Real Talk Part 1

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- Well, I am thankful to be up again for another series.

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The last time I was up here was during our Wild Card series.

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And I seriously thought to myself at one point,

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this could be it for me.

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Anytime you pose a question,

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is there a possibility that Judas Iscariot was redeemed?

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That's a potential church splitter,

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but we've made it through and here we are.

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And real talk, a study on the book of James.

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And this will take us to the conclusion

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of our mid-weeks for the year.

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Fortunately for you guys, there are six weeks,

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but there's only five chapters in the book of James.

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So tonight I'm gonna give you guys

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a little bit of a framework,

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a little bit of understanding,

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some background as to where we're going

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so that when we get into the scriptures,

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we can understand hopefully where James is drawing from

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as he's bringing this epistle.

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So let's just open with a word of prayer.

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Father, I thank you for this day that you have given us.

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Thank you for waking us up this morning,

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keeping us in our right mind and giving us a reason to live.

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I thank you for the opportunity to come here

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in the middle of our week, to study the scriptures,

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to glean from you, to hopefully encounter your spirit

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and to be transformed more into the image of your son, Jesus

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and that that would bring you glory

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as we take it outside of these walls

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and minister to a hurt and broken and dying world.

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God be glorified in our midst tonight.

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We love you and thank you.

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It's in Christ's name I pray, amen.

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So real talk, what in the world is real talk?

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Okay, I'll give you guys a book definition of real talk.

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Real talk means having serious, honest

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and direct conversation that goes beyond

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superficial small talk to address meaningful

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or difficult topics.

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Real talk means having serious, honest

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and direct conversation that goes beyond

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superficial small talk to address meaningful

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and difficult topics.

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This is a form of communication that is frank,

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it is truthful and it is often used to shift

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to a more authentic and deep exchange of ideas,

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feelings and insights.

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The book of James can be considered real talk by a mile.

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From the outset to its conclusion,

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James has a way of cutting through the niceties

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and formalities and getting straight to the point

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of Christian living.

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James's epistle is mainly concerned with Christian living.

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We know at the outset, James is writing to believers.

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So let me give you guys some key characteristics

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of real talk.

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As it says, key characteristics of real talk.

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If you're writing these down, the first characteristic

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of real talk is honesty and directness.

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If you wanna know if somebody is having some real talk

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with you, most likely if it's honest and direct,

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it's real talk.

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Conversations are straightforward, they're frank

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and truthful without sugarcoating or avoiding the main issue.

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There have been moments in my marriage where my wife has

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said, "You're speaking Christianese right now."

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Do you guys know what Christianese is?

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I'll give you an example.

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I was at Bethel Colony of Mercy in Lenoir, North Carolina,

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which is a 65 day program for men struggling

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with life controlling issues.

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Not to be confused with the 12 month discipleship program

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for men with life controlling problems.

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This was a secondary 65 day bootcamp that they were just

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trying to whip you back into shape because whatever didn't

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happen at the 12 month discipleship program needs to happen

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in these 65 days.

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And me and Jess weren't on the best of terms obviously

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'cause I'm in a 65 day program, okay?

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And she had finally met the man that I told her she would

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never meet when we were courting and dating.

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And I was like, "That's in my past.

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"I'll never be that guy."

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And then I became that guy again, right?

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And that is another story about how compromise led me

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to become something I never wanted to be.

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So she told me, "Don't call me, don't write me,

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"don't look at the direction of where Smyrna is

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"from where you're at in North Carolina.

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"You just focus on what you need to do in this season."

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Which was brilliant and tough love.

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She said, "You've only got 65 days.

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"You need to figure this out."

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So she wrote me a letter.

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And did you write me or did I write you?

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You wrote me a letter.

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She wrote me a letter finally.

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And I didn't immediately respond back.

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And she said, so she calls the place and says,

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"Oh, hello, why didn't you write me back?"

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I said, "Well, I didn't feel led to

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"because you told me to take my time."

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She said, "Okay."

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So I write the letter and it's full of all of this.

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I'm gonna be a better man.

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And the man that God has called me to be

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and the Lord and Christian and integrity and upstanding.

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Right, and when she got the letter,

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she immediately called the program and said,

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"What is this Christian-ese nonsense you just sent me?

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"What is this?

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"I need you to be genuine with me right now.

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"This is not a game.

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"Your family is here.

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"I'm trying to hold this thing together.

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"People at Springhouse are slipping their hundreds

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"in the back because they didn't want to put me on blast

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"and they're taking care of my family

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"during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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"And I'm writing her this fluffy Christian-ese letter."

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And she doesn't need any of that.

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What she needed was somebody

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that was gonna give real direct conversation

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and say, "Here's the problem.

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"Here's why I keep going back to drugs instead of the Lord.

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"Here's why I've never let go of.

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"Here are the things that are hurting me in my life.

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"Here are the areas I'm still hiding."

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And when I said all of that on the phone,

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she said, "That's the first real thing

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"you've said to me this whole time.

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"That's the first genuine thing you've said to me."

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In other words, now we've got some real talk.

