Well, every week it's a great joy to have some time with you and the Word of God as we listen to a spirit speak through these ancient words, the text of Scripture. And I invite you to take your copy of Scripture this morning and join me in James 1. The epistle of James in chapter 1. And as you're turning there, I just want to share with you some interesting things. I looked up this week of research done earlier this year. Do you know that the number of email users worldwide right now is 3.7 billion, half the population of the earth? And the amount of emails sent every day this year is gonna be right around 269 billion emails. And it's interesting that 2.4 million emails are sent every second. And that means this, that 74 trillion, with a T, emails are sent this year. You say, yeah, I feel like I get most of them in a junk mail folder, right? You feel like it some days. The average office worker receives 121 emails a day. And you know what percentage of emails are spam? 49.7%. I found that interesting. And you know what the top country in the world where spam emails are generated from? Right here in the good old U.S. of A. And the open rate for emails in our country is right at 30%. And the average open of political emails is 22%. The top day for email volume in the world, Cyber Monday, after Thanksgiving. And the company that sends the most emails per year, you've heard of it, you ever hear of Groupon? They get the award for that one. The most effective day of the week to send an email when someone will open it is on a Saturday. And the least effective day of the week to send an email that someone will open is on a Friday. Interesting stuff, email. Sometimes the most stressful moment in your day and the most stressful moment in my day is knowing which emails to open, which emails to read and respond to, and which emails that you just send immediately to a shallow delete grave on your computer. And it's not just the same like that for, it's not just email, it's like that, but also things that come in the United States Postal Service mail system. If you're like me or if you're like our Secretary Carolyn or Dave, in any given week, we get mail and it's addressed to us. Sure, it comes to our credenza or our desk, but we immediately look where? We look to the upper left-hand corner to see who is it from. And then we decide whether we're going to file away in a trash or continue to open it. You have open on your lap right now a letter. You have, if your Bible is open to James chapter 1, you have mail right on your lap right now. And this letter, this mail, is extremely unique and it is fully worthy of your most intense attention. I believe that as a pastor, and I am committing to preaching over 20 messages from this letter, this piece of mail that we call the Epistle of James. And as we stare at these five chapters open in front of us, which take four pages in my copy of Scripture, I want to give you some interesting information about it. As you look at this letter open on your map, you are probably looking at the earliest New Testament book. It barely nudges out Galatians as the oldest part of the New Testament. It was written in the mid to late 40s AD. And we know this from the pages of Scripture and Acts, as well as what's mentioned and what's not mentioned in this epistle of James. We know that this letter was written after the persecution of the early church had started in Jerusalem, but it was prior to the Jerusalem Council. We know that because James makes no mention of that council, which we see in Acts chapter 15. And we also know that James played such a key part in that council and in the actual crafting of the conclusion of that council, that it would have been mentioned here. So this piece of mail was written after the persecution started in Acts chapter 8, and most likely the persecution of Acts 11 and 12, but prior to Acts chapter 15. But you have the oldest piece of New Testament mail on your lap right now. I find it interesting that as we are going to study this letter from James, we're going to see that James will have his readers look back to the Old Testament 40 times, 40 times in only five chapters. That's significant. As a matter of fact, as we read through these five chapters and study them, a line and a paragraph at a time, we're going to see that James gives no less than 20 salutes or references to the Sermon on the Mount that you have in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. 20 salutes. It's as if he knew that sermon really well. And that's significant. We'll come back to that. If you're an outdoorsman, you're going to love James. You're going to love James. No matter how many times you've read through this epistle, you're going to see him reaching over 30 times with illustrations to the world of nature. He's going to refer to hunting and fishing terms. He's going to talk about the great outdoors. He's going to talk about the woods. He's going to talk about the weather and the elements and surviving out there in the elements. He's going to talk about wild animals. He's going to talk about maritime activity, stuff going on in the ocean. I mean, he's an outdoorsman that indeed many of you will be able to relate to. When he needed an illustration, he reached to the outdoors. It's interesting too, as you've studied the epistle of James in the past, or maybe just you've read through it a few times, or maybe never. You'll understand why, though, as you get familiar with it, that many people refer to James as the New Testament book of Proverbs. His writing rings with the familiarity of Jewish poetry and wisdom literature, and I don't mind someone referring to James as the New Testament book of Proverbs. But I do want to caution you. If you read