 So today we're gonna look at James chapter three verses 13 through 18 and as is my normal method, I'm gonna be reading to you verses 13 through 18. Then I'm gonna give to you a refresher, remind you of the portion of scripture that we've already gone over so I can lay a foundation because we're gonna be seeing how James is gonna be asking a question. The question is found in verse 13. So let's begin at verse 13. I'll read to verse 18 and we'll get into our study. James asks, who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And so James has been writing concerning teachers of the word of God. Remember how he had started the chapter in verse one where he had said, my brethren, let not many of you become teachers knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. He's been speaking concerning, writing concerning, teaching the word of God and teachers specifically. And he made it clear that because a teacher speaks for God, they will receive a stricter judgment. Now that's because a teacher has more opportunity to speak about God and speak about his kingdom and that gives more opportunity to stumble in word resulting in misrepresenting God. So James is making it clear that teaching the word is never to be taken lightly. It's the teacher's responsibility to pass on the word faithfully without changing it. According to Proverbs 30 verses five and six, every word of God is flawless. He's a shield to those who take refuge in him. And then he goes on to say, do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. So the teacher is to teach the word of God without adding to it or deleting the things that are uncomfortable to speak about. They're to give the whole counsel of God. So James's warning would be teachers to take heed and to understand the seriousness of opening up and teaching the word of God. And they need to make sure that their foundation is Jesus Christ and his gospel, his message, his word. They need to know that the foundation is not church tradition. The foundation is not revelation knowledge. The foundation is not messages by the spirit or the latest trend or prophecies or words of knowledge or what that preacher may be feeling at that moment. There are a lot of preachers who preach what they're feeling at that moment. And that's not the foundation. It's not people's books that they've read or faith conventions. It's not seminars or entertaining churches or entertaining preachers. Jesus needs to remain the foundation. He is the sure foundation. You know, when the Jesus movement began and God was using a man by the name of Chuck Smith and people began to wonder what is the secret formula of this, they thought that Chuck must be some kind of dynamic speaker who weeps whenever he's preaching and draws people in through the power of persuasion. And Chuck speaks of how he was invited to go and speak somewhere. He said, and I'm sure that the guy thought I was going to begin to cry. And he said, the only person who cried is the guy who invited me. Because Chuck didn't have that dynamic personality. He was a teacher of the word of God and Chuck taught us that it's not our entertaining style and it's not our ideas and our visions and our creative projects. It's not those things. What it is is Jesus Christ. And we need to understand that. And James is pointing that out. He's saying that the foundation isn't a church tradition. It's not somebody's revelation at that moment or what he feels like speaking. It's not books. It's not convention seminars. It's the word of God. It's Jesus Christ as a sure foundation. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah 28 verse 16, Isaiah wrote, and therefore thus says the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation and whoever believes will not act hastily. Peter later on tells us that that tried stone, that sure foundation is none other than Jesus Christ. So why is this so important? You see if people look only to other people, they become vulnerable to false teachers. This is especially true concerning the fact that Satan infiltrates churches and he knows that placing faith in Jesus Christ to the gospel is gonna set people free from sin and he desires to keep people from hearing the true message of the gospel. So in order to undermine the work of God, he will alter the message of the word. And his false message is preached through satanically empowered evangelists. And the message that the enemy will proclaim is a message that changes who Jesus Christ is. He's often presented as a good teacher, a kind man, a miracle worker, even a prophet. And you'll read that in certain people's books. You'll read that in some of the material that is presenting their belief system but bringing Jesus into it. Jesus is all of those things. He is a great teacher. Of course, he was very kind. He's a miracle worker. He is a prophet, of course. But when they're presenting they're Jesus, there are differences between the Jesus they're presenting and the Jesus of Scripture. In their message, Jesus is not God in the flesh and he is not the only savior. He's what Paul called a different Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 11, verse four, Paul said, if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, he said to the Corinthians at that point, he said, you put up with it easily enough. You're allowing this to take place and though someone is coming