school. Words hurt. In fact, I think they can be more painful than breaking bones. My sweet Allie, when I told her I was going to be speaking about this, she goes, Oh, I'll tell you, I was in middle school, I can tell you where I was standing, I can tell you who said it. Uh, there was this group of girls that were looking at me, and and I was like, What are you guys looking at? And then back then, when we were in school, they said, Well, we haven't figured it out yet. And it like broke my wife's heart. And she was so sad she can remember it 30 years ago, right? Because words hang around and they'll stay with you rent-free in your brain. And so, years after the conversation, you can still feel the pain. Raise the hands. Um, how many of you have been hurt by words? Yeah, all of you. And if you didn't raise your hand, you just lied in church. So we agree that words they can be very destructive, but we would also agree that words can be constructive. Inspirational words can shift something in us in our life, the direction of our lives, right? We can remember words that were spoken over us when somebody sees something in us, like a coach or a parent, maybe a teacher, and it can shift us in our story. And so it'll help us see something that they see and make us believe that we could be that. And so maybe it was a pastor who boldly preached the word and spoke words of life and hope, peace and joy, and it breathed life into you from the word of God. And that's because words, man, they they have the power to harm or to heal. Words matter. When I was growing up, my dad used to always say, Son, we're only as good as our word. And he'd also say, Our word is our bond, which was his way of saying, our our word is like a contract, it's a covenant. When you talk, it better be truth because bergstroms don't lie. And so that's why I love James. Man, he he speaks truth. And it's bold, he doesn't mince his words, he says it like it is. One of those dudes. I love the way that one commentary said it. It said they call him severely ethical and refreshingly practical. And that's what I aspire my preaching to be like. Truth and then like how to put truth to work. He knew that the followers of Jesus, the early church, were gonna be facing life and death. And so he he wanted, like, hey, I know your life is on the line. You're being chased down and hunted and threatened because of your belief in Jesus. And so I need you to practically know how to stand strong under the pressure of this world because it's coming. Trials are coming. Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble. Right? And so his teachings are simple, they're direct, and they're very practical. It's important for us to understand something about James. He's the half-brother of Jesus. And I think that'd be confusing to share with your friends. Like, yeah, he's my brother, but we don't have the same dad. Like, oh, who's his dad? I uh Yahweh, creator of the world, this is his dad. And like I've always thought of James like, you know, introducing himself. Hey, James, yeah, is he my brother, the son of the most high God? Like, that'd be tough. Like, I I I've thought of him in class or like doing chores at home and him hearing all the time from his teachers, like, hey, James, well, why can't you be more like your brother? Well, because he can walk on water and start there. I I think it'd be hard to live in the shadows of Jesus, right? And we know that early on in the movement of Christianity, that the brothers had a hard time believing in Jesus. It says in John 7 5 that even his brothers didn't believe in him. But later we know that Jesus appeared specifically to James in 1 Corinthians 15, 7. And then later in Acts 15, there's this massive shift in James, and he becomes one of the forefront leaders of the gospel, a herald and a teacher and a preacher that was uh that helped start the movement that you guys know and love. And he it was so much of a leader that it actually ended up costing him his very life. And Josephus tells us that he was stoned to death in AD 62. I'm just gonna say that people don't generally die for something or someone that they don't believe in, that they think is a lie, right? I I I love that James he teaches with such an urgency, and so much of it is like, hey, this counts, this matters, and your life is on the line, you only have a few moments, and so you better tell the story with boldness. And so he he teaches about Jesus that way. I love the thought of that there's this great theologian, pastor, a guy named Tim Keller, and in the last moments of his life he says to his son, son, you are the stories you believe. That's a powerful statement, isn't it? So at the end of your life, the stories you believe is who you are. And Tim Keller at the end of his life, all he wanted to talk about was Jesus. He just wanted to tell the old, old story over and over and read scriptures in his deathbed. And I'm gonna tell you that's that's me as well. At the end of my life, I'm not gonna brag about my wealth, my accomplishments, the things I did. I want to brag about who Jesus is in my life and the stories of his life that matter