 We're in James chapter five. We're going to look this morning at verses one through six as we continue our series through the book of James And I'm going to begin this study as I have recently especially as we've looked at some very tough things I'm going to begin by simply introducing it by by by saying that this is a very powerful piercing word it isn't a A Message that has a lot of Apparent kindness so there's an awful lot of mercy and kindness in his words But as we read it James was being very direct and he was speaking to the unregenerate rich And he was speaking concerning what is going to take place in their future because these are people who were Neglecting the things that they had been taught in scripture and we're treating those who were poor in a way that simply was not to be tolerated and so we're going to look at that and Again, I'm going to lay a foundation I'm going to take some time to lay it and then I'm going to build on it And I always come to the conclusion hoping to be able to tie it together with some application So beginning at verse one reading to verse six James chapter five James writes Come now you rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you Your riches are corrupted your garments are moth eaten Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will he and will eat your flesh like fire You have heaped up treasure in the last days Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you kept back by fraud cry out and the cries of the Reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaat you have lived in the earth in pleasure and Luxury you have fattened your hearts as in the day of slaughter you have condemned You have murdered the just he does not resist you isn't that sweet? Those are strong words Those are very strong words and so I want to spend some time laying some foundations So we can get a context to see as to who he is speaking to Now in the first six verses of chapter five James is basically going to give to us what we would call two basic themes or two aims He has two aims in giving to us these words that he's presenting the first thing The first aim that he has is to show the ultimate worthlessness of accumulating earthly wealth So he wants to reveal that doing that Accumulating earthly wealth really has no eternal value and then the second thing is to reveal the character of those who trust in riches Now today, there's a consistent condemnation of those who are wealthy It's common for many to automatically consider wealthy people to be evil people and there are those and I've heard this Perhaps you have to who may say well the Bible says that money is the root of all evil Well, in fact, the Bible does not say that in first Timothy chapter 6 verse 10 This is what the Bible says it says for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil For which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows It isn't money in and of itself in other words It's the love of money the Bible doesn't condemn wealth what the Bible does condemn is strained from God out of greed and the reason greed is condemned is because you cannot serve two masters in Matthew 6 24 Jesus said it like this. He said no one can serve two masters either will hate the one and love the other or He will be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve both God and money and so The reason that James is laying this out and the reason scripture speaks about the love of money being the root of all kinds of evil is because you can't serve both God and Financial wealth What the Lord wants for us is contentment that we would be contented with what we have The God who knows all things knows what we have need of and he's promised to provide for us our daily bread And and he desires us to live for him and not just for ourselves, and he has promised he will Provide for us Philippians 419 says my God shall supply all your need He doesn't say my God shall supply all your greed He says my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus So we're supposed to pursue the things that matter because we know that material things do not eternally Satisfy we might go after something and desire to obtain it and we finally have it But once we have it there's this desire again for something different something new something more modern or up to date We know that according to 1st Timothy chapter 6 verses 6 through 8 Godliness with contentment is great gain and Paul said we brought nothing into this world And it's certain we can carry nothing out and having food and clothing with these we shall be content When you read the book of Job in the Old Testament chapter 1 verse 21 Job said it like this Job said naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord I came into this world naked and that's the way I return It's popular today to condemn those though who do possess wealth And it would seem obvious that this kind of hatred is very selective Normally the wealth that is considered evil is related to what has been popularly called corporate greed We've all heard that term and much of the anger is directed at what has been now called the one percenters and that one percent speaks of the top tier of the top one percent wage earners in the United States and That number changes, but the one percenter number represents basically those with incomes averaging around $475,000 a year What I find interesting about all the selected selected hatred and all of this money is evil is It's usually Based on whether or not the person who is rich is liked by people It's really more of a popularity Contest as I see it because much of the negative that we read about is based on