doing double duty, having to lead singing and also play a special. That was a blessing. I love that hymn. Thank you for that. Book of James, chapter number five. Book of James, chapter number five. Again, I apologize if I sound a little nasally or a little congested. My right ear is clogged up and I'm thankful I was able to hear that good special. but I am a little foggy here on the right side and I'm getting over a sinus issue. I've had some sinus problems the last couple of days. We had a great conference. Thank you so much for the church helping us and allowing us to go to the conference this week. We spent two and a half days down in Greenville, South Carolina at the Bob Jones University Seminary. And it was a conference on depression and mental illness and how to minister to those with those needs. And it was just a wonderful time, a refreshing time, but also a very challenging and encouraging time. We gained a lot. There are so many different needs related to those areas, and we are thankful we feel better equipped, but we still know that there is a lot to learn, and it just was a great conference, just overall very biblical. brought a very biblical perspective, a lot of good practical tips through the services and the workshops. So again, thank you for allowing us to go and we are thankful for a safe trip, but it's good to be back home and with our church family. James chapter number five in verse 17, we are really finishing up the section on prayer in confessing our faults one to another that we looked at last week. And we read there again in verse 17 that Elias, this is Elijah, he was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained on the earth by the space of three years and six months. I think sometimes we hold some of these Bible characters up onto a lofty place, high on a pedestal, and we almost treat them as if they are superhuman, as if they were in a different stratosphere from the rest of us, and yet Elijah, we are told, was a man subject to like passions as we are. Here's a man who was given as an example who prayed, who prayed for his fellow brothers and sisters, his fellow kinsmen, Israel, and he, with the Lord's help, God used him in his prayer to pronounce a judgment, a drought for three and a half years, and used him again to end that judgment at the end of that three and a half years. And it's a illustration of how God desires for us, for we to be men and women of prayer. We've spent some time working our way through this chapter, and I've used the letter T as the alliteration, and we looked at the temporal nature of riches, the tendency of wealth to make one proud, the terror of the actions of the rich and the powerful, and then the tenacity of believers. our patience, and how we must establish our hearts. Last week, we also looked at the warning about trickery of speech, about how in verse number 12, that we must swear not neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by any other oath, but let our yea be yea, and our nay, nay, lest we fall into condemnation. The warning there about hypocritical speech, making false, empty promises, especially in times of trial or persecution, where we promise God that we will serve him if he gets us through the trial, if he gets us through the suffering, and then we forget all about God when things get good. And we're warned about that. But then we spend some time in last week's message in verses 13 through 16, trusting in the Lord. Trust expressed through prayer. God desires for us to be a praying people. As we were looking at in our Sunday school lesson this morning in our adult class, we talked about the fact that God knows what our needs are. He knows what is on our hearts, and yet He still desires for us to come to Him. He still desires to hear our prayers. He wants us to bring our requests to Him, to bring our praise, and to bring our thanksgiving, to bring our supplications, and to bring our burdens and lay them down at His feet, and to come boldly before the throne of grace. And clearly in this passage we see James and his desire for the church to strengthen one another through these afflictions, these trials, these persecutions, these various types of sufferings. And he talks about calling the elders of the church and the anointing with oil in verse 14. But he talks about in verse 15 that the prayer of faith shall save the sick. We talked about the sick being those who are weary, those who are burdened down by the afflictions, by the sufferings, the persecutions. And the Lord shall raise him up. If he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed. The point, the emphasis, The theme that James is emphasizing is that we must be praying for one another, that we must be strengthening one another, that we come to those who are weary, to those who are weighed down, that even as we confess our faults one to another, we strengthen each other in our walk with the Lord, that we are provoking one another to love and to good works. And as we come together and worship and as we sing, As we sing psalms, as we sing hymns, we're told that that is part of our instructing one another. As we give praise to the Lord, we are also edifying one another in our worship, in our singing. Prayer. Prayer is a central theme in this passage, mentioned seven times just in these few verses. Seven times James mentions prayer. And he mentions at the end of verse 16 that our prayer ought to be effectual and fervent. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I feel like last week at the end of the sermon I was just trying to quickly finish up and I felt like I needed to come back and unpack a little bit more from this passage, especially since we hardly even talked about Elijah last week. Maybe just, maybe mentioned him by name one time. But he mentions, James does, by the inspiration of God at the end of verse 16, that we ought to be men and women of effectual, fervent prayer. Prayer that is energetic, that is passionate. And it accomplishes much. Prayer for one another, prayer in praise to the Lord, prayer in thanksgiving, prayer that ultimately accomplishes a conformity of my will to God's. It places me under God's sovereign rule and causes me to trust his perfect will. Prayer helps us endure trials. It helps us strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we help bear one another's burdens. We all have our own load that we carry, Galatians 6 talks about. But we do help bear one another's burdens. And in this prayer, in this praying for one another, In this strengthening one another, there are times of confession where we come to one another and we admit where we are struggling or we get things right. We confess our faults. Literally, that word false is the word for sin. And we have to be willing to be transparent with one another and be willing to confess our sins to one another, not in airing out dirty laundry and being involved in gossip and backbiting and that kind of thing, but in a mutual submitting one another, submitting one to another in the fear of God. We pray for one another, we strengthen one another, we comfort one another, and at times we have to confess. where we have fallen short, where we need help, where we need accountability. I'm thankful in my life for having accountability. I'm thankful for times in Bible college and seminary where I know that I went to a college that had a lot of rules. And there were some rules that were ridiculous that they don't even have now. We went down and we went to the conference and we were able to see Emily and Chandler, our oldest two, and enjoyed some time with them. They talked about some of the rules and things that they are experiencing and I would again tell them, you have it so much easier than what I had. So much easier. I mean, we were able to take them off campus and didn't have to sign permission forms and check out at the Broken Shire desk and all of that. But you know what, as much as those rules were at times a frustration to me, I'm thankful for them because God taught me so much through that accountability. God taught me so much and really helped me prioritize some things in my life and get rid of some things that I had way too high on the priority list. We don't live our life, we're not a good driver just because we can read all the road signs. We're not a good driver just because we know what the white and the orange lines mean and all that. We're a good driver because we obey the rules of the road. The signs and the warnings and the lines and all are there to protect us, to guard us, to show us the way. They're there to help us be safe. and to get to where we are going. The Christian life, we don't live in a legalistic way. We live in a relationship with God. because he loved us first, and we love him in return, and he desires for us to bring our requests, to pray, and we need the accountability of our church family. We need the accountability of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to be comforting, strengthening, praying for one another, and confessing our faults one to another. And we do that, as James has emphasized over and over in this closing passage, we do that through prayer. Trust in the Lord expressed through prayer. we see prayer accomplishing the will of God, as I just mentioned with Elijah. God desired for Elijah to pray this prayer, and he accomplished his will of bringing a three and a half year drought through Elijah's prayer, and then ended the drought with Elijah's prayer. God desires to accomplish His will through us as we depend upon Him. And how do we depend upon Him? One of the key ways is through prayer. Praying not in some sort of magical formula or in some sort of secret code, but praying with an earnest plea, with energy and with passion, pleading for God's mercy and pleading for God's provision. We can read of another example in Numbers 11, in verse number two, where the people cried unto Moses, and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. There we see prayer resulting in the will of God for God's people, in this case, ending the judgment, God extending mercy. We see the Example of Elijah in his prayer was accomplishing the will of God in judgment and then in the removal of judgment. What about the children of Israel who cried unto the Lord from slavery in Egypt and God brought deliverance? We're told in John chapter, or excuse me, in the Gospels, excuse me, we're told in several passages in the Gospels to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. God desires to use his people and we can pray for one another and we can pray that the Lord will send us or our children or those in our church to go out and to serve the Lord. Those are difficult prayers to pray, but as I mentioned before, I know for a fact that my mom and dad prayed for me knowing that it would one day, not knowing, I should say, that one day it would lead to God calling me to preach, to go into the ministry. They had no idea, and I'm not saying that as any applause on my behalf or to pat myself on the back or to toot my own horn, but simply the fact that I know I had a mom and dad praying with faith and praying that even their own children would go on to serve the Lord in whatever way. We pray for our children, we pray for our grandchildren, we pray for fellow church members, we pray that God will call out from our midst a missionary, a pastor, or just faithful servants of the Lord. Where's the next generation gonna be if we're not praying now for the Lord of the harvest to send forth labors? Jesus prayed for us in John 17. Isn't that incredible? in John 17, a whole chapter of Christ praying in one of the sections in John 17. He prayed for us before we even existed. We existed in his mind and in his great wisdom, but he prayed for us. Incredible. Jesus was a man of prayer going into the mountain and going into