James 5:10-11

Would you describe yourself as a "patient" person" ?  That seems, I think, to be something of a relative assessment.  There are at least two ways to measure/assess our patience.

1.  TESTING, trials, hardships - (ck. 1:2-3)

James 5:7-9

Edward C. Wickham (1834-1910): "Impatience wears many disguises. It is indeed nearly related to several virtues; but the near relations of virtues are often not virtues themselves."

Genesis 3

Lord willing, Koku and his wife Akpene are headed to TOGO (West Africa) in January 2021.  Setting a new record, he preached for 79 minutes from Genesis 3 on the sin of Adam/mankind.

James 5:7-12

Today we bring together what James now says about "grumbling" (5:9) with what he has already said about the tongue (3:8-11), peaceable wisdom (3:17-18) and conflict (4:1-2).

James 5:7-11

“Consider the hour-glass; there is nothing to be accomplished by rattling or shaking; you have to wait patiently until the sand, grain by grain, has run from one funnel into the other.”

James 5:1-11

The first 21 minutes (or so) are devoted to INTERPRETATION (the original context); the remainder of the message is devoted to APPLICATION (if the sins of HOARDING, UNJUST TREATMENT, SELF-INDULGENCE are wrong for unbelievers, how much more should BELIEVERS avoid these same behavioral sins and attitudes?)

James 5:1-6

Today's teaching delves in to the nuts & bolts of the subject at hand.  Admittedly, not everyone will agree with every point -- that's (probably) okay.  Consider this quote from The Interpreter's Bible (1957 - slightly altered) :

How did it happen that the religion of the Bible, which is so [intensely] concerned with the establishment of just and compassionate human relationships, became in the course of its European development [almost exclusively] interested in what happens on the other side of the grave?

James 5:1-6

Today's message lays the groundwork for next Sunday's exegesis (study) of the James text.

E.S. Woods, in 1927, wrote: "Those who, faced by the sin and sorrow of the world, can only say, 'Wait for heaven,' have no gospel for our generation, nor are they true to the mind of Christ.  Equally unhelpful are those at the other end who look only to cleaner drains, higher wages, and better houses.  Change of environment and change of heart are two parts of one great process, and to work for either change in isolation from the other is bad sociology, bad psychology, and bad religion."

Luke 14:1-24 and James 4:17

In Luke 14 Jesus tells a parable demonstrating the pitiful excuses that are sometimes (often?) given for NOT rightfully centering our lives upon the things we SAY we prize, value.  In James 4:17, James adds that failure to do what is known to be right are no less sins than the more recognizable sins of commission.