likes and dislikes of the person who is wealthy So it's very personal. I never hear for example negative things. Maybe you have I haven't I Never hear negative things about how wealthy Jeff Bezos is Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon and a variety of other corporations that I never hear anything about him Do you I don't I never hear him anybody say all that Jeff Bezos. He's really a monster. He's just too rich I just don't hear that and I was looking to see how much money he has in case he might want to send me some and But his his his amount kind of is it varies he recently had a divorce and quite a number of Quite a bit of money went to his his ex-wife over 30 40 billion dollars at all So he now has he only has a hundred and seventy billion dollars. I Feel I feel for that man my heart breaks. So a Hundred and seventy billion dollars, but okay, what does that mean and to me? I didn't mean anything a number is a number when you start looking at anything over a million I have no way to fathom that how much is a hundred and seventy billion who knows I don't know But I did this I like to I like to find ways to try and get my mind around numbers and things when I can't and so I Looked into Almighty Google and I said at the rate of spending one dollar a second How long would it take me to spend a hundred and seventy billion? Dollars how long at one dollar per second just to give you an idea and It comes out over two thousand years Over two thousand years if you spent a dollar a second it would take you over two thousand years to spend a hundred and seventy billion and That's not even counting how his money Multiplies every day how it's increasing every day So 170 is where you begin but today because of interest in other gains that he has he's got more He's got more he's got more in other words He would never be able to spend every single dollar he has if you live two thousand years So that's an awful lot of money, but do you ever hear anybody say that evil Jeff Bezos? No, you don't how about with our athletics our athletes, you know, I was looking into that And I was thinking what kind of money do our athletes make and so Bryce Harper signed a 13-year contract for 330 million dollars to play baseball and That included a 20 million dollar signing bonus. Nobody said anything about it Nobody said Bryce Harper is making too much money, you know, Paul McCartney. That's a blast from the past But Paul McCartney Former Beatle and still out there on the road his net worth is one point two billion dollars Nobody calls them out and says oh, you're evil because you have money even comedians like Jerry Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld is his net worth is eight hundred and twenty million dollars and the Oprah Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey her net worth is four point two billion dollars think about that and Then think when is the last time you heard them called out for being greedy? You don't but why don't you because we don't mind people who entertain us being rich We don't mind that Amusement for us is valuable and so if Bryce Harper can do what he does or Oprah does what she does We simply say well, they're earning their wages. It's okay It's the corporations that America seems to have such problems with the corporations that provide so many jobs and so many services And so it's real selective. That's a point I'm making People don't call these entertainers greedy because they like to be entertained by them So outrage is selective. It's motivated by personal philosophies more than economics But the question has to be asked are the financially rich more evil than those who are poor? And the answer is the bible has much to say concerning personal financial wealth You see in the bible the possession of wealth is not said to be sinful in and of itself Scripture actually points out that financial riches can be gained in acceptable ways in other words God doesn't have a hatred for those who are rich because riches can be gained in in a proper way Financial riches can be a gift from god the bible says Ecclesiastes 519 says moreover when god gives any man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them To accept his lot and be happy in his work. This is a gift of god Financial prosperity can be the result of simple diligent hard work both physical or creative In proverbs 10 verse 4 lazy hands make a man poor but diligent hands bring wealth Riches can be inherited proverbs 13 22 a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous Riches can be the result of wisely investing in the kingdom of god That's what jesus referred to as of storing up your treasure in 2nd crinthians 9 6 through 8 Paul said it like this He said remember this whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for god loves a cheerful giver And god is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times Having all that you need you will abound in every good work He went on in the same chapter in verse 11 to say you'll be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion And through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to god When you read your bible you'll see in the old as well as the near that there are various individuals that are spoken of As being very rich you have you have joe. You have abraham. You have isaac. Jacob. You have joseph You have moses and king david salomon daniel. You have nehemiah all of them in the old testament Had great wealth In the new testament you have men like zakias or joseph of eramathias or nicodemus. You have martha and you have philemon All of them were wealthy not one of them was condemned for