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And then she said, "Now go write the letter

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"you should have wrote in the first place."

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And hung up on me.

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Real talk, real talk, that's what happened, okay?

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Real talk avoids sugarcoating and niceties.

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And sometimes situations call

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for genuine direct conversation.

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The next key characteristic of real talk

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is meaningful content.

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It focuses on important and serious

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rather than casual or trivial matters.

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If you're just shooting the breeze or something,

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it's not real talk, okay?

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It's concerned with serious issues.

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The third marker is authentic connection.

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The goal is to move past assumptions.

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Okay, are you hearing me?

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We're moving beyond assumptions

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to achieve a deeper understanding

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and genuine connection with others, okay?

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I'm forming new relationships all the time.

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And what I love is I've recently been having breakfast

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with a newer family here at the church.

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And me and this brother just set a time

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to go have breakfast and we have no agenda, like none.

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We get in there and he asked me a question

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and the conversation starts off with small talk

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and then it shifts into some genuine deep connection

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because there's honesty being shared

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and there's vulnerability there, okay?

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We can tell the times that it's just superficial

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and chit chat and hey, how's wife?

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Hey, how's your kids doing?

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And then things change and transition

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and you share God moments or you share struggles, right?

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One characteristic of that

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is there is an authentic connection.

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You can tell that it's genuine, it's not put on.

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The fourth characteristic of real talk is active listening.

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This is hard for me.

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Don't you laugh in the, forget in the back row, lady.

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It's my wife, by the way.

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I really don't talk to her like that.

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Eating for you live streamers is a joke.

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Active listening.

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Now here's what I mean by active listening.

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Listening to listen instead of listening to respond, okay?

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Listening to listen and understand

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instead of listening to respond.

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I'm not the best at this.

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I thought I was wise today when my kids come to me at 7.45,

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arguing about a deck of playing cards.

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And I said, "Hey, I'll tell you what you do,

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you get 26 and you get 26."

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And then there was a, I've only got 20, there was only 23.

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I said, "You can't do that.

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There's no way to play any kind of card game with 26 cards.

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I'm trying to be the wise king that's cut the baby in half

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and hopefully one of y'all will go,

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"No, give him the deck of cards, right?

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Let her have it."

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Instead it was, "Hey, he's hogging the playing cards."

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I'm like, "Are there no other playing cards in this house?

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This is what we're arguing about at 7.45?"

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But I just listened long enough to respond.

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I didn't listen and go,

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"Okay, well, what's really going on here?

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Why are you so upset about that?

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Can you guys not work together and play?"

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Instead I was just like,

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"Let's just go right into dividing line.

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You either get half or I'm throwing them in the trash."

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It was like, "We'll just dig them out of the trash

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after he goes out."

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They knew what they were doing.

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Active listening.

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Real talk requires listening with empathy

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and being willing to engage in a dynamic,

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sometimes challenging dialogue.

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That word empathy is important, guys.

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There are two demographics that one I can relate to,

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the other I cannot,

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that very much struggle with this empathy portion.

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And the first is those who have ever struggled

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with drug and alcohol addiction.

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The second is military.

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And I've noticed throughout my years

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that it's hard to speak into someone

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who has struggled with addictions life

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because you don't know what it's like.

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You don't know the draw.

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You don't know the hurt.

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You don't know the pain.

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You don't know the darkness.

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And it's the same thing a lot of times in military circles.

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But guess what?

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Barbie doesn't have to walk through the same place

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as I've walked in order to speak into my life

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or to understand the hurt and the pain that sin may cause.

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'Cause guess what?

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Sin is universal.

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How it works and plays out in your life

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is what changes.

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And as the body of Christ,

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we need to be able to listen and empathize and say,

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"Can I understand where this person is coming from

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even if I disagree?"

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That's hard for me.

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Because to be honest,

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I'm not actively listening to listen and understand.

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I'm listening to respond.

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Because for some reason,

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I've got the answer that they don't know.

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They are coming to me obviously

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because they need the answer.

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So just say what you need to say

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and then let me respond.

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Real talk.

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The final characteristic of real talk is informal context.

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Okay?

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Real talk can happen in casual settings

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and uses everyday language,

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including slang and idioms,

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to be more naturally relatable.

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Okay?

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Naturally relatable.

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Let me give you guys some examples of real talk.

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Transitioning from small talk to real talk.

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Okay?

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Someone might use this phrase, real talk,

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to signal a shift from casual conversation

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to a more serious topic.

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So if I say, "Hey Brian, how you doing?"

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And you say?

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All right.

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And I say, "Hey, real talk, how are you really doing?"

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Okay, see?

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See?

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He understood by saying, "Hey, real talk,

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how are you doing?"

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Okay?

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And I know it's a slang term,

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but the concept is,

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"Hey, I know you told me you're doing okay,

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but how are you really doing?"

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And sometimes you may not be ready for that

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at the coffee station right before the gathering.

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Okay?

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So understand if you need some real talk,

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don't just spill it on the person that says,

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"Hey, how you doing?"