in preaching a different Jesus. This false message of a false Jesus is distributed by false teachers who are evangelists. In 2 Corinthians 11, 13 through 15, Paul spoke of them in this way. He said, such men are false apostles. They're deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising then if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness, their end will be what their actions deserve. They'll come and knock on your door and they'll give you a message and they'll say they're bringing the kingdom of God to you when in fact they're changing who Jesus Christ is. And so you have to be careful who you listen to. They'll stand on street corners, sometimes holding their printed material and they'll hand it out to people walking in to stores or donut shops for that matter and they're bringing a different Jesus during the holidays. They'll come and knock on your door. You will be having visits by people who are preaching another Jesus. And the bottom line is these are satanically energized, unfortunately, but true, false teachers. They're evangelists who are preaching a false message. In 2 John, verse 7, John said, many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh have gone out into the world. Any such person is a deceiver and the antichrist. Because this is true, believers are commanded to safeguard God's word. Jude, verse three reads, dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all and trusted to the saints. Contend for it, vigorously defend and fight on its behalf for the faith, not the faiths, the faith. And it was one time for all time delivered to you. We don't need additions to it. We don't need new messages. The Quran is not necessary. Neither is the Book of Mormon. We don't need new messages. That's what Jude was saying. There were already false teachers creeping in, bringing different saviors or different iterations of Jesus Christ, presenting him in a different way. It was already happening in the early church and they made it very clear. The various writers of Scripture and so many of them spoke concerning this Jude and Paul and the Apostle Peter and John. They all wrote about this and they said, be aware of this. You need to be aware because false teachers are coming in and they're undermining the truth of the gospel. Safeguard God's word. Now how does Satan undermine the gospel with the intent to destroy? Well basically he has what has been called a two-pronged attack. He attacks from the outside as well as from the inside. He attacks from the outside by using agents who infiltrate the body of Christ. They enter into the church in order that they might destroy it. Like Jude said, again in verse four, certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men who change the grace of our God into license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign Lord. And so what happens is a false teacher will creep in amongst you. They come in and they seed themselves amongst you. They're the tears among the wheat. And they'll be seeded there and they wait long enough to get some notoriety. People begin to know them. Maybe they'll share their opinions with some people. And before you know it, people become friends of theirs and as they're becoming friends, they begin to share with them some of the things that they believe in. They're undermining the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so what do we do? Well the church is to be safeguarded through teaching. And so as the church is taught, what the truth is is what we're doing as we go through our books and all that we study, the books of the Bible, the church is being safeguarded, that way they're being taught not to listen to the lies of false teachers. In second John verses 10 and 11, John said, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, don't take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work. Don't invite him in. And what is he saying? If somebody knocks on your door, you shouldn't talk to him. You'll say, well yeah, didn't he just say that? Do not take him into your house. You need to remember that in the early church they met in houses. This is a warning for me as a pastor not to let somebody step into this pulpit to give you bad doctrine. Don't let him into the house. Don't let him infiltrate. Don't let him speak his nonsense, his false teaching. That's why we vet the people that we bring here. That's why we wanna make sure that whoever is here in this pulpit occupying this teaching you is somebody that is orthodox in their belief, somebody that's teaching you the truth. The scripture teaches us to do so and that's how we protect you. And sometimes what they'll do is they'll infiltrate but sometimes they actually attack from the inside. There are people who appear to be genuine but they're drawing people to themselves. Their false teachings are elevated into what is considered actual real authority. False or carnal teachers always draw men and women into themselves. And they're the heroes of their own stories. You can tell generally, not always, but you can tell generally that somebody is not giving you the full truth because suddenly they are the hero. They're the one telling you what they do, all the things that they do in the name of Christ. You know, they say things like I was on the plane and the pilot came on and said, we're going down and I said, oh no, God, we can't go