their wealth So wealth is not sinful in itself You see god gives power to obtain riches to some warning them that they should remember him Because it's easy to forget god when you're wealthy you become self sufficient In deuteronomy 18 god said you shall remember the lord your god for it is he who gives you power to get wealth Then he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day and so wealth Is it can be the source of of blessing but it also can be a source of of temptation One of the chief temptations is the temptation to cease depending on the lord to forget him It's because of this temptation that so many warnings are given in scripture The self-seeking pursuit of wealth is really a dangerous ambition Proverbs 23 4 and 5 says it like this do not wear yourself out to get rich Have the wisdom to show restraint Cast but a glance at riches And they're gone for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle So there are a lot of warnings You see it can be a trap to be wealthy Because it can convince you that this world is all that there is And that's why god says don't trust in riches With wealth comes a variety of effects When you're wealthy you can become proud Proverbs 28 11 says a rich man is wise in his own conceit Wealth can give a false sense of security For simothy 6 17 Charge those who are wealthiest who he's speaking to charge them who are rich in this world that they may not be High-minded nor trust in uncertain riches But in the living god who gives us richly all things to enjoy great wealth can stimulate greed It provokes a desire for more Proverbs 27 20 hell and destruction are never full. So the eyes of man are never satisfied The rich man is asked how much is enough and his answer is a little bit more And wealth can warp your entire life's priorities That's why in luke 12 15. Jesus said watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions Again wealth in and of itself is an evil Much good is done when god's people use their finances wisely We're stewards what we have we've received from god and we use it for his glory In 1st Corinthians 4 7 paul said who makes you differ from another and what do you have that you did not receive Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? so When you have finances you can use it for the glory of god You can support missions You can support outreaches Buildings can be built land can be purchased Equipment can be bought Church staff can be added those in need can be cared for And so it's not the wealth in and of itself. It's the use of it It's the greediness that james is speaking about here in this passage And that's what we're going to be looking at as we go through james chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 And so james desires to prevent his readers from placing their hopes on earthly things notice what he says again james 5 verse 1 Come now You rich and weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you burst out sobbing literally shriek in grief Your miseries are coming upon you Now he's speaking to the unregenerate rich He's saying you're ready for the coming judgment you're primed for it And you're not even aware that judgment will come because your eyes are on gaining riches And he's saying the unbelieving rich are in danger of judgment because of their pride their fraudulent dealings their riotous living and their cruelty to the poor And so as he's speaking here at first glance it may it may feel like he's being cruel to them But in fact what he's doing is he's urging them to repent Beginning in Judea the romans were going to bring misery and pain to the jews They were gonna They were going to be losing everything when you go to israel And you get to go to certain sites and you see things the ruins of that that at one time were beautiful houses or whatever That were burned down And you know the history of israel a bit and you know that in 70 ad titus of rom came in and and just torched the city and things were lost Well, these events were going to be taking place in the lifetime of many of these rich And that's what he's saying there. He's saying your miseries are coming upon you. They're not even prepared. They're not even ready But james is prophesying this is going to take place and you're going to end up being pillaged Here you are hoarding everything, but you're going to lose everything also In verses two and three he says your riches are corrupted your garments are moth eaten Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire You have heaped up treasure in the last days. This is again a very strong word to them He's saying you're heaping up that what you're going to lose Now it's interesting when you read those verses you might note this That these verses refer to the three main sources of wealth at that time grain garments and gold And he's pointing out that all of these are subject to decay all of them are subject to corruption and loss You're hoarding of things that will not last which is running the opposite of what jesus taught his disciples to be careful to store up In matthew 6 19 and 20 jesus said it like this He said lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust does corrupt where thieves break through and steal Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal He says in verse 33 of matthew 6 seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness And all these things shall be added to you And so that's the opposite jesus says don't heap up these things store treasures in heaven But the rich were busy hoarding for themselves and james is warning them He says your miseries are coming upon you. You're going to suffer hardship. You're