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You know, I'm terrible.

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You know, like things at home are really struggling right now.

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Like, "Man, can you pass me the French vanilla

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and we'll sit over here and talk about this?"

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But I just wanted a cup of green tea.

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And here we are now,

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wasn't ready for the real talk

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'cause you didn't preface it by saying,

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"Hey, real talk, I'm struggling."

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Does that make sense?

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Okay.

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Direct feedback.

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Here's another way.

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And this is the toughest one.

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I think this is gonna be one of the harder ones.

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A program might use real talk to facilitate honest feedback

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where one person receives honest opinions from a group

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without responding in the moment.

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Somebody's already crying over there.

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I got...

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There is a program called Roots Rising.

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And real talk is a powerful method

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of giving and receiving feedback

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that contributes to the growth of each crew member.

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The real talk motto is self-knowledge equals power.

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The more we know about ourselves,

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the more power we gain to become the person we wanna be

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and live the life we desire.

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With that in mind,

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they say that it is a gift to offer someone

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kind and insightful feedback.

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Kind and insightful feedback.

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You hear me?

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In a real talk session,

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they all sit in a circle

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and one crew member at a time

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is selected to receive feedback.

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The rest of the crew takes turns facing the selected member

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and giving their honest opinion of that person's behavior.

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What might be helping this crew member meet his or her goals

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and what might be hindering the crew member.

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It's not a dialogue.

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When crew members receive real talk,

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they do not respond.

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They stay open, listen and take it all in.

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And ultimately it's up to the crew member

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to decide what parts of what they heard

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resonate with them and what didn't.

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But in the moment, their job is to stay quiet,

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pay attention and take advantage of the opportunity

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to see themselves through someone else's eyes.

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One of the hardest things that you can do

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is ask someone you're in a relationship with,

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what is it like to be on the other side of me?

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I've had to have my pursuit men's team

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and I asked them all, I said,

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"Hey guys, I know what kind of leader I think I am,

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"but what is it like to be on the other side of me?"

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And one person said, "Can we do this in person?"

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I said, "Absolutely not, send me a text."

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So I can be like, "How, you don't know me."

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"No."

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And they waited too.

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No, it's hard,

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but it's necessary to know what it's like

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to be on the other side of you sometimes.

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Even harder than asking a group of guys

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that you're in lead or responsible for

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was asking your spouse,

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for those of you that are married,

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what's it like to be on the other side of me?

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How do I come across?

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How do I lead?

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How, what is your perception of me?

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You've got your perception of you in your mind,

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but what is, is their perception of you

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the same that you have of yourself?

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Whenever I encounter something,

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and I'm trying to do this, I'm growing in this,

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and I think we can all grow in this.

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When someone gives you a criticism,

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instead of immediately becoming defensive,

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should we be asking ourselves, is there any truth to this?

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Or is this just their truth?

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Have I presented myself in a way that is angry

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or dominating or whatever the criticism is?

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Is there any truth to this?

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Because what they may have been doing is giving real talk

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so that you have the opportunity to take it in,

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bring it to the throne, allow the Holy Spirit to say,

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yeah, this is where you can grow,

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or say, no, pray for them, this is how they perceive you.

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Sometimes you can be completely in the right,

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they can be completely in the wrong,

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but that's their perception of you,

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and now what do you do to go above and beyond?

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Right?

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It's hard, it's difficult, but it's necessary.

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It's necessary.

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Real talk is often about addressing difficult questions.

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Difficult subjects.

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It can be used in conversations about sensitive issues

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like substance abuse, mental health, infidelity,

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sin issues, other personal challenges,

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but always encouraging vulnerability and empathy.

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Real talk is always about encouraging vulnerability

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and empathy.

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You want to get to a deeper level of connection with people.

Speaker: 00:19:06

And James' epistle is getting to a deeper connection

Speaker: 00:19:11

with the body.

Speaker: 00:19:13

He feels like we're all one in Christ,

Speaker: 00:19:18

and there's some things that you guys need to know,

Speaker: 00:19:21

and I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, I'm not gonna fluff it,

Speaker: 00:19:24

I'm gonna get right to the point.

Speaker: 00:19:26

He might not have liked writing it,

Speaker: 00:19:30

maybe that's why he got right to the point.

Speaker: 00:19:32

So now let's look at James.

Speaker: 00:19:34

Now that we know what real talk is,

Speaker: 00:19:36

let's see who James was so that maybe we can understand

Speaker: 00:19:40

a little bit of insight into why he wrote it this way.

Speaker: 00:19:43

So who was James and how did this book come about?

Speaker: 00:19:48

Well, James is the son of Mary and Joseph,

Speaker: 00:19:52

and therefore he's the half brother of Jesus.

Speaker: 00:19:55

He's also brother to Joseph, Simon, and Judas,

Speaker: 00:19:58

not Iscariot, and their sisters.

Speaker: 00:20:01

This is in Matthew chapter 13, it says,

Speaker: 00:20:03

"Is this not the carpenter's son," referring to Jesus,

Speaker: 00:20:07

"is not his mother Mary, and are not his brothers,

Speaker: 00:20:10

James and Joseph and Simon and Judas,

Speaker: 00:20:14

and are not all his sisters with us?