down. And then God said, no, my son, we're not going down. So I stood up and I said to people, I said this. I said, you need Jesus Christ. And everybody began to listen. As they began to listen, they were falling. They were weeping. They were all over the place. Then the pilot comes out. He put the plane on automatic pilot and he came out and he spoke and I brought him to Christ. And then I went and took him into the bathroom and I put water on, baptized everyone. They're always the heroes of their own stories. They never fail. They always do something. I remember this one guy who said that the Spirit was on him so much that he stepped off the platform, hovered there for just a moment as God suspended gravity on my behalf. And then he came back on to then finish this message. My goodness gracious. And then people give them offerings. They're supporting these charlatans. And this from the very beginning is something the church has been warned about. Be not teachers. You will receive a stricter condemnation. God is very careful about the things that you speak in His name. But they do this. They're heroes of their own story. They boast of their knowledge. They boast of their experiences. They're seeking to build a following but it's for themselves and not the Lord. In Galatians 4.17, Paul spoke and said those people are zealous to win you over but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us so that you may be zealous for them. Paul is a true apostle who's speaking of false teachers who are undermining the gospel because they wanted to boast in their flesh. They wanted to bring these followers after them undermining what God did through a true apostle by the name of Paul. What do you do about them? When they're infiltrating, when they're exposing bad doctrine. Romans 16.17, I urge you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you've learned. Keep away from them. Avoid them. Have nothing to do with them. If someone comes to your door and they're bringing a false doctrine, you smile at them. You give them the true gospel if you can and send them on their way. If a teacher misrepresents God in his teaching, he is held accountable for doing so. And if he's teaching and makes an honest error, he's not looked at as being unsaved, he simply needs to be brought to correction. The fact is, as we all stumble even as he had already said in verse two in chapter three, in many ways, the sheer volume of our words gives us more opportunity to make errors. And because of this, we need to prayerfully consider what we say. Like Psalm 141.3, set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Now James made it clear that to be a teacher of truth, your speech has to be disciplined. And he illustrated this with a horse and a ship. And he had pointed out that both are steered by a master and our speech is steered by a master passion. So in order to be a teacher of truth, one must have their tongue under the Spirit's control and that's what James is developing. He used the Jordan River and the Dead Sea as an example. The origin of the Dead Sea is fresh, but its destination is bitter. False teachers can begin with truth, add a twist and end up with heresy. So a genuine believer has their spiritual thirst quenched in Jesus Christ. And after their own thirst is quenched, they provide water for those who are thirsty. Remember John 414, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The water isn't just for me, but it actually springs out into other people. That's a genuine teacher. So in order to be a teacher God uses, the water of life must remain fresh. And that means it must flow without pollution from its source to its destination. You have been as a believer in Christ, entrusted with the gospel. I don't know how much you've grown to value it yet, but you have been. Do you hand your key to your house to just anybody on the street? Would you do that? Of course you wouldn't. I wouldn't. You're at a store, you see some guy. Oh here, by the way, this is the key to my house, my address is such and so. Would you do that? Well of course not. Would you give the keys to your car to somebody? Probably if you want it stolen and you want to claim it on insurance, but other than that, probably not. Why not? Because it's your car. It's a valuable item to you. My dad told me, David, there's only two things that are very valuable that you'll purchase in your life. He said, two things, two most valuable things that you will purchase with your money. It's your house and it's gonna be your car. And he said, take care of those things. And those are things that we do take care of. We steward those things, a house and a car. Why? They're very expensive. You're making house payment, house payment, house payment for all these years. And so you take care of it. Would you give your house key to somebody? No, why not? Because I need to know that person. Have you ever given your house key to someone? Yes. To who? To a son? To a daughter? My close friend? To somebody I trust in value. Yeah, I would do that. My kids have my house keys, though I keep changing the locks, they keep finding it. Jesus gave you the keys to the kingdom. The keys to the kingdom. It's a lot more valuable than your home or your car. It's how people get into heaven. We have to value it. We have to understand that. Paul said it like this in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 