going to suffer suffer trouble You're going to have calamity Notice verse 4 he says indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields Which you kept back by fraud cry out and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the lord of sabbat The the lord of sabbat sabbat means the lord of host The the lord of the armies of heaven. That's who he's referring to So what's happening? Well, he says in verse 4 the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields While you've been keeping back their their wages They're not paying their workers in order to live in more personal luxury In other words a worker is working. He should be getting a certain amount But the employer the rich man is not giving him money because he wants to spend that money on himself So he's keeping back his wages And that's violating god's word God's word is clear concerning paying promptly not taking advantage of workers Because you see in withholding their pay they're violating the law of moses in leviticus 1913 the scripture says Do not hold back the wages of a hard man overnight In deuteronomy 24 14 and 15 Do not take advantage of a hard man who is poor and needy Whether he is a brother israelite or an alien living in one of your towns Pay him his wages each day before sunset because he's poor and is counting on it Otherwise he may cry to the lord against you and you will be guilty of sin Now many of these poor were humble day laborers They were generally unskilled They were living just above the poverty level But because they were unskilled they were also very often underpaid and treated unfairly And so verse 4 says the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the lord of hosts The lord of hosts is seated on his throne. He's saying he's preparing to judge you for for your wrong And psalm 72 12 he will deliver the needy who cry out the afflicted who have no one to help You're living in a way that is only Produced in you More to be guilty of and these people who are working for you. You're holding back their wages There are guys who will go out and see some day laborer even in our time Just bring it to the 21st century And they may be standing in front of a home depot or some place and They'll roll up on and they'll say I've got some work for you They climb on in and they'll take them to their home or whatever and say Can you dig this trench or can you build this wall and they do all of that? And then when the time comes for them to be paid for their honest work that they did Then that guy says no, I'm not going to give you I don't like it I don't like how you did it or I'm not giving you that much Because I just don't think it was what I was expecting whatever and what they end up doing is They end up either short changing them or not paying them and then they'll say, you know what? You know, nothing you can do about it And that's the attitude that that we have we still have today that we had even back 2000 years ago And the law was very clear that if a man does an honest days labor You pay him promptly because he's relying on that But these people who are poor who are getting ripped off begin to cry and the crying out to the Lord and he's saying God hears In verse 5 he says you've lived in the earth in pleasure and luxury You have fattened your hearts as in the day of slaughter You've lived on the earth in pleasure You've been feeding yourself without fear. You've been pampering your own flesh When others you could help are suffering You make sure to take care of yourself Now here's something to think about People who are not poor Can have a difficult time having compassion on those who are The Lord began to teach me this many many years ago many years ago. There's so many things I could share with you I had an aunt Who was an alcoholic and an uncle an alcoholic And during the weekends very often when I was a little boy my mom and dad would pack my brother and me and My baby sisters into the car and we would drive to their home where they lived and My mom and dad would go into their home on Saturdays and clean their house Because my aunt who was extremely dear to me she came to know christ in her latter days and went to heaven when she died and so did her her husband my uncle louis but uh I can still remember as a kid My mom packing us into the car and off we'd go and we'd go to the house. There's a small little home there totally unkempt because my My my aunt would drink during the week. She was always drunk House is always a mess Lots of children running around My mom and dad and we would go so I started seeing that kind of spirit of charity very early in my life And and my mom was one of these very compassionate women Uh, we used to say mama you like to pick up the strays and the way we meant that was when you see somebody hurting My mom was very generous towards them and very kind towards them. She had a heart for them And so I saw that from a very early age And I've also seen the the hardened hearts The the the hearts of somebody who says well, you know clean yourself up and get a job and this and that And in ministry when I began our church was maybe a few years old at the most I remember somebody who would infrequently come to a bible study here and and I can remember How he would walk up and speak to me afterwards and then Walk away and then I wouldn't see him for a while and then one day I went to our church office and and we were in uh, ontario on maple street at that time and And as I pulled in this guy came on his bicycle and pulled next to me and wanted to talk and He walked in my office. I brought him in the office and we began to talk and And to be honest