Speaker: 00:20:16

Where then did this man get all these things?"

Speaker: 00:20:20

So we see right here in the Gospel of Matthew

Speaker: 00:20:24

that James, the writer of this letter,

Speaker: 00:20:26

is in fact half brother to Jesus, the Messiah.

Speaker: 00:20:30

James is mentioned several times in the Gospels,

Speaker: 00:20:34

but he misunderstood his brother's ministry

Speaker: 00:20:37

and was not a believer at first.

Speaker: 00:20:40

Wouldn't you think growing up in the house

Speaker: 00:20:42

with Jesus Christ that James H. Christ

Speaker: 00:20:45

would have been a believer?

Speaker: 00:20:46

You mean to tell me James H. Christ did not,

Speaker: 00:20:52

now the Jews, Feast of Booths was at hand.

Speaker: 00:20:56

So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea,

Speaker: 00:21:01

that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.

Speaker: 00:21:05

For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.

Speaker: 00:21:10

If you do these things, show yourself to the world,

Speaker: 00:21:14

for not even his brothers believed in him."

Speaker: 00:21:19

They grew up with Jesus,

Speaker: 00:21:24

but they didn't believe in his ministry.

Speaker: 00:21:27

And that's something very telling,

Speaker: 00:21:29

that you can be around the truth and not recognize it.

Speaker: 00:21:35

You can be all around the Messiah and not see him.

Speaker: 00:21:39

You can be in proximity to the Lamb of God

Speaker: 00:21:45

and not fall on him.

Speaker: 00:21:46

It's kind of scary if you ask me.

Speaker: 00:21:51

I look at Judas' life and I think, man, God,

Speaker: 00:21:54

please keep me close to you.

Speaker: 00:21:56

Please keep me humble.

Speaker: 00:21:58

Please keep me confessing and repenting.

Speaker: 00:22:00

Please keep people holding me accountable.

Speaker: 00:22:03

Keep people holding my arms up when I can't.

Speaker: 00:22:07

Because I look at Judas and I'm like, man,

Speaker: 00:22:09

he had the greatest team on the planet.

Speaker: 00:22:12

He had the greatest teacher.

Speaker: 00:22:14

He was involved in the greatest Bible study journey

Speaker: 00:22:17

of all time.

Speaker: 00:22:20

And sin was allowed to creep into his life.

Speaker: 00:22:24

And I'm like, God, please don't let me be so close

Speaker: 00:22:27

and yet so far away.

Speaker: 00:22:29

It terrifies me.

Speaker: 00:22:30

I wake up at night.

Speaker: 00:22:31

My wife wakes up and this is how many women work.

Speaker: 00:22:33

She'll wake up and be like, "Where's my birth certificate?"

Speaker: 00:22:36

And I'll be like.

Speaker: 00:22:37

And I wake up and I'm like,

Speaker: 00:22:40

please don't let me be like Judas.

Speaker: 00:22:42

Please don't let me be like Judas.

Speaker: 00:22:45

That's how it works, man.

Speaker: 00:22:46

I'm telling you.

Speaker: 00:22:47

If you're a lady, you know it's exactly right.

Speaker: 00:22:49

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:22:51

She has said that one time.

Speaker: 00:22:53

We was laying there.

Speaker: 00:22:54

I was almost asleep.

Speaker: 00:22:55

She said, "Where's my Amazon package?"

Speaker: 00:22:57

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:23:00

It is 1.30 in the morning.

Speaker: 00:23:02

What does it matter?

Speaker: 00:23:03

Is I gonna find it right?

Speaker: 00:23:04

And she's like, "I need to know

Speaker: 00:23:05

where this Amazon package is at."

Speaker: 00:23:07

(congregation laughing)

Speaker: 00:23:19

James was not a believer in his brother's ministry.

Speaker: 00:23:22

So how do you go?

Speaker: 00:23:25

How does one go from unbeliever,

Speaker: 00:23:28

unconvinced to sold out and teaching the church?

Speaker: 00:23:33

How does a person go from, "I'm not buying it.

Speaker: 00:23:38

I hear what you're saying.

Speaker: 00:23:40

I see what he's doing.

Speaker: 00:23:41

He's got a great group of guys.

Speaker: 00:23:43

I'm glad he's got guy friends.

Speaker: 00:23:44

I'm glad that they're doing it.

Speaker: 00:23:46

I'm glad that he has that, but I'm just not convinced."

Speaker: 00:23:48

How does one go from this to sold out,

Speaker: 00:23:52

writing letters to the church, teaching?

Speaker: 00:23:55

It's the same way we all go from unbeliever to sold out,

Speaker: 00:24:00

the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:24:03

The resurrection is what changed James.

Speaker: 00:24:06

And the resurrection is what will change us too.

Speaker: 00:24:10

James becomes one of the earliest witnesses

Speaker: 00:24:15

to the resurrection of Jesus.