4. He says, but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. Even so, we speak not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. We have been entrusted the way Jesus said to the apostle Peter, I give to you the keys to the kingdom. You have been entrusted with the gospel message that opens up the door of heaven to those who will enter. And so we're entrusted and we ought to understand that. And again, James is saying to teachers in particular, you've been entrusted. You have the keys. So how can I safeguard this? Well, I wanna carefully study the scripture and I have a healthy fear of mishandling the word of God. Studying, teaching, even witnessing should not be done with a careless heart. Isaiah 66 verse two says it like this. But on this one, will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. Who trembles at my word. His word is a lamp, it's a light, it's life. It's his very word that brings life to the dead. It gives people the opportunity to know what spiritual life is. It's the only message God entrusted to men whereby we must preach it for people to be saved and a genuine teacher values that and trembles over it. Doesn't just walk out casually and say a few things in the name of God. We spend hours preparing our studies, hours looking at words and finding ways to put them in such a way that they can be communicated quickly and understandably. And that takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of prayer, it takes a lot of time. It's not something you just kind of like put together in a moment and go out and speak. You're speaking in the name of God. The false teacher doesn't have that kind of belief system. They never offer living water. And that's because they've not partaken in living water themselves. You see Paul said it like this in 1 Corinthians 15 verse three. He said, I delivered to you first of all that which I also received. I received it and I gave it to you. I'm not speaking about what somebody over here said or somebody over there said or some commentator over here spoke. I'm telling you what God has placed in my heart. And that's what a genuine teacher is able to do by taking the scriptures and presenting them in a way that is understandable. So he is speaking concerning that. He also in verse 12 has spoken of a fig tree and a grapevine. And that's because trees and vines produce what is conformed to their own nature. A genuine teacher leads us to the work of the spirit but a false teacher will always bring us into bondage. And that's what he's been saying as we now enter into verse 13 and he continues by asking the question, who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. The phrase wise and understanding when he asked the question who was wise and understanding while that phrase is another way of identifying a rabbi during the time of the writing the Jews would use that term for their teacher. He was wise and understanding. And it spoke of the one who had practical moral wisdom that was built on the knowledge of God. And so if a Bible teacher is truly teaching God's word his life is gonna match his words. Notice what he says in verse 13 again. He says, let him show by good conduct. I was speaking to someone just yesterday and mentioning to them that sometimes we think that teachers are only those who speak who spend time studying and do word studies and outlines and then come and stand in front of people and present facts. I said, that's part of what we do but when you look at first Timothy three and it gives you the qualifications of an elder an overseer, a bishop. And that's speaking concerning a leader of the church especially pertaining to the pastors. It has a variety of traits that are outlined, you know not a brawler, somebody who's not given to wine, somebody who loves his wife, you see. And when you look at all of those, they're character traits. He adds though apt to teach. And I was sharing with this person just yesterday. I said, apt to teach. Many times people look at that as being the spiritual gift of teaching meaning to be able to do what I'm doing right now open a Bible and speak verse by verse and give you content. That of course is being spoken of. The person is to know doctrine well enough to communicate it but it doesn't remain just with the ability to speak. You can get an unbeliever who is a well-polished order and you can give to them Psalm 23 and watch them begin to speak it. The Lord is my shepherd and do it in such a way that can move you emotionally but he doesn't know the shepherd. He doesn't know the Lord. He's just reading and if he reads well people can be entertained by it. But a genuine person who knows Christ when he speaks and says the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He's not just speaking words from a book. He's speaking words from a life that knows that Jesus Christ is that. And in teaching that person has to have moral character because apt to teach is not simply able to communicate it's living out and that's what James is saying here in verse 13 when he says let him show by good conduct. So his life is gonna be in evidence of the things that he's teaching. His life reveals the truthfulness of what he's saying. Somebody said the wisdom that does not teach a man to govern his own spirit and to be humble in his conduct towards others is of no value. A truly wise