with you his body odor he hadn't bathed in I don't know how long Was so bad. It was so bad He was so dirty and so smelly that when he left my office I have to be real. I had to open the windows and and aired it out It was he was just really really a mess, you know And I was talking to one of my friends another pastor and I said, you know, he needs to get a job And my friend said something I've never forgotten. He said, yeah, if you can keep it And I started thinking, you know, I've been I judged him. I judged this guy. This guy's mental Abilities are really not there. I don't know if he could work. I don't know if he could hold a job He doesn't even bathe himself let alone clean himself and that's when I began to think in terms of You know, we have to have compassion We have to have concern We have to have hearts that don't don't grow callous You see because that's easy to do and and somebody who's who's doing fairly well Or at least you have, you know, clean clothes in a home that you live in and and a bed you can sleep on Sometimes we forget those kinds of things You see, james is dealing with this now. Remember in this in this letter james has already addressed the sin of Preferring the rich over the poor. He already said in james 2 verse 9 You show partiality and when you do it you commit sin and you're convicted by the law as transgressors They were already showing priority to those who had money over those who were poor And he's addressing this the second time and he's making it very clear how wrong this is and he's speaking to them And he's saying to them certain things that I think are interesting for example in verse 5 He says you have fattened your hearts as in the day of slaughter When he says you fatten your hearts It's a way of saying your hearts are no longer capable of feeling By taking advantage of the poor you've made yourself callous to their pain And you're becoming fat off of the sacrifice of other people And this has repercussions In proverbs 21 verse 13 the bible says whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard so We want as a fellowship to always keep our hearts open to those in need And I was thinking about this and I thought I'd share a few things with you that you might find interesting because To me it's a blessing and I want to share with you But this church's fellowship has been going a long time and we've had opportunity Over the years to be of help to some as a matter of fact We've been a help to quite a number of people over the years And I was thinking about some of the things that that have happened here all the way back for example in 2004 In 2004 our church ministered to those who were devastated by that by that tsunami that that hit there In asia and some of us are may remember that and when that tsunami hit It devastated tremendous areas and we heard about it and and I I came out on a sunday morning and I said to the church I said i'm not receiving an offering. I'm not doing that But I am saying this The devastation is is is all over the news and as a church Let's do something to be of help and if you'd like to be of help You can put in the agape box is what I said you can put in the agape box an offering And we will get whatever the finances are that come in and we will get it to them We don't take a penny We don't take a penny of that If ever we have something come in and it's designated for something like that, of course every nickel every penny We don't have operational costs. We don't have anything But I said that I said every penny will go and and that that weekend This is amazing that weekend to the next week 167 thousand dollars were donated by this church 167 thousand dollars And that Take into consideration inflation and adjust it over 15 years ago And you'll see how generous this church has been to those in need Absolutely, and then there was that time that we had uh katrina When katrina hit I did the same thing which was a year later 2005 I came out and said we want to be of help you see with the with the tsunami in the east We actually I went there with the team We went to a puquette, thailand And I went and I reviewed all of the devastation came back sent a work team over And that work team went and helped to build a chapel in puquette a calvi chapel We had teams that went worked and then the next year with katrina when that hit We bought we bought a big old truck is in the parking like and still see it It's still here. It's by the house over here And um we bought that truck and we loaded it with things because I told the church I said we need to be of help and that time we saw 70 000 dollars come in in a week And we went out and we helped the victims of katrina. We've done that yearly yearly for all these years we we send gifts to to children in mexico cali I I have a picture. I think of of what we did. I asked if they put that up if they don't they're fired But we had yeah, and now that's not the right picture there. That's something else I'll share with you in a minute about that Forget it. Um, I'll I'll just go but this is out of order with what we had is we had 475 gifts that were donated by you And actually 485 that were taken to mexico cali for the kids for their christmas And some of those kids you may or may not know this perhaps you don't let me tell you Some of those children don't have any shoes These are poor babies. We're talking about little children. They don't have any shoes And so you'll see them sometimes they'll have two different shoes, you know, maybe a black maybe a tennis shoe One's a certain size the other smaller. That's what they have And so we have pictures of babies receiving a pair of shoes