Bona Fide- A Study Of James- Part 10- "Herman- Who?" Series

Bona Fide

Part 10

A study of James- “kind of”

“ The truth , the whole truth and nothing but the truth”

As I was praying and preparing for this week’s sermon

I wanted to continue our sermon series on James

I believe the dots we are connecting are important for us

In becoming Bona Fide believers

And

I love doing book studies as well

You see

As I preach through a book of the bible

I have to preach what God has written in his word

This means I often have to preach messages that are hard

Messages that I would prefer to skirt

Messages that

Let’s get real here

You might prefer not to hear as well

I in no way ever want to be accused of being a tickle your ear preacher

Or hell fire and brimstone on the other end of the spectrum

I truly believe we have enough of those around already

And I also believe that they are doing and injustice to themselves

By not preaching all of God’s word as we are commanded to do

An Injustice to their listeners

By only talking about the love while completely ignoring the justice of God

Or completely embracing the justice while forgetting about the love

Both are important parts of his Word

And his character

And both are necessary for spiritual growth

True spiritual growth

Bonefideness is what we call that here at Caney Creek

I also believe in my heart they are doing an injustice to God himself

Sometimes by painting a picture of him as some sort of a genie in a bottle

Someone to call on when the water is hot

And the wheels are falling off your life, or when we want something

Or as a Harsh Father figure

Who is all about telling us what not to do?

Stealing our fun

Some like to say

-----Pause----

You have heard me stress

Many times the importance of in context

Preaching

Teaching and study of God’s word

It is vitally important that we use good

Hermeneutics when studying scripture

I know that’s a big word that is sometimes not often used in our daily vocabulary and some may not understand its meaning

What it means in simple terms

Is using a method to interpret and understand scripture

Let me put this in perspective

Would you

Take a book

Such as Lonesome dove

And open up to say page

106 and look half way down the page

Read a sentence

Or a part of a sentence

And believe that you could base your thoughts, opinions and understanding of that book on one small part of the book?

Would you think you knew enough about the book to write a report or tell someone about it

Kind of ridiculous – Right?

Unfortunately

That is how many in the world today

Try and interpret scripture

They open God’s word

Take a verse, sentence, partial sentence

Or even passage out of context

And base their personal opinions

Beliefs

Values

Morals

And doctrines

On that out of context information

Others in the world today

Lead many astray by applying this type of teaching to the sheep they have been called to lead

Sometimes purposefully ----other times out of ignorance

So today

I am going

To take a quick break from James

But I can tell you today’s teaching still stay with the Bona Fide theme

It is my desire today to show you

How to use scripture

And the dots we have been connecting throughout this study

To grow in maturity and knowledge

To grow in understanding

To grow in depth

And to grow in faith

------ Pause----

You see I believe

And I am not alone

In this thinking

That is it is God’s word that changes lives

I and other preachers ----and you when you witness are simply messengers of his word

The bible is unlike any other book ever written

Because it and it alone is a living breathing document

That speaks to the very heart of man- and women

To develop faith

And to help them take the necessary steps towards the righteousness

Or the Bona Fineness

That God desires

First let’s open God’s word to 2 Timothy 2:15

In this passage the

Apostle Paul is speaking to his protégée

Timothy

He has left Timothy behind to lead the church at Ephesus

And he is giving him

And us

In the process

Instructions on how to teach

How to lead in a way that others will follow

2 Timothy 2:15

15 Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.

Work hard means simply this

Open the word

And study