person is one who is seeking for wisdom and living it out. And wisdom is gained over time through experience. It is something you seek for. In Proverbs four, five through seven it reads get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her and she will preserve you. Love her, she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get wisdom. And in all you're getting get understanding. Seek for her as if you're searching for silver. So the first step to godly wisdom is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Why because that's the source of all true wisdom. Proverbs nine verse 10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the holy is understanding. So when you genuinely fear the Lord your life will reflect this because you're obedient to him. That's what Jesus said in John 14 15 when he said if you love me keep my commandments. Now if wisdom according to verse 13, if wisdom is our guide our lives will reflect this in our conduct. Wisdom is shown by good conduct and genuine meekness. In Ephesians four two Paul said it like this. He said be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love. Put up with one another is what bearing means. Because sometimes we have to put up with one another, don't we? Do you ever wake up grumpy? I used to. Now I let her sleep in. Just seeing if you're listening. Titus three verse two says slander no one. Be peaceable and considerate. Show true humility toward all men. You see godly wisdom is never expressed by arrogance or self-righteousness. It's demonstrated through meekness of spirit. That's the kind of spirit that Jesus revealed to us. And Matthew Jesus said this in chapter 11 verse 29. He said take my yoke upon you learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. But we're to be like Jesus according to Matthew 10 25 it's enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher and a servant like his master. And second Timothy 2 24 Paul said a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all able to teach and patient. And so he's speaking concerning this. This is your conduct that your works are done in the meekness of wisdom verse 14. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts do not boast and lie against the truth. So this speaks of a spirit of ambition and contention. It speaks of what would be called a party spirit. Bitter envy resents others who have more gifts and attributes more possessions or honors. It produces an argumentative and angry self-seeking person. So any teacher of God's word that harbors his bitterness is going to undermine the gospel. It's interesting how he says in verse 14 do not boast and lie against the truth. If this is the fruit of your teaching do not boast of your qualification to be a teacher nothing makes you more disqualified than this kind of fruit. You're saying you are lying against the truth because you're ignoring what God says is the standard of a teacher. You glory in your success but are not producing godly disciples of Jesus Christ. You're filled with envy and your disciples are like you. They're divisive and they're contentious. Well where does this wisdom come from? Verse 15, this wisdom does not descend from above. It is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist confusion and every evil thing are there. This kind of wisdom isn't from God. It's a product of fallen nature. It reflects what demons have but it doesn't reveal the spirit of God. Notice in verse 16 the fruit of this where envy and self-seeking exist confusion and every evil thing are there. The fruit of your ministry is confusion and strife with no unity, no stability. All love and peace disappear and only anger and self-promotion is allowed. The false teachers often filled with bitter envy and self-seeking and the fruit of their work is confusion and evil. I was sharing with the First Service today and I probably should share with you the same kind of thing. It won't be identical to what I was saying. So we've all heard about Kanye, right? You know, I'm gonna share with you some things. You know, if you... We can always remove it from the tape. It's interesting because when Kanye West, whom I really don't know much about, I'll be honest with you, his music isn't something that I drink coffee to. I'm not aware of it. I'm really not. I know who he is. He's very well known of course and he used to let us know how famous he was. I remember that too. And I know he's married to a Kardashian. I know that and all and whatever. But as he has begun to proclaim his faith in Christ, well first and foremost, I pray for him. I pray that God will use that man because doors can be open to him that the name of Jesus can be preached in in a very effective way. And I'm praying for him and we ought to pray for him. And one of the things that concerns me about all of this is because, well he's opening himself up right now to a lot of attack. And it comes not just from the world. You expect the world to say things about Kanye and all of that. He's already put himself in a position, aligned himself in places that people don't really agree with and thus they think he's a sellout and this and that. And I've been following that in the news for some time. But now that he's openly professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and is excited about it and is going on platforms that many of us cannot, we can't go on