Condition of Our Soil

13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 

18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18 NLT

• True Wisdom Isn’t Loud—It’s Consistent and Teachable

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

• Righteousness Isn’t Achieved—It’s Cultivated

 

Avoid the Substitutes – Worldly Wisdom Gets Worldly Results

1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. 4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:1-6 NLT

• Godly Wisdom Requires Surrender – James 4:7-8

• Remember Your Position – James 4:10-5:6

• • Who are you to judge your neighbor? 4:11-12
  • Who are you to say what happens tomorrow? 4:13-17
  • Who are you to not share what has been given to you? 5:1-6

 

Follow the Instructions – Living by Faith

7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. James 5:7-8 NLT

• Be Patient and Persistent

 

12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned. James 5:12 NLT

 

Stay consistent in three things:

• Pray – James 5:13-15 

          Hardships – PRAY / Happy – PRAISE / Sick – GET PRAYED OVER

• Confess – James 5:16

          So that you may be HEALED

• Restore – James 5:19-20
• What voices are shaping your decisions right now?

• What’s feeding your faith right now—fast fixes or God’s truth?

• Don’t go it alone. Join a group. Text someone. Confess. Pray. Invite accountability.