Speaker: 00:24:16

This is 1 Corinthians 15, seven.

Speaker: 00:24:18

It says, "Then," okay,

Speaker: 00:24:21

now I'll give you a little bit of context

Speaker: 00:24:22

'cause you just got that one verse.

Speaker: 00:24:23

You're gonna have to trust me.

Speaker: 00:24:24

And if you don't trust me,

Speaker: 00:24:26

go back and read one through six, okay?

Speaker: 00:24:29

And Paul says here, after the resurrection,

Speaker: 00:24:35

he appeared to 500 people at one time.

Speaker: 00:24:38

He appeared to the disciples.

Speaker: 00:24:40

He appeared to over 500 people.

Speaker: 00:24:42

It says, "Then he appeared to James,

Speaker: 00:24:44

then all the apostles."

Speaker: 00:24:46

James' brother is different than James the disciple, okay?

Speaker: 00:24:51

That's why he put, "And then to all the apostles,"

Speaker: 00:24:54

to designate that he did in fact appear

Speaker: 00:24:57

to his brother, James.

Speaker: 00:24:59

And this is the benchmark that changed his life.

Speaker: 00:25:03

'Cause after this, he stays in Jerusalem

Speaker: 00:25:08

and forms part of the group of believers

Speaker: 00:25:10

who pray in the upper room.

Speaker: 00:25:12

So James grows up with Jesus.

Speaker: 00:25:15

It's his half-brother.

Speaker: 00:25:16

He's not convinced of his ministry.

Speaker: 00:25:19

He sees the works that he's doing.

Speaker: 00:25:21

He watches his brother be crucified.

Speaker: 00:25:25

He watches his mother grieve at the foot of the cross.

Speaker: 00:25:29

He sees all of this unfold.

Speaker: 00:25:32

And then he sees his brother in a resurrected body.

Speaker: 00:25:36

He's like, "Okay, you were right.

Speaker: 00:25:40

You weren't lying.

Speaker: 00:25:41

You are who you said you were."

Speaker: 00:25:43

You know, as little brothers, we're like,

Speaker: 00:25:45

"We didn't believe you."

Speaker: 00:25:46

I mean, you know, right?

Speaker: 00:25:48

Think of it from their human point of view.

Speaker: 00:25:51

But the resurrection changed James.

Speaker: 00:25:54

And so then he goes with the other believers

Speaker: 00:25:57

and they wait in the upper room for the promise

Speaker: 00:26:00

that Jesus had gave them.

Speaker: 00:26:02

Then they returned to Jerusalem

Speaker: 00:26:05

from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,

Speaker: 00:26:08

a Sabbath day's journey away.

Speaker: 00:26:11

And when they had entered,

Speaker: 00:26:12

they went up to the upper room where they were staying,

Speaker: 00:26:16

Peter and John and James and Andrew and Philip and Thomas,

Speaker: 00:26:20

Bartholomew and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus

Speaker: 00:26:24

and Simon the Zealot and Judas, the son of James.

Speaker: 00:26:28

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer

Speaker: 00:26:33

together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus

Speaker: 00:26:38

and his brothers.

Speaker: 00:26:43

And he is brothers.

Speaker: 00:26:46

So James is in the upper room

Speaker: 00:26:49

when the Spirit of God descends from heaven

Speaker: 00:26:55

the one and only time and stays.

Speaker: 00:27:01

He's in that moment.

Speaker: 00:27:04

Like this is a moment in time that you can put a pin in it

Speaker: 00:27:11

where the Spirit of God before this,

Speaker: 00:27:13

the Spirit had come upon men like Samson.

Speaker: 00:27:18

John the Baptist is born filled with the Spirit

Speaker: 00:27:21

this whole life, right?

Speaker: 00:27:24

But now the Holy Spirit descends in the upper room

Speaker: 00:27:28

on all the believers and James is included in that.

Speaker: 00:27:31

That's wild.

Speaker: 00:27:34

From this time forward, from here, from this point,

Speaker: 00:27:39

he's filled with the Holy Spirit.

Speaker: 00:27:42

James becomes an integral part of the early church.

Speaker: 00:27:46

And so James is still hanging out in Jerusalem

Speaker: 00:27:51

when a new convert named Saul of Tarsus arrives to meet

Speaker: 00:27:56

with him and Peter.

Speaker: 00:27:58

And they heard stories about Saul.

Speaker: 00:28:00

Saul's ravaging the church and James is still in Jerusalem

Speaker: 00:28:05

when Saul comes to town.

Speaker: 00:28:09

For I would have you know brothers

Speaker: 00:28:10

that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

Speaker: 00:28:14

For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it,

Speaker: 00:28:17

but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Speaker: 00:28:20

This is Paul speaking to the church of the Galatian people.

Speaker: 00:28:24

Says, "For you have heard of my former life of Judaism,

Speaker: 00:28:27

how I persecuted the church of God violently

Speaker: 00:28:32

and tried to destroy it.

Speaker: 00:28:34

And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many

Speaker: 00:28:38

of my own age among my people.