so much to me. And so the question that James is trying to ask in his text is so if you believe it's everything to you, how should we live? How do we live this out? And so that's what James teaches how to practically do, how to live out our faith. And that's why I call this book the gospel in blue jeans. Or you could say the gospel in overalls. It's like, how do I put this on? How do I wear this faith and live it out? I love that because his words, it sounds like a pastor that's talking to his friends. He's like speaking truth to the people he loves the most, his family. And so I think that's why I wanted to go through this this week. And I love how he starts the book. It says, he starts off by saying, Hey, I'm a James, nice to meet you. Is this working? Here we go. Getting fancy. Hi, I'm James. And you know what I am? I'm a servant of God. That's so I'm everybody say servant. And who am I a servant of? I'm a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls him the Lord. And to the twelve is who's writing to is scattered among the nations. That means the diaspora. Diaspora means that they were scattered throughout the nations. And then he just says, greetings. That's his way of saying hi. And so he starts off by using this word servant. And in Greek, the word doulos, it means a slave or a bond servant. And so he starts off by saying, I gladly surrender my life as a servant of God and of Jesus. So let's not miss the fact that he calls his own brother the Lord Jesus. I have two brothers, they're younger than me, and I have called them a lot of things. I've never called him Lord, and I don't plan on it. And so you feel this sense as he teaches, you know, like he's repeating the words of his older brother. And you can tell he looks up to him and he wants to be like him so much so that he gave his life for him. And if anybody had the right to say Jesus was a joke, he was a fraud, he wasn't real, it would have been James. But he he doesn't. So for me, that's like massive evidence that Jesus is who he said he was. And many of you might be skeptical. You're not there yet. You're questioning, you know, kicking the tires when it comes to faith. But I hope and pray that the writings of James will help you grow in your faith. The thing that he's trying to get across at the very beginning of this book is he's saying, if we didn't have trials, would we need faith? I don't think we do. It's trials that help us understand faith. And so here's how he says that. In verse 2, he says, consider it what? Pure joy, my brothers and sisters. There it is again, his endearment. Whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces what? Perseverance. And then he goes on to say, perseverance, let perseverance finish its work. So there's a work that's happening through perseverance, so that you may be what? Mature and complete, not lacking anything. And then he goes on to say, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. Do that. And he'll give it to you generously, to all without finding fault. It'll be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. Because if you're doubting, then you're like one who's doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. And that person shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is what? Say it, double-minded and unstable in all that they do. I like to say that perseverance is faith with some grit. It keeps taking the next step. When life becomes crashing down, it's heavy and hard, and maybe there's a death or sickness or a financial struggle, it's painful. You don't have answers left asking questions why. James says that that's testing our faith. That and it's producing something in us. It's making something, and that what he's making is endurance. It's helping us become, you know, learn how to persevere. It's helping us grow and become mature and complete. He's not asking us to enjoy suffering. He's not saying pure joy is like he was reminding us that God often works through our suffering. It's the pressing that we learn the persevering. And so James knows that the opposite of perseverance is saying, I give up. Right? I always say, if you're not growing, you're dying. So if you're not persevering, then you're you're giving up. You're losing faith, falling away from the faith. And he's seen a lot of this. People have given up on the way and the movement of Jesus. And so he's watched people leave the faith. And so he starts by saying, look, man, hey, don't give up. He's teaching grit. He's saying, hold on like a big brother. He's saying, don't allow the winds of the world to blow you and knock you over. You stand firm. Right? Because if you don't, then you're living double-minded. And double-minded is a divided allegiance. And so James calls us to trust, man. Trust God and trust his ways and not our own ways. He doesn't shame us for having to go to God and say, I need you. I need wisdom. In fact, he tells us where to find it and reminds us that God will give it generously if we'll just ask him. So this week, when you're going through it and you need wisdom, what should you do? Ask God. How about that? And so he goes into a