James just like you do the Old Testament book of Proverbs, you can be tempted to do what you do in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and that's land down, grab a verse, and then run. Because Proverbs is filled with verses or sections of verses that carry one idea. They function as an independent unit, even within a chapter. And you might be able to take an independent unit out of Proverbs and run and have the piece of wisdom that you need. But don't take units of thought from James and run away from the context of James. Look at it this way. A good illustration is this. If you wanted to give as a gift, or let's say, ladies, you received as a gift a nice black felt jewelry box. And when you opened the black felt jewelry box, you had a string of beautiful white pearls in there. Look at that string of pearls, that pearl necklace, as the book of James. If that box contained the Old Testament book of Proverbs, it would be a black felt box and you open it up and it's filled with pearls but they're disconnected. Not James though. When you open the box and you see the pearls and you reach for one of the pearls, as you pull it out, all the others follow. There is an important flow of thought that connects every part of James letter to what preceded it and what's coming next. I don't mind calling it the New Testament book of Proverbs and that it does give us as New Testament Christians great wisdom, but it is all connected. Dr. Ron Blue of Dallas Theological Seminary writes these words, substance and authority of the prophets. That's what describes James. But not only does it have the substance and authority of the Old Testament prophets, it also has the style and beauty of the Psalms. It's all wrapped up for us in this, the first book recorded, the first letter recorded in the New Testament. And one more piece of information about James. As you study this epistle, just these five chapters, you'll understand that there are going to be 54 imperatives in the Greek, 54 commands in the book of James, only five chapters. Let me back that up and say it differently. There will be 59, or excuse me, 54 calls to action in only 108 verses. That averages out to about one call to action every other verse. Just by this data, just by these exegetical footnotes, if you will, we're already starting to sense what James is going to be writing about. We'll come back to that. You say, is all this information about James merely trivia? Is it really that important? And the answer, of course, is No, it's not just trivia. But yes, as we come to the front door of this epistle as a church family and expect to stay put for over 20 sermons, I'm arguing right now that this letter that's open on your lap, this piece of mail, must be studied by New Testament disciples. It must be approached with great urgency. You see, why is that? Well, I'll just put it to you this way. Look at the envelope. Just look at the envelope of this letter. Hold it up in your mind's eye, and this is how we're going to look at it this morning. We want to answer the question, why study it? And I want to suggest for you, number one, we study it because of the return address. Number two, we need to study it because of the recipients. And number three, we need to study it because of the weight. This envelope is just bulging. You want to open it. But first of all, why study it carefully? Why commit so much time to it as a church family? Number one, because of the return address. You look up in the upper left-hand corner of this envelope and you see verse one. James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings." Those first two lines are in the upper left-hand corner, namely that first word, James. James. This return address with the name of James on it is staggering. As a matter of fact, as I look through the pages of Scripture, particularly the Gospels and the book of Acts, I find out much about this man named James. Now, first of all, as you read Scripture, as you read the New Testament, you already know from the Gospels and Acts that we have no less than four James that we have to choose from. I read one author this week that says, no, there are six we need to choose from. I'm not going with his thought. I believe that the scriptures here give four clear James in the New Testament, and this is important because I'm going to learn four facts about this return address, four things about James. Number one, or letter A, you can't miss his identity. You can't miss it. You say there are four different James mentioned in the New Testament, show them to us. Okay, hold your finger here in James, and go back with me to Acts chapter 1. We could also go back to Matthew chapter 10 verse 3, but Acts chapter 1 will serve us for several points here, where we have a list of the apostles. a list of the apostles. And the first James I want to draw your attention to is the James that we call James the Less. He was the son of Alphaeus. Acts chapter 1 verse 13, And when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot and Judas the son of James." This is James the less, the son of Elpheus. We see him listed here. We see him on the list in Matthew chapter 10 verse 3. But he was one that we have very, very little data about. And after we have gotten past Acts chapter 2, we don't see him. any significant role, though he is significant and he is an apostle, we don't hear anything. We'll pick up some things in church tradition about him later, but so that argues against him being the James that wrote the epistle. Now stay with me. Did you notice another James in that verse in chapter 1 verse 13 as I read it? There are two Judas disciples, if you will. You have the one who betrayed Jesus, and by Acts he is dead. But there was another Judas. Look at the end of verse 13, Judas the son of James. So there's another James that shows up not only in Acts 1.13, but it's Luke chapter 6, verse 16. And whoever this James is, all we know is that he was the father of Judas, and not the Judas that betrayed Jesus. Are you confused yet? All that to say, we know that Judas's dad, James, didn't write this book. His name is just merely invoked to identify which Judas we're talking about, the good one or the bad one. So it's not the second James, it's not James the last, it's not James the father of Judas. Now we get to a better known James as the third possibility. And this is James, the brother of John, who was one of the sons of Zebedee. I want you to go with me back to Matthew chapter four to meet this one. Definitely more well known and within the ranks of the apostles. Matthew chapter four. Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, and I'll make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, watch this, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. This was a John that will become very well known in the Gospels. It will be a key witness to the resurrection of Christ as well. You say, well, this has to be the James who's writing, James, the son of Zebedee, has to be the one who wrote the epistle. No, he can't be. He can't be because in Acts chapter 12, verse 2, he's the first martyr. He's not around to write this letter, this epistle that we call James. That just leaves one more James in the New Testament who has to be the author of this epistle. And it's James, the half-brother of Jesus. The half-brother of Jesus. I want you to meet James and get to know him in the Gospels here. Look at Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. I'm going to work you today as we get ready to dive into this epistle. Matthew chapter 13. It's an interesting scene that unfolds here. And I want you to follow along as I read verses 53 to 56. Matthew 13, 53 to 56. When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there and he came to his hometown, and began teaching them in their synagogues so that they were astonished. And he said, where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers, look at this, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Where did this man get all these things, all this wisdom? Now, as you know from your study of Scripture, and even when Pastor Graham taught through portions of Matthew's Gospel, when the writer lists out names with that specificity, they're listed out in a very prescribed order from the top down, if you will, or most significant to lesser significant, or many times, as I believe it is here, from oldest to youngest. from firstborn on down, if you will. And you have Jesus here, and when his siblings, if you will, children of Mary and Joseph are listed, James is listed first here. Not because he's older than Jesus, Jesus is already on the scene. But James then would be the secondborn. The secondborn in this family. You say that's significant? I do think it's significant, because you understand that Jesus' brothers rejected his claim to being Messiah. They grew up with him for 30 years, so to speak, before he hit the road with ministry. And even though he was perfect, that might not have been something that rubbed them the right way growing up with him. And perhaps his virtue and righteousness came across as a challenge and a rebuke to his siblings. We don't know what happened, but we do know that they rejected him to be anything more than their big brother. In Mark 3.20, it says, And he came home, and the crowd gathered again to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. And verse 21 says, When his own people And when it says his own people, it's not the Jews, it's his own kin. Heard of this, they went out to take custody of him for they were saying he has lost his senses. And then I see again in verse 31, his mother and his brothers arrived and were standing outside and they sent word to him and called to him. I don't know what's going on here except for the fact that his siblings are not accepting him as the Son of God. In Mark chapter 6 verse 4, Jesus said this, a prophet, this is when he's in Nazareth, his hometown where he grew up, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household. Jesus himself was aware that his brothers and siblings did not accept him, did not believe in him. And he quotes that text from the Old Testament, indicting his own siblings. He's very much aware of their lack of faith. And then I read this in John chapter 7 verse 5, it just comes right out and says this, listen, not even his brothers were believing in him. So this James, who was the oldest sibling, is not believing in his older brother Jesus. You say, why is that? Why is James being all hard on his older brother like this? Well, I mean, just think about it from a human perspective. We know Joseph was a carpenter, and we know up until Jesus left to go on the road for the three years of ministry, we know that he had carpentry skills, and very well, if Joseph may have passed away at an early age, Jesus would have been known as the carpenter, the local carpenter. And he kept the family business going. Well, at the prime, at the height of his strength, if he leaves home at around the age of 30, who suddenly does the responsibility for the home business and providing for the home, on whose shoulders does that suddenly fall? The next oldest, who would that be? James. Could it be that he was embittered against his older brother, Jesus, for leaving home, and now James basically had to say, thanks for letting me pull a double shift. You go on the road with your disciples, and you give your teaching, and I'm even going to come for you one day saying you're going mad with these multitudes. James was embittered. And he rejected his brother's teaching, though he listened, though he listened. You say, well, that doesn't sound like a good story. It doesn't end there. I do want you to go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. You know this to be the resurrection chapter, an amazing chapter. And Paul's talking about the simplicity yet profundity of his message of the resurrection. And look at verse three with me. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Now watch this. And that he appeared to Cephas, Peter, I find that interesting. Peter rejected him, and he's the first one that got to see the resurrected Christ. And we know Peter was at his home, because he went there after the empty tomb. He appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve." Now keep watching. After that, he appeared to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. And then here we are, verse 7. Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles again. What was that meeting like? This older brother, who have maybe spent a good portion of his life up to that point bitter at Jesus. An older brother, or his younger brother, reacting against his older brother, Jesus, and rejecting his claims to deity, rejecting his teaching, though listening to it, and even trying to rescue him once, thinking that he'd gone mad. This little brother of Jesus, named James, Christ came for after his resurrection. And he appeared to his little brother that had been rejecting him. His brother was well aware that Jesus had been killed on the cross and buried. He was aware of that. Yet he's in my room right now. He's very much alive. This is my older brother. I know him. And many point to this meeting in 1 Corinthians 15 as the time when James believed. He believed his brother. He's standing in front of him, gloriously resurrected from the dead, gloriously alive. I find it interesting that in Acts chapter 1, you don't need to turn here, just listen, Acts chapter 1 verse 14, when we have the disciples in the upper room, Verse 13, when they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. Verse 14, these all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. You know, it's as if there was in the upper room a knock at the door after the disciples were there. And it was Christ's brothers, James doing the knocking. And those disciples let him in. He's one of us. He believes in his son. By the way, you know what will happen with this group in the upper room. They will eventually be filled with the Spirit of Christ, and the day of Pentecost will happen. I wonder if you're James, what's it like to suddenly, listen, be filled with your brother? James would never be the same. He'll never be the same. And by the way, let me just take a moment and say to you, brothers and sisters and guests, that Christ works such a transforming work in lives every single day. Maybe if I didn't use the word James, you are thinking that I could have been using your name this morning. You know about Jesus. You're aware of His teaching and may have even given His teaching a lot of attention But to accept Him as Savior and Lord, no, that's too simplistic. No, I watched my parents do that, maybe imperfectly. Not for me. But there could be person after person in a room like this that would stand and say, that's my testimony too. But then the Lord mercifully opened my eyes, not just to see my sinfulness, but to see the fact that He is God. And His Word is truth. And I've embraced Him by faith. And He comes rushing into my life, fills me with Himself, and transforms me. And I get it when Paul writes, if any man's in Christ, he's a new creature. Person after person in here could stand and give that testimony. And I say to you, if you're still holding Christ and His teaching at arm's length, guess what? He's coming for you. And we're praying and others are praying that He will wonderfully open your eyes so that you too believe, even this morning. We're just at the upper left-hand corner of the envelope, and we can't miss His identity. This is His little brother who was marvelously transformed. So number one, you can't miss his identity. Number two, you can't miss his humility. You really can't miss his humility. I mean, I'll just read his resume to you a little bit. In Acts chapter 12, verse 17, Peter needs a replacement at Jerusalem. Guess who the church reaches for? James. In Acts chapter 15, verse 13, Paul comes to present What's going on on the road as far as the gospel and the problem with the Judaizers that's out there, even in Galatia, in the area of Galatia? And they have what's called the Jerusalem Council. And Paul and Peter and others are involved in this council, but at the end of the council, when it's decision time, every mouth closes and every eye turns, and who do they fasten their attention to for the verdict? James. As a matter of fact, this is another argument for his authorship. Because this James, who is now the leader of the church in Jerusalem, the Greek in his response in Acts chapter 15 is extremely similar to the style of Greek that we have throughout the epistle of James. Same guy. By the way, in Galatians chapter 1 verses 18 and chapter 2 verse 9, when Paul comes to Christ, who does he end up meeting with? James in Jerusalem. I mean, you can't miss his humility. This is a guy that Peter and Paul and the apostles and now several thousand in Jerusalem of believers, he's their leader. So how could he have introduced himself at the beginning of this epistle? He could have said, hi, I'm James, and I know there's a few of us out there, but I'm James, the son of Mary. Is that what he does? No. He could have said, okay, hi, I'm James, and