a pair of tennis shoes Brand new shoes for them and their little faces and their smiles or or giving them dolls or giving them You name it and you guys you guys do that You gave that and we love you guys for it and those babies are receiving because that's what god has has called us as a church to do We we had our prison ministry dinner that's taking place And and there were 16 prisons represented by wardens or officials of the prison that were just here That were celebrating with your prison ministry team here because they go in to the prisons and they minister to the prisoners And and we have the angel tree Kind of thing where where gifts that you donated over 200 gifts were given to children of prisoners Just this just within this last week god does that we have those things we help provide for families in need Here in newman elementary just down the road. We helped them just recently in christmas These kids didn't have things you guys gave to them We have ongoing weekly ministry to the poor and needy and pomona because the scripture teaches us to do that Churches are more than just groups of people who come and have a hallelujah huddle and then go home Churches are are made up of people who care Who who care about the lost who care about those who don't have care about those things that that's that's the body of price There was a there was a A book written i have it in my library somewhere where a liberal i'll call him liberal because he declared himself as a liberal That's his words for himself. He says i'm a liberal He said and i've always had it. He said i had in my my own heart my own mind He said i had a prejudice against conservative christians He said because i think that that conservative christians don't do as much good as those who are not christian He said and so he went about as an experiment He went about to to validate his thesis that that the liberals are just as or even more generous than conservative christians and all and so what he did was very simple he he He uh looked at giving as in the salvation army the amounts of money that came into the salvation army buckets From san francisco and then he looked for a city in the united states in the midwest That was basically equal or equivalent in population size and the midwest has looked at as being like a bible belt And so i believe and i may be wrong about the the city It's been a number of years since i read the the book, but i believe it was in demoine iowa I believe that that was the city that he used to compare with the giving in san francisco And what he did is he simply wanted to find out how much money came into the buckets in san francisco versus How much came into demoins and then he wanted to compare it and show that it was at least equal But he believed that the san franciscans would give more because this in san francisco The city of love and this and that and was he ever surprised when he discovered that the demoine christians out gave by a By several several times the amount that came in in san francisco now He's wondering about his thesis what's wrong here So he interviewed people and he discovered what it is and the discovery was interesting in enlightening Because the those whom he referred to as the liberals in san francisco They when he asked how come you're not giving to the salvation army They said we already give to the poor we do that in our taxes But when he spoke to the christian conservatives in this other city They said it's our responsibility to not only pay taxes we render honor to caesar We already pay our taxes, but we also are obligated to help those in need That came from the teachings of jesus christ You see so christians are much more many times more Generous than those who are not believers It's documentable and it's true and it comes from scripture to love your neighbor as yourself And if you love your god and you see a brother in need and you harden your heart john says How does the love of god dwell within you? He says you cannot say i love you brother and curse that guy at the same time He says because that means you don't know what love is so the believer Actually knows what love is why because god so loved us that he gave to us eternal life And he said care for those who are in need and that's what james is talking about Care for those in need care for them because they have great need and he's saying you who are unregenerate You who don't know god you're too busy accumulating things for yourself And even when your laborer is crying out because he's hungry you make sure you're fed first Before you care about him it reminds me of the rich man and lazarus where lazarus is at the gate there Begging for scraps from the rich man's table and the rich man the bible says he fared sumptuously every day He had banquets every day And and all lazarus wanted was just some of the scraps And that's how it works the rich don't know god and the poor have faith and trust in god for our daily bread And he's speaking to the rich here and he's saying you don't care But their cries have reached the ear of god himself the righteous Well notice verse 6 it says you have condemned You have murdered the just And he doesn't resist you The righteous are being persecuted and oppressed by the rich Their death was a consequence of being dragged before judgment seat We're having no influence no one to plead their cause They were condemned and they were executed it says in verse 6. He doesn't resist you He has no way of defending himself So he patiently endures and he depends on god But he says god will be the judge Wednesday night It's last Wednesday night. I shared this on Wednesday night, but I can