verse right after that in verse 9 where he said, believers in humble circumstances. He's talking about the poor here. So he's saying, for those of you that are poor, you ought to take pride in their high position. Huh. That's interesting. He says, but the rich should take pride in their, what? In their humiliation? Since they will pass away like a wildflower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant. It blossoms, falls, and its beauty is destroyed. And in the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business. And so out of nowhere, James goes hard after like money and material possessions. He's saying, hey, if you don't remember this, your life is it's really short. It's like a wisp of wind, and you're done. He's saying, you're going to pass away in like five minutes, like a flower on the side of the road, or the rising and the setting of the sun, the rich will fade away. So he's asking, like, what are you, what are you living for? What are you investing your life in? What's your primary business? Are you doing God's business or are you doing man's business? Is it about your kingdom or God's kingdom? And so he's trying to say, hopefully, your worth and your value isn't coming from anything that's temporary, like how much you own and how you know how much stuff you have, and boats and beautiful houses and cars and big gigantic bank account, because life is going to life. You're going to be born and you're going to die. And it's happening faster than you think. And most people die with a big bank account or uh calendars that are still full, right? Out of nowhere, he's saying, don't forget how fragile you are. How frail and weak we actually are. And so James is just talking straight. Like, bro, you better build your life on something that's gonna last. And he takes it a step further in verse 12. He says, blessed. Everybody say blessed. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial. He goes back into that again. Because having stood the test, that person will receive what? Crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. He comes back to endurance. Except he's saying, now I want you to look at endurance through the lens of an eternal mindset. Set your mind on the things above. You know, you focus on the things down here? No. Focus on God because don't forget, we're gonna be here just a minute, passing through aliens and strangers, right? Because we have a future, a future hope. And God's holding a place for us in heaven. But for now, we got work to do, right? And so, but one day soon we're gonna receive the crown of life with God in glory forever. So in the meantime, love God, love people. Get your work done, right? I know there's work, and I know you're under pressure. I know you're in it, you're in a test. You're this is a spiritual warfare, and the enemy's coming after you, and so he's gonna tempt you. And then he goes into that. He's like, in fact, when you're tempted, no one should say, God, it's God, he's doing this, he's tempting me. No, for God cannot be tempted by evil. He does, nor does he tempt anyone, but each person is tempted when they're dragged away by their what? Own evil desire, and they're enticed. Everybody say enticed. And then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it's full grown, gives birth to what? Death. Here's the question I have for you today. What temptation are you feeding that you should be fighting? I'll ask again. What temptation are you feeding that you should be fighting? Because I I think it's like we get these temptations and there's thoughts. The thoughts aren't bad themselves, but when we take that thought and we entertain it, it starts to grow, and then our desires start to shape, and then it can eventually lead us down a path that'll lead to death. And so the word here for enticing is a Greek verb de liaison, meaning to lure with bait. It's a hunting term. See, temptation, it shows you the bait and it's pretty, but it doesn't show you that it's hiding a hook. And it advertises the pleasure, but it conceals the cost. So when it comes to spiritual warfare, how much more important is it for the enemy of darkness to to entice us, to hook us, to reel us in, to lure our hearts away from God? Because he's coming after our soul. He hates us. We have this much time here on earth, we're in the middle of a battle, and we have one job, and that's to know God and to make him known. And he doesn't, the enemy doesn't want us on mission. He doesn't want us to be fulfilling what God's called us to do. So James is like, listen, man, the enemy is he's he's slick. Masquerades is an angel of light. He looks good. You're gonna want what he's got. And and he'll wait, man. He's he's good at waiting for years and years until you're weak and tired, and then boom, just at the right moment, he's got you. I've seen this happen way too many times. Great men and women of God, believers and followers of Jesus, who who in a moment lose their entire lives, their families and their kids and their careers and their ministries and their reputation shot just because they couldn't resist temptation. See, when temptation comes