these talk shows. We don't go on these radio shows. And he's speaking to a non-churched audience, people who don't know Christ. I'm praying for that man. May God open the doors for him to preach the gospel and for millions of people to come to faith in Jesus Christ. We ought to be praying for him. We should be praying for him. That's what we need to do. I'm not putting an imprimatur on his music in the past but my goodness, if my story, when the true story we're ever putting in print form, it's triple X. You wouldn't want your kids to read what my life really was without Jesus and that's a testimony. We have what we call the testimony that we give to people and we have the real testimony that only we and God know and that's ours. We keep that to ourselves. And so some of the things you did and I have done, I would not want people to be publishing in magazines or on talk shows. I think that's legitimate. That's my private life and he deserves the same thing and the same respect. He does and you have the world and the world is going to be taking him apart. Oh, he's Trump's puppet and this and that. That is just evil and you ought not to be saying that but I expect that from the world. But church, we better be praying for this man because he claims to be our brother in Christ and he deserves our prayer and our love and we need to keep him in prayer because the thing about the church that is sad and I've been a part of it for a long time is we have a tendency of shooting the wounded. We bite and devour one another and if he doesn't do what we say he's supposed to do, well, we have a habit of saying he can't be the real thing because my brand of thinking is the right brand. Well, guess what? It's not always the right brand. It's my brand is what I believe but in the end when I go to heaven there are a lot of things that'll be sorted out. That's the way it works. Let's pray for Kanye and pray for his wife. I don't know if you know anything about Kardashian. I know they have their programs. Again, I don't watch that but one of my friends, Lloyd Poli's wife, Karen, is her cousin and Kardashian's, according to Karen, Kardashian's dad, before he died, he was a lawyer for OJ, that's where he became famous, before he died he had gotten a right with the Lord. See, people don't know those things because they're not in the paper. So Kim is aware of what the gospel claims are and now her husband's on fire. We need to pray for him. He's going into prisons. Thousands of people are listening to him. He's got his thing he's doing on Sunday in LA. Thousands come just to look at him, some to mock and others to listen but the thing that concerns me is he needs to be mentored. He needs to be trained and taught. He needs to be given the elements of the gospel and his pastor from what I understand and I've been looking into this, from what I understand his pastor is solid Bible. Someone told me that his pastor didn't even know who Kanye was when Kanye was beginning to go to his church. He's just one of the guys in the church and later on he's introduced to him, this is Kanye and he goes, yeah, my name's Bob. You know, I don't know who you are and I like that because he's not, apparently, not one of these guys latching on, oh, now I can build my church. I'll give Kanye a Saturday night and we'll just pack out. That's what I'm concerned with because we have a tendency of taking the famous and using them up and when they fail or if something is exposed or when their youthfulness is brought to out. See, I knew, I knew he wasn't real. Now there are already people blogging about that, already people and I want to just say a big shut up to those people, just pray for this man. Pray for him, my goodness, when we got saved, when I got saved and no, I'm no Kanye, I was John Lennon. No, I was no, you know, when I got saved. I mean, the church world was out there saying these hippies aren't the real deal. These hippies are bringing in what they call voodoo music because we use drums, you know, and everybody knows that Satan plays the bongos. I mean, they brought that in. They said these Jesus freaks are bringing in a bunch of garbage and everybody knows that Jesus had a real short haircut and a tie he wore on Sundays. Everybody knows that, didn't wear sandals. And they would look at us and they would question and they would say, you guys can't be saved. Look at you, look at the way you looked. If you really were saved, you'd cut your hair. If you really were saved, you'd go on and get a job. If you were really saved, you'd be like me. No, I don't wanna be like you. I wanna be like Jesus Christ. That's why we got saved to be like him. And he comes in all colors and all fashions. That's great about him, isn't it? That's a good thing. And I'm concerned about that because they were saying that to me, to Raul, to Mike McIntosh, so many of us. That's not the real thing. It's a flash in the pan. It's just a moment. They're just, yeah, they're all gonna go back. Well, guess what? Next month I celebrate 49 years of walking with Jesus Christ. It's the real deal. God changes life. He changes life. That's what God does. He's in the business of changing lives. That's what he does. You fall on your face before him. You say, God, be merciful to me. I am a sinner. I am so sick of being sick. I need your help. Forgive me, and he lifts you up and he puts you on something