repeat it here. None of you were there, but anyway On Wednesday night We had all the gifts behind us Almost all the gifts behind us and I wanted the people to see that I wanted them to see the picture of what were we were able to do 485 packages That we're going to be giving in the name of christ through the love of this church And I was sharing with them And I'll I'll share with you this and I'm about to conclude so I'll share with this Last story And our church was very young We used to meet in a place in ontario called central school And uh I went to do a sunday morning And I had had a dream That I awakened on a sunday morning and then I went to teach I had had a dream that uh That morning That I shared with the church and I said, you know, the lord used that to speak to my heart to spark something in me because In the dream I was in kind of a wasteland and And there was a lot of dirt. There was no grass and there were broken down Shacks that people were living in and and I remember I was walking and I came up to to there was a pipe with a faucet and You could turn the the knob off and on and the water would come out of the spout and all And I was just there in the middle of this dry land And I remember there was a little girl who was four years about four years old Who was there next to the water? Spigot and and she was sitting there in raggedy dirty clothes No shoes and her dress was supposed to be white, but it was so dirty and and and soiled and and her hair was kind of a Blondish brown But it was so matted with filth and dirt. I can still in my mind's eye is as I'm remembering this I still see it Her her hair was parted and it was very matted and very dirty And I'm looking at her and and my heart Um was touched and and so she's so filthy So I had this impulse and I turned the water on and I put her a little head under the water To to try and soak her hair and the water was beating up and falling off because her hair was so filthy And I finally got it enough water on it to get some shampoo And I remember washing her hair and putting her hair underneath this turning the faucet on so all the grime and dirt Would come off her little hair in her face and I remember washing her and again She was four years old or so four or five and as I was looking at her I spoke to her and I said honey. I said has no one ever washed your hair And she looks at me and she said no one ever has but the voice was my daughter's voice karin who was that age My daughter was the same age and I realized What the lord was awakening me to Said you treat the babies as if they're your own Treat them like they're your own Your little girl needs forgive me Treat the children love them Care for them So that's why I get touched That's why when you give boxes of shoes To babies who don't have them That's what touches me When you took something that could have gone to somebody else your own child And you gave it to somebody else That touches me Why? Because that's the love of god being shown By the body of christ Your riches Are in heaven This doesn't mean that that we shouldn't say lord as you prosper me I'm blessed But I will use what you've given to me to have helped others That's what we should do. That's what believers do The rich that james is speaking about they're different They're accumulating wealth for themselves without realizing That rome is going to come in in 70 ad and tear everything all the things that they thought were theirs And made them who they are would be lost in a short period of time. You just lose it all And that's why jesus said store your treasures above Where a thief can't break in and steal with the moth and the ross won't corrode and destroy Your treasure supposed to be in heaven But until we go to heaven We have opportunity to do good And I want to thank all of you and I mean this sincerely All of you who generously give and support and help Your works are not going unnoticed god himself will reward you for your love and generosity And there are children today in mexico and in other places Babies of prisoners because their daddy's in prison, but they received a present And that said on the on the present it says from your daddy who loves you You did that you gave you supported you helped because god loved and supported and gave And god helped you that's why we do What we do so when james is saying You're you're you're going to lose it all that's true, but what you don't lose is what you stored ahead And he's pointing these rich people's eyes to what really matters Because no matter what it is you have and you know this and I know it and the older you grow The more you know You might have it you might like it you play with it for a while and you get tired of it And then you want the new version because you discover that those things They're fine. They're okay. I'm not saying they're sinful. Of course. I'm not Wonderful if you can afford it, please don't walk out with condemnation. I'm not bringing that what I'm saying is you know They don't satisfy the thing that satisfies Is when you see a smile on a child's face and you know that he's out there kicking a soccer ball A ball that you guys donated that these shoes he's wearing That that matters those are the things that matter and the other things they just don't What matters are the things we do in the name of jesus christ for his glory Those are the things those are the things that matter and that's what called us god has called us to do And so john westley said this he said do all the good you can By all the means you can in all the ways you can In all the places you can at all the times you can to all the people you can As long as ever