I'm the little brother but the oldest sibling of Jesus of Nazareth. Is that what he says? He doesn't do that. He says, hello, he could have said, hello, I'm James, you know the big church, the first one ever at Jerusalem? They ended up putting me in charge. Is that what he does? No. What does he say? James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't miss his humility. A.W. Tozer, and I put this on your note page, said this about humility. Because Christ Jesus came to the world clothed in humility, he will always be found among those who are clothed with humility. He will be found among the humble people. This is why the New Testament teaches us, and we remind each other, never forget your story. Never forget that before Jesus intruded into your life with faith and repentance, before any of that happened, you were lost, you were blind, you were ignorant, You couldn't see past just the horizon of your culture and your experiences and even what you saw you were blind to. Yet Christ in his mercy intersected your life with the gospel and rescued you and justified you and made you his own. The more you remember your story, the more you will always live in humility. I can't miss his identity. I can't miss his humility. But thirdly, I can't miss his intensity. I can't miss his intensity. It says, James, verse 1, a bondservant of God. A bondservant, as the New American Standard translates it. It's the word doulos, and I know people are try their hardest to dance around this world in a cultural sensitivity, but it literally means, and we have to think of it in this time, it means that I am the servant of a master. I belong to a master. That is not an insult. James says, it's a privilege. I have a Lord. He has amazing intensity. You see, how intense is James? Well, the church historian, Hegesippius, I think is how you pronounce it, he referred to this James as James the Just. Why? Because, according to this church historian, he was known for his intense seasons of prayer. He was known for his very gracious yet a resolved personal godliness. And he was known for his love of God's Word, which, of course, all he had then was the Old Testament text. As a matter of fact, another authority in church history says that James eventually was given a nickname by the early church, and his nickname was Camel Knees. How would you like to have that nickname, ladies? Camel Knees. You say, why? Because his knees were so callous Because of the hours he spent every day on them in prayer. Camel Knees. About 16 years after he writes this epistle, this James, James the Just, James the little brother of Jesus, Camel Knees, he will be martyred. Because the rejecting Jews will so be put off by not only his personal godliness, but also for how he prayed so intensely for the ones who were persecuting him. And according to church history, they could handle it no more, and so he was thrown off of a high point of the temple there at Jerusalem. Thrown to his death as a martyr. Problem is, the fall didn't kill him all the way. And church historians tell us that the crowd, still in a rage after throwing him off the temple, rushed down to where his body was, where there was a little bit of life still, and they beat it out of him with clubs. One eyewitness records that it was like they were trying to wring out a garment. They were so enraged by his godliness. But James had no regrets. Why? He's with his brother again. No regrets. I find it interesting that there's another brother of Christ who will write a letter in the New Testament. You know who that is, right? Jude. Jude is a little brother of Christ, too, who came to faith. And I love how Jude, with a humility, addresses his letter. Jude 1, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. You can't miss the identity, or the humility, or the intensity, but you also can't miss his theology, the theology. Look again at verse one, James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see what he's doing there, right? He's taking God, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is ascribing an intense loyalty to both. not God and then Jesus, to both. One scholar says, James could not thus style himself as the slave of two in heaven unless they were co-equal and co-eternal. And I agree with that. And he uses his big brother's full name. The Lord, that means he's the sovereign owner. Jesus, that means he's his personal Savior. And Christ means he's the promised Messiah. Let this blow a fuse. He's talking about his big brother, saying my loyalty is to God and him, one and the same. Wow, what a conversion. I guess he got over doing his chores and holding the family business together, right? That's just the upper corner. But there's a second reason that we need to study this. Number two, because of the recipient. This will just take a moment, but look at the second half of this verse one. To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings. Greetings. I get two hints as to who he's writing to, just by those two lines, two hints. First of all, I see a very specific identity. He refers to what's the quote-unquote 12 tribes. And this phrase 12 tribes is a technical term for the descendants of Israel in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. He's writing to Jews, but not just Jews. He's writing to Christian Jews, believing Jews. As a matter of fact, a very important key to this epistle is the fact that he uses the phrase or the word brethren 15 times in this letter. He's writing to Jewish Christians. He's not writing to unsaved Jews. I know that also because of the wording of some of the portions here. For example, chapter 1, verse 18, in the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth. That's speaking of conversion. Chapter 