in, it starts to entice us. And it's natural for our imagination to start seducing us into justifying why it's okay. And so we start to fantasize. And I'm gonna tell you, fantasy is stronger than reality. We can start to, you know, build something up, and the more we sit in it, then guess what happens? Sin, it grows. And then we meditate on it, we start to ponder, huh? I wonder what I wonder what that'd be like. To cheat with them, to steal that money, to do the get rich off of online gambling, to have the drink, to look at porn, to do the drugs. Maybe some of you came in here struggling today, and you're battling in addiction, and temptation, it's got you. You're being enticed and maybe even fantasizing, like looking for a way out. Maybe you're actually considering the temptation as like it's a better choice. Be careful. You might be taking the bait. And you know what breaks my heart? I I've watched this play out way too many times. Believers, they give in to their desires and they give up on God. I've seen it. And here's how it looks like somebody you ask, like, hey man, I haven't seen so and so. What's going on with them? They've just seemed distant for a while. Because that's what the devil does. He wants to get you away from God's people, right? Like a cold that's moved away, it's turned cold and hard. He he doesn't want you warm and hot, like on fire. So he gets you away, and that's what predators do. They want to pray away from the church, and so that's what happens. Like, I don't know, I've seen them. I they're not serving anymore at church, and they they quit going to small group, and you know, they didn't they didn't ever talk to us, they're always quiet, you know, just they just got real quiet. They stopped like laughing and it got weird, and so it's like well what where are where are they? I don't I don't know. I their their family fell apart and they they're not around here anymore. And and it's usually because there's something concealed that they're hiding, they're living, they're living in shame and they don't want to talk about it. And it's because the devil's enticed them, he's drugged them away, and they don't even realize that their sin is leading them to To eternal separation from God. Please hear me. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. This is serious. Eternity hangs in the balance. So pay attention to what you're paying attention to. Think about what you're thinking about. And maybe you're at a place right now where you've started making excuses for something that God has asked you to resist. And as your pastor, I implore you, don't do it. Don't go through it. God can change everything. He can forgive you. He can heal you. He can restore your story. He loves you. And his grace is sufficient for you. I don't care what you're in the middle of or what you're thinking about. I'm just asking you, don't be deceived. Like, don't take the bait and believe the lie. That's exactly what where James goes right after this. He says, Don't be deceived. My dear brothers and sisters, like you feel the like the love. And he says, remember, remember, every good and perfect gift, it's from above. It's coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. He doesn't change. Like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth. Through what? Through the word of truth. That we might be kind of like first fruits of all he created. Be the ones that herald this truth. And so he says, My dear brothers and sisters, take note. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Because human anger, it does not produce the righteousness that God desires. So here's what we need to do: get rid of all mortal filth and the evil that is so prevalent. And humbly accept what? Here it is. The word that's planted in you, which can do what? Save you. So he reminds us who we're talking to. We have a good father. And he's blessed you abundantly. Every good, the perfect gift comes from above. Heavenly lights, and he blesses us with that. And God's faithful and he's true. And you know what? He doesn't, he's unchanging. And get this, he has actually taken his word and he planted it in you, and now Jesus is alive in you, right? In the beginning was the word, and the word was God. So the word being Jesus is alive inside of you. And so therefore, it's our job to give that word to the world. We now become a herald, a spokesman of the word with our words. But we have this tendency to be careless with our words, don't we? Like we're we're not careful with the words that we speak. We're careless. And so he goes after that. He challenges, hey, let's not be quick to speak. Let's not be quick to anger. Slow your roll. Right? And be slow with our words. Be slow to anger. So we can live a righteous life that pleases our Father. Don't be hateful. Stop that. That's not the way we roll. Don't be hateful just to prove that you're right. I think we need to hear that in 2026, especially for those that are keyboard warriors on Facebook. Let me say it like this. I'd rather lose the argument to you than lose you to the argument. My words and being right's not worth losing a friend or a