Speaker: 00:28:40

So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

Speaker: 00:28:45

But when he who set me apart before I was born

Speaker: 00:28:49

and called me by his grace."

Speaker: 00:28:51

Come on, Paul.

Speaker: 00:28:52

Was pleased, look at this.

Speaker: 00:28:54

He was pleased to reveal his son in me.

Speaker: 00:28:59

Guys, I want you to know it is pleasing to the father

Speaker: 00:29:03

for his son to be revealed in you.

Speaker: 00:29:07

When Jesus is revealed in you, it is pleasing to the father.

Speaker: 00:29:12

In order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,

Speaker: 00:29:16

I did not immediately consult with anyone.

Speaker: 00:29:19

That's probably some good advice that I should follow.

Speaker: 00:29:23

Let me tell y'all what happened.

Speaker: 00:29:26

You're not gonna believe this.

Speaker: 00:29:27

Nor did I go up to Jerusalem,

Speaker: 00:29:30

to those who were apostles before me.

Speaker: 00:29:33

But I went away into Arabia and returned again to Damascus.

Speaker: 00:29:37

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem

Speaker: 00:29:41

to visit Cephas and remained with him 15 days.

Speaker: 00:29:46

But I saw none of the other apostles

Speaker: 00:29:49

except James, the Lord's brother.

Speaker: 00:29:53

So what does this say about James's position in the church?

Speaker: 00:29:58

That he goes from, "Nah, I mean, that means my brother.

Speaker: 00:30:01

I know him, I guess.

Speaker: 00:30:03

I mean, I'm just, this is all,

Speaker: 00:30:06

don't think that that part was in the Bible, okay?

Speaker: 00:30:08

Like this is my assessment and speculation here.

Speaker: 00:30:13

We just know that he wasn't a believer in Jesus's ministry.

Speaker: 00:30:17

He goes from unbeliever to fully convinced

Speaker: 00:30:20

because he's seen the resurrection with his own eyes,

Speaker: 00:30:23

to filled with the Spirit of God,

Speaker: 00:30:27

to remaining in Jerusalem while Saul is persecuting

Speaker: 00:30:32

the church.

Speaker: 00:30:33

When I say persecuting, they are killing followers

Speaker: 00:30:37

of the way.

Speaker: 00:30:38

Stoning of Stephen, okay?

Speaker: 00:30:40

Saul's there, probably gave the thumbs up.

Speaker: 00:30:44

It's going down and Saul is there.

Speaker: 00:30:46

He's ravaging the church.

Speaker: 00:30:49

And James is somehow steadfast in his resolve.

Speaker: 00:30:52

And then Saul has a miraculous conversion

Speaker: 00:30:56

on the road to Damascus.

Speaker: 00:30:58

And then after three years, he goes to Jerusalem

Speaker: 00:31:02

and he visits Peter and James, the Lord's brother.

Speaker: 00:31:06

He said, "I didn't meet with nobody else but Peter,

Speaker: 00:31:08

the one who denied him, then saw him resurrected

Speaker: 00:31:12

and his whole life changed.

Speaker: 00:31:14

And he was filled with the Holy Spirit and he's preaching

Speaker: 00:31:17

and he's ultimately martyred, okay?

Speaker: 00:31:21

They both have the similar makeup of what it takes

Speaker: 00:31:26

to see and believe the resurrection of Jesus

Speaker: 00:31:30

and be transformed by it.

Speaker: 00:31:33

And the living Spirit of a holy God inside of you

Speaker: 00:31:37

that empowers and emboldens you to walk that out

Speaker: 00:31:41

in the face of adversity.

Speaker: 00:31:43

And so Paul comes to James and Peter in Jerusalem.

Speaker: 00:31:48

James is still there.

Speaker: 00:31:54

When Peter escapes from prison,

Speaker: 00:31:57

he reports to James about the miraculous events.

Speaker: 00:32:00

So now James is getting progress reports and updates.

Speaker: 00:32:04

But motioning to them with his hand to be silent,

Speaker: 00:32:07

shut up, shut up, shut up.

Speaker: 00:32:09

He described to them how the Lord had brought him

Speaker: 00:32:12

out of prison and he said,

Speaker: 00:32:14

"Tell these things to James and to the brothers."

Speaker: 00:32:18

Then he departed and went into another place.

Speaker: 00:32:21

James is starting to become kind of a big deal in the church.

Speaker: 00:32:25

He's starting to be somebody that's reliable.

Speaker: 00:32:28

They can rely on him.

Speaker: 00:32:30

That Peter wanted to make sure that the report got to James

Speaker: 00:32:33

because James was concerned with the church

Speaker: 00:32:36

and with the believers.

Speaker: 00:32:38

James was also a chairman at the Jerusalem council

Speaker: 00:32:43

in Acts 15.

Speaker: 00:32:45

Is this it?

Speaker: 00:32:46

Yep.

Speaker: 00:32:48

After they finished speaking, James replied,

Speaker: 00:32:50

"Brothers, listen to me.