2, verse 1, My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. His faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ is talking about converted people. In chapter 2, verse 7, do they not blaspheme? Look at this, the fair name by which you have been called. Over and over you're going to see phrases like this. And he's writing to Jews who are Christians. Now the unsaved are listening in, they always do, but his primary audience is is the Jew who's believed in Christ. You say, well, OK, let's talk about that Jewish readership. Does that mean that those who are covenant theologians are right? Or does it mean that what he's writing to Jewish Christians aren't relevant to us as Gentile Christians? And the answer to that is, it is relevant to us. And I'm not put off by the fact that he's writing to Jews. Why? Well, understand, if this is written in the mid-40s, even as early as 44 AD, the church at that point was primarily Jewish. Cornelius hadn't been converted yet. Paul hadn't taken his ministry to the Gentiles yet. or it was happening around the same time. But what you have by the middle of the 40s is you have a congregation that God had saved and the apostles had organized who were being ministered to and preached to and nourished by the apostles and by James. This epistle was probably even written before Paul's first missionary journey. I have no problem with this being written to Jews. It doesn't say to me, hands off, Jim, you Gentile. The first layer of the church was Jewish. It's okay. It's okay. But I see a traumatic event here too. It says in verse 2, or verse 1, to the 12 tribes who are, look at this, dispersed abroad. What does dispersed abroad mean? Well, these Jewish Christians had been scattered. And James is using another technical term, diaspora. It just means a scattering, a scattering. And it was used of the Jews when they were scattered outside of their land of Israel. into the realm of the Gentiles. It's only used two other times in the entire New Testament. It's used in John 7.25 when Jesus says, you're going to look for me and you're not going to find me. And the Jews are like, where's he going to go? To the dispersion? To the Jews that live in Gentile lands? And you also see it in 1 Peter 1.1. And then here, that's it. It's a technical term talking about Jews who have fled forcefully to Gentile territories. In the Old Testament, they fled after the conquest or they were relocated to after the conquest of Assyria and Babylon and eventually Rome. But that's not the dispersion that he's talking about here. You see in Acts chapter 12, under Herod Agrippa I, who was persecuting these Jewish Christians, there's a persecution in Acts 11 and 12 that sent the church outside of the Jewish territories to where there are Jews and Gentiles and just Gentiles as well. This is a traumatic event. What this means is that the congregation that James loved was scattered. They were scared. And he personally knows these recipients, and he's writing a personal letter, not a blog. He's writing a very personal letter. And that brings me to the third and final reason why we need to study it, not just because of who it's from and who it's written to, but thirdly, because of the weight. If this letter is an envelope, it's bulging. It's bulging. This letter that's on your lap is a personal letter to Jewish Christians from their pastor. They have been scattered from Jerusalem, some believe, less than five years. And he's hearing what's happening to them out there. If persecution got them to move out of Jerusalem, they have now landed into worse persecution. And now they're starting to unravel themselves. And being persecuted, now they're becoming angry at each other. And the whole thing is unraveling. And Pastor James is greatly burdened. So what he does is he takes his pen, and he allows his pen to serve as a pulpit. And he communicates to his old friends, his flock, with the same intensity as if he was preaching to them. And he tells them what's coming. And what's coming in this epistle just hollers to us to jump in. For example, James is going to say in chapter 1 verses 2 through 8 that when the heat of trials is turned up, a true believer will embrace the opportunity for spiritual maturity. In chapter 1 verses 9 through 18, when the trials come, a true believer will stay the course under God's sovereignty. Thirdly, in chapter 1 verses 19-25, a true believer will reject the temptation towards bitter reaction. They will guard the practice of brotherly love in chapters 1 and 2. They will bring the tongue under the Spirit's control when times are tough. Chapter 3 verses 1-12. A true Christian will topple the idols behind interpersonal strife. Chapter 3.13-4.12. A true Christian will nurture the mindset of life's brevity, chapter 4, verses 13-17. A true Christian, when they're getting hammered, will grasp the hope from the Scriptures, chapter 5, 7-11. They will develop a burden for their persecutor's destiny, chapter 5, 1-6. And they will posture the mind for selfless ministry, even when they're getting hammered. This is what's coming in this epistle. Makes you want to rip open the envelope right now. You say, well, do we have good reason to study this as a church family for over 20 sermons? And the answer is yes. And our theme is going to be this little logo, this little slogan that says, you say it, let's see it. That's the theme of this letter. whether you are Jewish believers who are scattered and persecuted then, or whether you're a southeastern Michigan believer gathered and comfortable now, these truths are for you. These truths are for you, written from a loving pastor who has a tremendous testimony of going from rejecter of Christ to a messenger for Christ.