that's not sinking sand. He puts you on a solid rock and your life is transformed. Let us pray that this man isn't used up by the church and discarded. That's my greatest concern. It really is. There was a guy, ancient history time, by the name of Robert Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan was a prophet of the 60s. And he wrote these songs. A lot of songs that you would be familiar with. If you're old enough, you remember them. If you're young, you might have heard them in nostalgic radio, I don't know. But these songs were almost prophetic in many ways they were. And then he came out and said he was a follower of Christ. When he first began to look into Jesus, he was going to a church in Westwood. And the pastor there, and I'll leave him unnamed, the pastor there said to Bob Dylan after Bob had come up and said, I want to be a Christian follower of Christ. He said, don't say anything. Keep your faith to yourself. You need to grow. And he discipled him for a year. That was before his album Saved came out. And in his album Saved, that was a very, you gotta serve somebody. It's pretty strong words of gospel, of what Christ does. Everybody serves somebody. It may be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody. It was a very strong statement at that time. And any failure that people saw in Bob Dylan was jumped on like vultures, swooping in to tear them up. We have a tendency of shooting the wounded instead of holding them up in prayer, loving them. And so God, I pray for him. Oh God, may his pastor, may his pastor give him solid words of truth so that his life is built on a solid rock because the platform he has is huge. Let him not think of himself as being a preacher. He's got too much to learn. He's a novice. He shouldn't be lifted up. He can give his testimony, great. But I hear he's bringing in a pastor to share the truth of the gospel so people will know that's wisdom. I hope he continues doing that. But I'm telling you that he's been invited to big churches so that his choir and he can come on so that that big church can get attention in the press and more people can show up to show how cool they are. And I'm sorry to say that that's my great concern. Again, I don't know anything about his style of music. I've never listened to anything that he's ever put out. For shizzle my dizzle. I heard that somewhere. You might as well use it here, right? But let's keep him in prayer, shall we? Let's keep this man in prayer and not only him. Because you know what? He's got a megaphone. But it doesn't matter if it's Kanye, every single person needs to know Jesus Christ. Not just Kanye, everybody. But because he's in the spotlight and I know some people wonder pastor, what do you think about that? That's what I think about that. We need to keep him in prayer. And I pray that he's a genuine article because in the end we all stand before the same creator and I want him to stand in the righteousness of Christ. And I want to keep that man in prayer because I believe he needs it and we should keep him that way. And I want him to be kept away from the false teachers that are looking to build up their own selves that we are looking at their type right here in this passage. And he says again, and I'll move on and then conclude verse 15, I'll begin there again. This wisdom doesn't descend from above. It's earthly, it's sensual, it's demonic. Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. So that's the chief fruit of someone trying to establish their own following. Jude 16 says, these are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lust. They mow the great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. And so that's that kind of demonic wisdom in it. That's the fruit, envy, self-seeking, confusion and evil. But in verse 18, rather 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy, the fruit of righteousness is sewn in peace by those who make peace. The wisdom that is above is first pure. The word pure speaks of that which is sincere, it's moral, it's a spiritual purity. He says it's peaceable. The peaceable that he speaks about is an inward peace that results in freedom from strife with other people. He says it's gentle. That speaks of a sweet reasonableness. It speaks of being fair and considerate. He says this wisdom from above is willing to yield. That means it's open to persuasion when the persuasion is to glorify God. He says it's full of mercy. That's a quality of loving kindness. It's filled with good fruit. That's the desire to benefit others. It's without partiality. It's undivided in mind. It only seeks what is righteous. It's without hypocrisy. It isn't saying you're one thing and being another. And he says the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. The heart of a genuine teacher is filled with love and the peace of God. Isaiah 32, 17, the work of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. That's how you see the difference between the true teacher and the false. The fruit of their teaching and the style of their life. And James outlines that for us. And would to God, starting with me, that every believer, especially the teachers of the word, would evidence these as the fruit of their life. That these would be what we're all about. Pure, peaceful, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy, and may we sow peace in righteousness.