person that I love. We don't want to lose people just because you're trying to fight and be right. I often feel sorry for people that lose control and they blow up in a fit of rage. And that's because I'm I'm very hypersensitive to that, because I was raised in a house that had lots of anger. My dad, if you don't know, he he battled PTSD because he went to Vietnam and had Agent Orange and he came back very broken, and so he was very hard on us. And um my family was shouters. We have any people that have shouters, we shouters. Yeah. I I was in a house where I was like that, and when I got married, I regularly I was very gifted at shouting at my wife. So much so that I intimidated her and scared her. She lived in fear of me. And so one day she said, I am scared. I saw in her eyes the same anger that I had in mine and the fear that I had in mind from my father. And I was like, I can't do this to my bride. I said, I don't want to yell at you ever again. And she said, We gotta pray. So I laid down on the floor and she prayed. She's five foot two, but she's a mighty warrior. And she prayed in the name of Jesus to be delivered from this oppressive spirit of anger. And it left me that day. And anger stops with me. It's no longer alive in me, and it has no control over me. And I can say in front of my church family with my family in the room, that I never yelled at my wife again. Now I would have to walk away, be like, hey, baby, I can't talk to you right now. I'm gonna write some stuff down. We'll talk about this Thursday night. We had a date night every Thursday night. I'm like, yeah. We're yelling about socks. I don't really want to talk about this now. It's so stupid. But really, when you when you allow yourself to be controlled, like I I feel sorry now. I I have sorrow for people that can't control themselves, right? Because when we're correcting our children, don't do that. You know, don't lose control. When you're speaking to your spouse and you blow up, don't don't lose control. Let's be quick to listen, controlling our tempers, controlling my words and my thoughts, right? Not allowing anger to control me. And so by the grace of God, for the glory of God, that generational curse is off of my family, and I don't walk in that anymore. And you don't have to either. And so then he gets really practical. He says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. You guys are here at church listening to the word of God, and he's saying, You're listening, and you could be deceiving yourself. Why? Because you have to here it is. Will you guys say those words? Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word and does not do what it says, it's like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently, will you say intently? Look intently the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. James is so honest and raw. He talks like me. Like I was a construction guy, and I'm like, I think like this is how I talk if I'm in the wood shop with my dudes. I'm like, hey, knucklehead. Look in the mirror, bro. Like there's sin in your life, and you're lying about it, so get right with God. How about that? The Holy Spirit has already told you, you know the word of God, so here's an idea. Are you ready? Do what it says. It's not theoretical, it's very practical. Stop talking about what to do and actually do it. I like the way that a lot of people say that. Don't talk about it, be about it. I I connect with that deeply as a preacher because week in and week out, you guys come here and you listen to me like help give wisdom and truth about from the word of God to help you live a healthy life. And preachers and doctors have that in common. We go and see our doctor, and he sits down with you, like, doctor, I don't know why, I just feel so sick. And he tells us what to do. And he says things like this How about how about you drink water? Another thing. How about you eat healthy? You could also go for a walk. How about you exercise a little bit? There's some words for you. You're like, man, Doctor, thank you. I was so good. You blessed me. And then we're like, go home, and we don't do it. And so as a pastor, sometimes like I'm trying to help you. I told you what to do, and you're still doing the same sin from 10 years later. Why am I still talking? I've told you to do, right? It's like I went to senior taco with my wife this last week. We were having some burritos. She's sitting there and she's telling a story and she's just going on and on. She's blah blah blah blah talking and talking. And she has a big old black pepper on her on her lip. And she's just keys, she's blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, hey honey, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I am. And so I reach out and I'm like, trying to get it out of her room. And she's just she feels like she's annoyed because I'm trying to help her. I'm like, okay, my bad. And so she just keeps telling her story and it's still there. And I'm like, I tried. If you want to look like an idiot and go about your wicked ways, you can't. Want to listen to me? I told you the truth. And so it was there the rest of