places of solitude and going into the wilderness to pray. Jesus even prayed for an overconfident Peter, didn't he? Luke 22, Luke 22 verses 31 and 32 is Peter bragging about how he would always follow the Lord. He would not deny, he would not forsake the Lord. Luke 21, excuse me, Luke 22 and verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan had desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Christ prayed for Peter, knowing he was going into a time of great spiritual conflict, where Peter would even deny Christ three times. But Christ prayed for him. What an example of how we should be praying for one another. Here again, Elijah is used as an example of effectual, fervent prayer. and how it accomplished much. It brought the start of a drought, and it brought the end of the drought. God used the prayers of Elijah in the fulfillment of his will for Israel, while also providing for Elijah. Because as Elijah prayed for that drought to come upon Israel, and the drought lasted for three and a half years, what did God do with Elijah? He sent him to the brook Jareth, and there the ravens brought him food, and God took care of him. Will God take care of us like he took care of Elijah? Sure he will. We pray and we trust, and we see God accomplish his will. As we pray for one another, we certainly can pray for health. We can pray for healing. We can pray for comfort and pray for provision. But ultimately, our prayers ought to be for God's strengthening hand and his mercy in our lives, for God's will to be done in our lives. As we read here, In James chapter number five, the prayer and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, will strengthen the weary ones. And the Lord shall raise him up. The Lord will strengthen him. And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed. The healing there is not necessarily just a specific physical healing, but it's really praying for a spiritual strengthening, a spiritual healing, that the prayer of faith would uphold and strengthen those who are weary, those who are weak, and we pray that for one another. We pray like Paul did in Philippians chapter number one, Philippians chapter number one, where Paul prayed for the Philippians. He prayed for their spiritual health, their spiritual strength. In Philippians one, in verse three, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. There's a pattern even of prayer, a model of prayer that we can use from the Apostle Paul here in Philippians one. A prayer of thanksgiving. Maybe that would change our attitude sometimes toward others. If we say, God, I thank you for so-and-so. I thank you for my child even though he or she has been particularly stubborn today and has driven me to my wits end. I still love them and thank you for giving them to me. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work, and you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." There's the prayer of God's will for their life. And then he continues in Philippians 1 and verse 7, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. He prayed that their love for God would increase and it would increase with discernment. that it would increase with a judgment, a discerning knowledge of Jesus Christ, a growth in their relationship with God. He prayed for them that they would grow in their knowledge of God and their love for God and in their knowledge and their discernment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that they would make good decisions, that they would lay hold on that which is good, that which is holy, that which is just, that which is pure, that which is right, And this, I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. What a pattern of prayer that we can pray for our spouse, we can pray for our children, that we can pray for one another. that our love would grow, that our discernment would grow, that our knowledge of God would grow, that we would lay hold of that which is true and holy and just and pure, the things that are excellent, that we would be sincere, that we'd be honest, upright, and without offense, blameless before God until the day of Christ, and that we'd be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. This kind of prayer has a cleansing effect, doesn't it? It has a faith-building effect and a cleansing effect upon our lives and upon our church. It brings a unity and it brings a growth as we pray for one another and strengthen one another in our faith and our walk with the Lord. So as we come to the conclusion of this great epistle, we see James addressing this matter of prayer, this matter of coming together and comforting one another and strengthening one another and confessing our faults one to another. But then we come to a fairly difficult section at the close of this great book. And to keep our alliteration, I'm going to call this the touch of love. the touch of love. Verse 18, and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, the earth brought forth her fruit. Verse 19, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude Notice he addresses brethren. And he says, if any of you do err from the truth. It appears that James is directly and specifically addressing believers. So that will help us in understanding verses 19 and 20. Now we all are sinners. We all have come short of the glory of God. And as Christians, we're sinners saved by grace. But sadly, we are capable of committing any number of sins, aren't we? But a true Christian, I believe a true Christian will practice 1 John 1, of having a confessional life. In other words, that we are confessing our sins on a regular and consistent basis. Not that Christians can't backslide, not that Christians can't be carnal, 1 Corinthians 3, Paul deals with the Corinthian church and he calls them carnal. He says you should be in the meat of the word and you are still on the milk. You're dividing up among Apollos and Cephas and Jesus and I'm forgetting, Paul. He says you're carnal and Corinth had lots of sins in the church. They're listed throughout 1 Corinthians and then There's the restoration of the sinning brother in 2 Corinthians, the main sin of immorality that he was addressing in 1 Corinthians, particularly chapter five, when they had to practice church discipline on an individual who was living with his, I believe it was, with his stepmom, if I remember right. He was sleeping with his stepmom. And the church was doing nothing about it, was letting it go, and they had to administer church discipline. So the Corinthian church had lots of issues. Christians can be carnal. They can be backslidden. And they will fall under the chastening hand of God. It's an evidence of true salvation, according to Hebrews 12. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And there is that scourging, that chastening, that spanking that we get from God that's necessary to bring about the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And as a believer, we should be people confessing our sins. It's already mentioned that we confess our faults one to another. There are times where we wander away from the Lord, where we break fellowship, we don't lose our salvation. Once saved, always saved. No man can pluck us out of the Father's hand. But we break fellowship with our Heavenly Father when we sin. And we get away from God, we wander. As a matter of fact, literally in verse 19, that phrase do-er, or do-er, depending on how you pronounce that, is literally the Greek word that we get our word planet from. It means wandering one. So the Greeks considered planets to be wandering out in the solar system. We are prone to wander. As believers, we can break fellowship with the Lord. We can begin to wander away from God. We can be like that sheep that is out in the pasture and gets caught in the thickets or falls into the creek that the shepherd has to go after and bring back. We need to be brought back in. to the fold and to be chastened sometimes. We need to get rid of some carnality in our life. We all have to go through those times of confession and it needs to be a regular part of our life. It's an evidence of salvation according to 1 John 1. So James is obviously dealing with a believer who is erring, who is away from the truth. And he says, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converted the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death. So we see the motivation, we see the desire, we see the concern of the brethren, that we don't just let the wandering one go and say, ah, let him go. They're just not right with God, and yeah, they profess to be a believer, yeah, they used to come to church, yeah, they used to serve, but they won't listen, so we just let them go. Is that what he says? No, we see the emphasis on if any of you do err from the truth, and one, convert him. Let him know that he which converteth the sinner. That implies that there is a going after, that there is a seeking like the good shepherd does with those who belong to him. That we are to have that same heart. That's to be the heart of the pastor, but it's also to be the heart of each and every one of us as believers. We're to go after them. Matthew 18, those who call themselves Christians who have claimed Christ and are a part of the church. Matthew 18 gives specific principles. When a believer wanders away in unrepentant sin, that we go to them one-to-one and we confront them. That may happen several times. And then we bring witnesses, two or three witnesses. And Matthew 18 is clear. And we may have to do that several times. And then we have to bring them before the church if they don't repent. It's hard, it's difficult, that kind of confrontation is tough. We have to do that though out of love. Galatians 6 refers to that kind of meekful, humble confrontation. Galatians chapter number six talks about restoring a brother, and doing so in a spirit of meekness. Galatians 6 and verse number one, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, in a sin, he's overtaken, he's unrepentant, ye which are spiritual, restore. Those who are spiritual is referring to those who are right with God, those who are in a place of maturity. Not this trying to cast out the speck in someone else's eye when we still have a big beam in our own eye. Not in a hypocritical, condemning, judgmental kind of way. But spiritual, right with God, mature in the faith, having their own heart checked and made right, having confessed their own failures and sins, right with God in a mature place, going as a spiritual person and restoring such in one in the spirit of meekness, with humility, with tenderness, with compassion, with biblical love. Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. That's the spirit that James is referring to here, that is involved in converting a brother who has wandered away This can be difficult in today's world, in a day of personal autonomy and expressive individualism. I live my truth, you live yours. It is increasingly more difficult, it seems, for people to accept biblical counsel. This conference we went to earlier in the week, they talked about the difficulties in helping people with sin issues that manifest themselves in mental health issues. Not that there aren't organic biological causes for depression and mental illness, there are. But there's always a spiritual component because we are body, soul, and spirit. And in this world in which we live, it seems that more and more people are not willing to accept the truth, to accept biblical counsel. It's not that it's impossible, But it just seems, doesn't it, that people have more voices, they have more confederates, they can go to any place on the internet, they can find a group of people who agree with them, will take up their sinful position and will help them excuse and rationalize their sinful behavior. And then there's the hundreds of labels for all