SERMON TEXT: James 3: 13 – 4: 3, 7 – 8a
James 3: 13 – 18
13 Are there any of you who are wise and understanding? You are to prove it by your good life, by your good deeds performed with humility and wisdom.
14 But if in your heart you are jealous, bitter, and selfish, don’t sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom.
15 Such wisdom does not come down from heaven; it belongs to the world, it is unspiritual and demonic.
16 Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil.
17 But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy.
18 And goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the peacemakers plant in peace.
James 4: 1 – 3
1 Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you.
2 You want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it.
3 And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.
James 4: 7 – 8
7 So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.
8 Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!
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