the night, and we got home, and she looks in the mirror, she's like, that was still my feelings. I tried. I know. That's how it feels. I preach this sermon about sin and forgiveness, and we leave hearing the word and we know the truth, but we don't change. I don't, I'm not gonna do anything about it. We keep walking in the same sin, and we don't, we don't choose to actually pick up the phone and you know, forgive someone. And some of you, you gotta come in here and be like, Pastor Blake, man, that sermon was fire. You're preaching, man. I'm gonna share that online. I want people to hear, you know, I wish my children were here. They needed to hear that message. Well, maybe you need to go, God, what are you saying to me through the word of God today? What do you need to change in in my heart? What do I need to be obedient to that your word says to me right now? Because the last verse, 25, it says, look intently into God's word. It's not a glance, it's to study it, to sit in it, to let it marinate, to actually transform your heart and change you. Change the way you talk, change the way you think, change your patterns, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, right? To actually change the way we live and to actually be obedient to what he says. Because that's where the blessing's at. That's when you find the good stuff. And then he closes in verse 26 and 27, and he goes after the religious. Those who consider themselves religious, and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues, they deceive themselves. And their religion is what? It's worthless. Because religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless, it's to look after orphans and widows in their distress. And if you do that, you'll keep yourself from being polluted by the world. He gets painfully practical. Like, hey, let's talk about how you talk. And we talk about the power of your tongue. And he points out, you know, if you don't have love, like Corinthians says, you're a resounding gong, a clinging symbol. You're, you're, you're just shouting and yelling. And if you don't have control of your mouth, your faith and your religion, it's worthless. You gotta control your mouth. He and he uses the analogy, you better rein it in. You better rein that in. That's that's learning to like do what the Bible says and taking every thought captive. When some thought comes in your mind and you're saying, nope, you don't you don't get permission to like form words to become a sentence, I'm gonna speak out loud. I'm I'm not saying that. And some of us need to hear that today. Because you got a mouth and you can't control it. And sometimes you just gossip, sometimes you just speak poorly of other people around you. It just comes out. We don't do that. Why? Because words matter, you can't take them back. Proverbs 18 says that the tongue has the power of life and death in your tongue. Maybe you should pay attention to why people don't want to be around you, and it might be because your tongue is speaking death. It's like negativity, and things that are coming out of your mouth are not alive. Or maybe you're like attractional. People always want to be around you because what comes out of your mouth is edification and blessing, and it's like alive. Life is coming out of your tongue. See, I was in this meeting this week and I was talking to somebody that had been new to the church, and they were part of another church, and they were telling us about that church. It was kind of some bad stuff. And as they were saying that in the middle of it, she stops and she says, Hold on a second. She pauses and she prayed. Right there. Lord, help me say this the right way. Give me the words right now. And then she said, What she needed to say. It was beautiful. I was like, Yes, that. What if what if we actually learned to pause and pray before we sent that text? What if we like paused and pray in the middle of a conversation with our spouse and we go, hold up, I need to ask the Lord, how help me with my words before I say this to you. What if you paused and prayed right when you're in the middle of your discipline with your kids? Didn't blow up off the handle, lose it. Or for me, my grandkids. We had three grandbabies in my house for three weeks, which was amazing, and I'm exhausted. And I was downstairs in my gym, it's a really small gym, and I was doing chest with these big dumbbells, and my grandbaby, she comes to the door, it's right beside me, and and she is too close. I'm like, if I've got to drop this in a second, I don't want it to hit her toes, and so I'm telling her, out of love, like, don't come in here. And I'm like, Ellie Blake, I'm serious. I'm in the middle of like, stand back at the door, don't come through the door. Hold on just a minute, right? And she's doing this. I'm like, Ellie? And she goes, she's looking right, she knows exactly what she's doing. Maybe it's because her middle name is Blake. She's pressing the line. I'm like, I love you. I don't want you to be, I'm not telling you these rules because I'm mad at you. I'm telling you because I love you. Trying to warn you that she's being enticed by