Speaker: 00:32:51

"Semion has related how God first visited the Gentiles

Speaker: 00:32:55

"to take from them a people for his name.

Speaker: 00:32:57

"And with this, the words of the prophets agree,

Speaker: 00:33:00

"just as it is written, after this, I will return

Speaker: 00:33:03

"and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen.

Speaker: 00:33:06

"I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it

Speaker: 00:33:08

"that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord

Speaker: 00:33:11

"and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,

Speaker: 00:33:13

"says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.

Speaker: 00:33:17

"Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble

Speaker: 00:33:20

"those of the Gentiles who turn to God."

Speaker: 00:33:22

James is now on the council.

Speaker: 00:33:26

He's a chairman at the Jerusalem council.

Speaker: 00:33:29

He was also an elder of the church

Speaker: 00:33:36

and considered to be a pillar in Galatians 2.9.

Speaker: 00:33:41

When James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars,

Speaker: 00:33:45

perceived the grace that was given to me,

Speaker: 00:33:47

they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me,

Speaker: 00:33:50

that we should go to the Gentiles

Speaker: 00:33:52

and they to the circumcised.

Speaker: 00:33:54

The man goes from unbeliever

Speaker: 00:33:57

to just walking out his calling that God had placed on him.

Speaker: 00:34:03

And he becomes a pillar in the early church.

Speaker: 00:34:06

James' epistle is one of, if not the first,

Speaker: 00:34:14

first book of the New Testament to be written.

Speaker: 00:34:18

See, the problem with our codex is,

Speaker: 00:34:20

we think James is toward the end

Speaker: 00:34:22

because we gotta flip through a lot of stuff to get there.

Speaker: 00:34:27

And it's only a couple of pages

Speaker: 00:34:28

and it gets real thin back down here.

Speaker: 00:34:30

When you get through it to Hebrews and Titus and 1 John,

Speaker: 00:34:34

and you know what I mean?

Speaker: 00:34:35

It's real thin and you go,

Speaker: 00:34:36

"Oh, James, there's another letter in there."

Speaker: 00:34:39

James was actually one of the first books

Speaker: 00:34:41

of the New Testament that was written.

Speaker: 00:34:43

If not the first, if not the first, why is this important?

Speaker: 00:34:47

Because this letter was written before the gospels.

Speaker: 00:34:52

This letter was written before Paul's letters

Speaker: 00:34:56

to the churches.

Speaker: 00:34:57

James' letter is written before Luke's letters to Theophilus,

Speaker: 00:35:03

which are Luke and Acts.

Speaker: 00:35:06

It was written before the apocalyptic visions of John.

Speaker: 00:35:11

This context is important because of the content,

Speaker: 00:35:15

wherein James is not writing from a theological standpoint,

Speaker: 00:35:19

much like Paul, he is primarily concerned

Speaker: 00:35:21

with Christian ethics.

Speaker: 00:35:23

So the first book of the New Testament is,

Speaker: 00:35:25

"All right, believers,

Speaker: 00:35:26

this is how we need to live and function."

Speaker: 00:35:28

Isn't that not interesting?

Speaker: 00:35:31

That the first book of the New Testament that was written

Speaker: 00:35:36

was one that says,

Speaker: 00:35:37

"This is how believers should live, function,

Speaker: 00:35:39

and operate in society, in the culture.

Speaker: 00:35:43

This is how we need to live."

Speaker: 00:35:46

And James was a trusted brother.

Speaker: 00:35:49

He was trusted by Paul, he was trusted by Peter,

Speaker: 00:35:52

he was trusted by the Pharisees and the other,

Speaker: 00:35:55

well, not much the Pharisees,

Speaker: 00:35:56

they didn't trust anybody except for themselves,

Speaker: 00:35:59

but he became a pillar in the church.

Speaker: 00:36:02

He had a pedigree.

Speaker: 00:36:03

Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

Speaker: 00:36:05

Real talk, James was a top dog.

Speaker: 00:36:09

He was the guy.

Speaker: 00:36:10

This book is about how we should respond to the gospel.

Speaker: 00:36:18

Our Christian walk is the external evidence

Speaker: 00:36:26

of an internal conviction.

Speaker: 00:36:28

You cannot say you believe what you believe

Speaker: 00:36:33

and live a life that is contrary to that.

Speaker: 00:36:37

It's impossible because one of the things are not true.

Speaker: 00:36:41

Either what you're walking out is false

Speaker: 00:36:44

or what you really believe is false.

Speaker: 00:36:48

They're diametrically opposed,

Speaker: 00:36:50

they're like two magnets turned around.

Speaker: 00:36:52

They repel each other the closer you bring them.

Speaker: 00:36:55

James is saying,

Speaker: 00:36:57

"We're gonna walk out what we say we believe."

Speaker: 00:36:59

Why?

Speaker: 00:37:00

Because we're not working towards the cross,

Speaker: 00:37:02

we're working from it.

Speaker: 00:37:05

He was working from the resurrection.

Speaker: 00:37:07

He was working from a feeling of the Spirit.