the various ailments and disorders. And then people will say, well, I can't change. You can't expect me to change. This is just the way I am. This is just who I am. Well, yes, God does accept you where you are at, but he doesn't want to leave you there. He wants to take you and make you and conform you into the image of his son. And that should be the desire of every true believer to be holy, to be conformed to the image of God's son. Do we give up on those people who rationalize and excuse their sin? No, we don't give up on them. Even in times of increasing ungodliness and worldliness, even as professing believers make excuses and find all kinds of ways to accommodate their sin and find affirmation for their sin, it doesn't mean that we give up on them, that we quit giving them the truth, that we quit on them. No, we go to them in love. as a spiritual, mature, right-with-God individual, and we bring the truth to bear upon whatever area that they are out of sorts with God, there may be some addiction, there may be something else, but there is clearly an unrepentant sin in that person's life, and it is clearly affecting their relationship with God, oftentimes affecting their association with the body of Christ, Obviously it manifests itself in any number of ways. But we go to them with the truth. We seek to convert them. And in the practice of Matthew 18, in the practice of Galatians 6, it may even result in the revelation in that person's heart and mind that they are not truly a child of God. They only were professing to be. but as a true child of God, they need to be confronted with the truth, to live according to God's righteous standard. This is not in some legalistic or judgmental, condemning way, not in some hypocritical way, but James calls us to identify those who are wandering, that do err from the truth, and to seek to convert them. We keep counseling, we keep taking the truth, we keep preaching and teaching. Maybe have to get a little dirty along the way, because we have to go out of our way and we have to get involved in their life. We may have to sacrifice some of our time and our money and our energy to help them. But we trust that God is working. And we know that he is. And we have to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. And maybe we need to dig a little deeper into the word of God ourselves. Haven't we found that to be the case? I know I have found that to be the case in my life, especially being in the ministry and having to deal with different people and different needs and different circumstances and all the different spiritual issues in people's lives and different counseling opportunities. I have found many times, I have had to dig into the word even deeper. I've had to go back to some of the same passages and reevaluate and study some more. I've had to do some additional training. Again, this conference was a great help and encouragement and did, I think, a lot of equipping for me and for Kelly. But as believers, all of us, how well do we know the Word? How willing are we to take the truth with love and compassion to help restore a brother? Again, sometimes that professing believer, it may be revealed through church discipline, through the practice of Matthew 18 and Galatians 6, it may be revealed that they are a false believer. They're just pretending to be a Christian. Maybe they eventually reveal who they really are and that they were not really one of us and they went out from us. And maybe they eventually will deny the faith and become apostate. That's not what we want to happen. But sometimes God does use the process of converting a brother in church discipline to reveal that that person really was not a true wheat, a true sheep, they were a tare, they were a goat. and they needed to be removed from the body and called to repentance to saving faith. It doesn't mean that we quit on them. We still call them to repentance, but our message changes as they may reveal that they are truly unsaved. They deconstruct. They deny the faith or become apostate. Now our message to them is one of a call to repentance and faith in Christ for their salvation. But to that true believer, we continue with patience to minister to them. The book of Jude in verse 23, just a few books away in Jude 1 chapter, verse 23, and of some, actually verse 22 of the book of Jude, and of some have compassion making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. I like the interpretation of this passage that sees three different groups of individuals. That sees a group that comes to Christ in a, can I say, a fairly easy way. They've been associated with the gospel, they have heard it from an early age, and they come to Christ with a simple act of compassion. They were a tender fruit ripe for the picking. But then there's others. that are only saved through fear. They have to go through some fearful, very hard circumstance to cause them to repent, to turn, to see their need for the Savior. And then there are some who get saved literally with their clothes, so to speak, as embers in the fire that are actually just, can I say, a heartbeat or two away from hell and their life is so corrupted and singed by hellfire and wickedness that they are literally, as you reach out to them, as they get saved, it's almost as if they have the smell of hell on their clothing. There are people in different areas, in different areas of need. Some that we reach are literally that close. And this is referring, I realize, in Jude 23 to the unsaved, but it just is a reminder to us of our need to evangelize and our need to not give up on sharing the gospel. Some are going to be ripe for the picking. Some are going to have to go through a hard time and circumstance to see their sin. Some are gonna have to literally be in a place of such wickedness, and they're gonna have to almost like see literal hellfire. They're in such a place of distress and wickedness and