sin and she's being lured in. I'm like, no, no, girl, get out of here. Church lets rain in our tongues. Some of us need to let Jesus lead our mouth before our mouth leads us into trouble. How many of you have like thought, wow, why did I say that? I wish, come on, raise hands. Well, every one of us is like, man, I wish those words wouldn't have come out of my mouth. I I believe now more than ever that our mouths direct the course of our lives. How you speak. Right? You are the stories that you believe. So what stories are you talking about? And what is it that you really believe? Another thing, what you say about you is 100% true. And some of you, you gotta stop hating on you. You gotta stop saying, I'm I'm such a loser, I'm so dumb, I'm an idiot, I'm such an idiot. I mess everything up. Stop that. Don't say that. How about you start speaking the scriptures? If you don't want to say the things about you that might feel fake, then start saying the scriptures. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. You're a masterpiece. You are created in the image of the living God. Right? Like speak truth over your life. Because, man, words, they're gonna shape the course of your life. And so James is saying, hey, if you want to be religious, it's not coming to church, not putting on your pretty clothes and stained glass and hearing the great music and a bass kicks in and you got the goosebumps. No. You want to be religious, really religious? How about you serve and care for those that are less fortunate? And when we do that, it keeps us from being polluted by the world. So he's saying faith in Jesus, it changes every part of our life. There's nothing it doesn't touch. Changes everything. The way that we speak, the way that we think, the way that we hold on to material possessions and willingly give the people that we serve in every area of our life. Like, if if James were here, he'd be the guy that would coin the term, like, don't talk about it, be about it. Don't just go to the church, be the church. Right? So, in in hearing this text and thinking through chapter one, I just wanted to close today by asking you some questions that are from the text to help maybe help you think about what the Holy Spirit might be asking of you. So, what will you do with what God said through his word today? What are you going to do about it? What temptation or desire are you feeding that you need to be fighting? Who in your life needs an apology or who do you need to forgive? And who is the Lord asking you to go and serve this week? Maybe the Holy Spirit's asking you to do something about it. Not just talk about it. And so I'd challenge you just to simply ask him for wisdom. Right? Just ask him. He'll show you. So during this series, I'd like to close every week with a prayer that puts the words that we study to work. And so if you feel comfortable, you don't have to, I'd like to ask you to put your hands out like this. And let's ask God this prayer. Let's say it together. Say it with me. Here we go. Father, give us your wisdom. Give us grit to endure and persevere through our trials. Help us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Forgive our hurtful words. Give us courage to apologize and grace to speak words that give life. Father, help us resist temptation and trust the guidance of your Holy Spirit. Help us to be obedient to your word and stay faithful to your truth. Keep our hearts from being polluted by the darkness of this world, and instead may we be a bright light as we represent you. You're a good Father, and every good gift comes from you. So let what we heard today change how we live this week. We love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Can I say a prayer over you? Father, I thank you for this church. I praise you for the way you're transforming us, you're changing us more and more to be like you. Thank you for putting us on mission. Thank you for trusting us with your word. And today, Lord, I pray for anyone in here that might feel like they're battling a temptation. Or maybe they need to forgive someone. Or maybe, Lord, they're struggling with their finances or a relationship. I pray for healing over them. And I pray, God, you'd continue to do a work in us that we would know that there's a work that's being completed in us to help us persevere through the trials and the struggles and the challenges of this life. Father God, we want to thank you for the trials. We praise you that you trust us enough to battle through and persevere through and endure this life so that we can be tested to be made mature and complete, lacking nothing. So do what you have to do, God. Do what you have to do. And help us to be a people that hear your word and immediately obey your word. This week, help us not miss it, God. We love you, Jesus. Everything we've got. It's in your name we pray. All God's people said, You guys, thanks for coming. If you have any prayers or something you would like someone to know about, you want to confess or have a time of extended prayer, that's what this next song is for. So we can have a time with God. So let's stand and worship God. I love you.