Speaker: 00:37:10

He wasn't working to get redeemed,

Speaker: 00:37:12

he was working from a place of redemption.

Speaker: 00:37:15

And that's the key, saints,

Speaker: 00:37:18

that we work from a place of redemption.

Speaker: 00:37:20

James's life reveals the power

Speaker: 00:37:28

that comes from being a witness

Speaker: 00:37:30

to the resurrection of his brother, Jesus.

Speaker: 00:37:32

I've said it a hundred times.

Speaker: 00:37:34

He goes from skeptic to believer to leader in the church,

Speaker: 00:37:39

and he ultimately dies for his faith.

Speaker: 00:37:41

Now there's no biblical record of his death,

Speaker: 00:37:46

like you don't find any,

Speaker: 00:37:47

it's not like turn to Galatians five

Speaker: 00:37:52

and we'll show you where James died.

Speaker: 00:37:53

There's no biblical record,

Speaker: 00:37:54

doesn't mean there's no historical record

Speaker: 00:37:56

that James, how James died.

Speaker: 00:37:58

We do have testimonies from Josephus.

Speaker: 00:38:02

(breathes deeply)

Speaker: 00:38:05

I said I was gonna work on this and I didn't,

Speaker: 00:38:10

I'm not there yet guys.

Speaker: 00:38:11

Hegesippus, that sounds right.

Speaker: 00:38:15

And Clement of Alexandria,

Speaker: 00:38:17

no, I say that because I told y'all

Speaker: 00:38:18

that I was gonna practice these before.

Speaker: 00:38:20

And I forgot that that name was in there.

Speaker: 00:38:22

I said that, I committed to that.

Speaker: 00:38:24

I don't remember which live stream,

Speaker: 00:38:25

hopefully it's archived now,

Speaker: 00:38:26

so you don't have like damning evidence

Speaker: 00:38:28

that I told you an untruth.

Speaker: 00:38:31

There are three historians that describe James

Speaker: 00:38:36

being thrown from the temple,

Speaker: 00:38:39

either out of it or down.

Speaker: 00:38:42

And he's thrown out of the temple.

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He's stoned and then he's clubbed to death.

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They threw him out of the temple.

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They stoned him.

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Have you ever been hit with anything?

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(congregation laughs)

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Unless it's just a large stone,

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that's a process the same way,

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that's like, that's not a one and done.

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They stoned him to death and then for good measure,

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they clubbed him.

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They beat him with bats or sticks or whatever.

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He died in Jerusalem around AD 62,

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as many as 12 years after writing this epistle.

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His opening line after he gives his introduction is,

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"Count it all joy brothers,

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when you face trials of many kinds."

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And 12 years later, after pinning these words,

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which are the earliest recorded in the New Testament,

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he finds himself in a trial

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that he's not gonna get out of.

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And I love this, Clement records that he was praying

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for his executioners while he was being stoned.

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Talk about counting it all joy, right?

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We talking about counting all joy.

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Don't get ahead of yourself, Justin,

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that's next week, next week.

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I'm trying to hold it in.

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The word is like a fire, shut up in my bones.

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I am weary of holding it in and indeed I cannot.

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The most admirable trait displayed by James

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is his humility, his humility.

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He never uses his position as Jesus's blood relative

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as a basis for his authority.

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He never says, "Y'all know I'm Jesus's half brother.

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You know I'm actually a leader at the church in Jerusalem.

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You know I'm a pastor over here.

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You know that, right?"

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This is how James presents himself to the church.

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And we'll close.

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"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."

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Just like Paul had a pedigree, James had a pedigree.

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He'd built his life.

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He went from unbeliever to leader and pillar in the church,

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writing letters to the church, shepherding flocks,

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discipling other men.

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And he describes himself as a servant of Jesus Christ.

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Never once did he use his authority and his position

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as his half brother.

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That takes great humility.

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So the first lesson we can learn from James

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is his attribute of humility.

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James never uses his position as a basis for authority.

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Instead, he says, "James, a servant of God

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and of the Lord Jesus Christ

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to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings."

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Let's pray.

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Father, I thank you for your servant, James, God.

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I thank you that we have this letter

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that he wrote to the church.

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And I thank you that it still speaks to the church.

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God, I pray that over the next few weeks

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as we study the lines that your spirit gave him to pen,

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that they would pierce our hearts the same way it did

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those first group of believers,

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that we would respond to it with the same earnest

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and understanding as they did, God,

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that you would be glorified with our lives,

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that you would pour your spirit on us

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as we journey through these scriptures, God.

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I thank you for his humility.

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I thank you for his sincere talk, his real talk.

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And I thank you for his genuine heart, care,

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and concern for the people.

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God, I pray that you would be glorified

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through this teaching and through this study

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that we do together,

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and that you would equip and empower

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all that are under the sign of my voice

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with strength and courage to walk this out.

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Father, we love you and we thank you.

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It's in Christ's name I pray, amen and amen.

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Now, you ready for your homework?

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Are you ready for homework?

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Read James chapter one every day for the next seven days.

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Amen, be blessed for your house.