sin that it's gonna take something that dangerous for them to finally see, and it's like we are saving them out of the fire, like embers still burning, the coal's still burning. But all of that is to say that we are to have this burden, this passion, this desire to reach others with the gospel, to help our brothers and sisters in Christ who are wandering, who are erring, that we might see them converted, that we might see them get right with God, that they would gain victory over their sin, that they would become faithful to church and serve the Lord. And in doing so, what happens? They are saved from the error of their way. They're converted from the error of their way, and their soul is saved from death. I know there's an application to the unsaved, but in looking at verse 19, and those who do err in the reference to brethren, I believe the primary application is to those who are believers. who are wandering off, who are in some state of backsliding, who are in some area of carnality, and as they get right with God, as we continue to minister to them, and they confess their sins, and maybe they fix relationships, and they gain forgiveness, and they seek forgiveness, and God restores them, there is a hiding of a multitude of sins. There's a multitude of sins that they would have continued to go into and increase in, and they're saved from that. And it also speaks to forgiveness, that we can exercise that forgiveness. They can receive that forgiveness. They can receive the forgiveness of God, and they can accept God's forgiveness, and they can be restored. And those sins are blotted out and cast as far as the east is from the west into the depths of the sea. And there is hope. And there's the joy of a believer who was not right with God, now being brought into right fellowship with the Lord and being restored. And there's this covering up of the multitude of sins, speaking of forgiveness. Public sin involves public confession, private sin involves private confession. Public sin, public confession, private sin, private confession. It doesn't mean that a person who has maybe gone through some of the steps or all the steps of church discipline and gets right with God doesn't mean that we take them and we embarrass them in some way. That's not at all what 2 Corinthians talks about. When Paul says, restore that sinning brother who was in that immoral relationship with his stepmom, and he gets right with God, and he tells the Corinthian church, welcome back in. Welcome them back in. They've gotten right with God. That's the conversion of the sinner. Their soul has been saved from death. in the sense of a loss of reward, of entering into glory as a believer and not hearing, well done, thou good and faithful servant, of maybe going into heaven, as 1 Corinthians talks about, and only having wood, hay, and stubble, when there should be gold and silver and precious stones, and their wood, hay, and stubble at the fiery judgment of God, when the rewards are passed out, their wood, hay, and stubble is burned up, because they've not laid up treasure in heaven. There's very little fruits. that they have earned for the Lord because of their backslidden ways or their carnal ways. But we, as spiritual, as mature in the faith, as having gotten our own hearts right, as we've reached out to them that do err, that do wander, as we see them restored, as we have prayed for them and counseled them from the word of God, that multitude of sins, covered. Proverbs 10 and verse 12, possibly even a reference here. Proverbs 10 and verse 12, hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. 1 Peter 4 and verse 8, and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Do we love our brothers and sisters in Christ to reach out to a wandering one and to speak the truth to them in love and compassion to see them restored. If we do, we're showing true biblical love because 1 Corinthians 13 in verse number six says, love charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. May the Lord use us. to help one another, to strengthen one another, even as we confess our faults one to another and pray for one another, and maybe the Lord will use us to convert a sinner, to see them brought back into fellowship with the Lord, to see them restored, and to see them go on to serve the Lord in great and mighty ways to God's glory. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the book of James, your holy word, As James, by the inspiration of God, Lord, the power of your word addresses issues of the tongue, issues of the heart, issues of relationships, issues of prayer. Lord, may we take these truths and not just be hearers, but be doers of the word. Lord, give us opportunity to help others, to restore others, to see believers who may be wandering, Lord, get right with you and have victory in their life and to be effective servants for you once again. Lord, help us in doing that to examine ourselves and to be the mature and the spiritual types of believers that you desire us to be. Lord, we know that you are doing a work, that Lord, all who are truly born again, that Lord, you have begun a good work in them and will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. And we thank you for that truth. Lord, I pray that you'll bless in this closing hymn and continue to speak to our hearts and finger your truth into our hearts that we might go out from here and apply these truths to love you more and to serve you better. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Jake is gonna come and lead us in our closing hymn, 404. 404, if we'll stand to our feet and find 404, I am thine, O Lord. We'll sing stanza number two. I ask that we pay careful attention to these words in stanza two. And if God is speaking to your heart, you can do business with the Lord even as we sing. If we can help you in some way after the service, please let us know. Jake's gonna come now and lead us in this song.