Faith and Works (James 2:14-26) // March 7, 2021

[Music] thank you for joining us for our online gathering at hope church in las vegas nevada we exist to connect people to live the life of a jesus follower we're honored that you are tuning in we hope you enjoy this service hey hope church family my name is jasmine and i wanted to thank you for taking the time to watch our online worship service today at hope church we exist to connect people to live the life of a jesus follower if this happens to be your first time joining us we want to get to know you better go ahead and text you to hope to 94090 after you hit send you'll get an immediate response from our team with the link to a short form for you to fill out now here are a few things we want you to know about if you're unable to catch our sermons live or on youtube you can tune in on the go hope church has a podcast we post sermons weekly to our channel and right now you can listen to new or previous ones by searching hope church lv on apple podcast spotify google podcast or wherever you listen make sure to subscribe and give us five stars by rating our podcast you make it easier for others to discover us lastly are you following us on social media if you have your phone close by go to instagram and facebook and give us a follow by searching hope to reach lv that's right i'm asking you to take out your phone during church throughout the week when you come across our content like share comment or dm us we want to hear from you well that's all i've got so let's continue with our gather time hey hope family come on put your hands together we've come to worship the lord [Music] [Music] amen [Music] he's coming on the clouds kings and kingdoms will bow down has broken hearts declare his praise [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh who can stop the [Music] stop the lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] who can stop the lord [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes my heart hangs with every word that you speak i need you lord come find me holy spirit i've been walking through deserts i need more of your presence i'm weak save your be my strength [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] of your me your grace [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is is is [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'll remember hallelujah each week as a church we worship god together in numerous ways we've already spent some time today worshiping god through music and in just a few moments we are going to worship god through praying together and studying his word but right now we are going to worship god by honoring him with our resources in proverbs chapter 3 the bible says honor the lord with your wealth and from the first of all your produce from that verse we discovered that as followers of jesus we are to give first to the lord out of every source of income we believe as we place god's kingdom as our first priority in everything he will faithfully meet every need that we have so i want to encourage you on this first weekend of the month to give first to the lord by investing financially through hope church for the sake of mission there are multiple ways you can give and you can see several of those ways on the screen [Music] church family thank you for living generously to sharing god's mission in las vegas the west and the world at hope church we value the opportunity we have to pray so in each of our gatherings we set aside time to pray together so let's continue our service today by praying as a church family psalm 90 14 says this satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love o lord so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives let's pray together god we thank you so much that we can go come to you to be satisfied that we thank you that you desire to satisfy us every morning and god we sing for joy thanking you for all that you've given us and so god we pray that as you continue to minister to us during this time god that we would continue to worship you and god that we would be challenged today by your word god that we would be challenged today to sing songs of joy to you and so god we thank you for the opportunity you give us to worship you as a church family we love you we pray these things in jesus name amen [Music] just repeat this after me say everything everything your [Music] you're everything to me [Music] you're everything to me [Music] you're everything to [Music] you're my joy [Music] you're everything to me [Music] ruler and you're my shelter [Applause] is yes you are [Music] you're [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] say it again you're everything to me you're everything to me you're my hope you're my peace you're my joy i love you [Music] tell the jesus lift your voice lift your hands to it lift your hearts to him say your everything to me say you're wrong [Music] [Music] i can't go back to the beginning i can't control what tomorrow will bring but i know [Music] come on sing i'm not enough [Music] unless you come will you meet me here again it's all i want you are will you meet me here again would you lead us here as i walk now through the valley [Music] and your love rise above every fear [Music] your glory appears [Music] [Music] unless you come [Music] [Applause] [Music] unless you come will you meet me here [Music] you again here again [Music] [Applause] woah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] i'm not enough unless you come will you meet me here again cause all i want is all you are will you meet me here again [Music] come on sing i'm not enough i'm not enough unless you come will you meet me here again [Music] [Music] is [Music] there's nothing that compares to jesus there's nothing that compares to jesus we need you here with us we need you here [Music] was i forsaken [Music] away thanks hope creative before pastor vance continues us in our study through the book of james i'm going to pray for us so let's close our eyes and let's pray god we thank you for this time that we're able to worship you to experience your presence whether we're in person or online god we know that you're in the midst god meet us here in this moment open our hearts to your word open our ears to be receptive to what you have to say to us today through pastor vance god we know that you're with us and we know that you're listening to god i ask that you would help us to press into you in this time and it's in jesus name we pray amen if you are watching online this weekend you need to know that what we're just saying is for real the lord is in this place the lord is in this place [Applause] online is a cool thing that we've been able to use and it's great in times of necessity but i'm just telling you the church needs to be together and when the lord shows up and the church is together there is something special and powerful that happens wow i'm glad i was here tonight amen amen i want to begin by showing you some pictures of trees i know that just moved you deeply in this moment when god is moving in our midst but i want to give you a little bit of an agricultural quiz i'm going to put some pictures of some trees on the screen and when i put a picture of a tree on the screen i want you to immediately tell me what kind of tree it is okay it's gonna be obvious so just get ready you can just get ready to blurt it out loud all right so i'm gonna put some pictures up and when i do as soon as you see the picture of that tree you tell me what kind of tree it is here is the first tree what is this an orange tree very good you did awesome see not a trick question not hard i'm not throwing you a curveball it's real obvious there are oranges here right okay let me have the second tree here it is it's an apple tree it's an apple tree it's a little bit hard to tell with some of these but you could tell that's an apple tree when you really look at it right somebody said peach and that's i can see where you might guess that but it's an apple tree you can see all these apples here all right here's the third kind of tree look at this one what's this there you go that's a lemon tree as soon as you see it you know right so you're catching on you're doing great you're passing the quiz with flying colors here's the next kind what's this everybody was just breezing right along and looking at this one and then here's where this this is an apple tree okay just doesn't have any apples yet and i did that for a reason right how did you know what every one of these pictures represented how did you know what kind of tree it was you knew it by what by the fruit it was the fruit on the outside that revealed what kind of tree it was on the inside second question if the tree was dead would there be any fruit no as soon as you saw it you knew what kind of tree it was by the fruit that you saw as we continue our journey through the book of james we are going to discover that if our faith is alive and genuine it will spill out of our lives and be clearly evident by the fruit that we bear just like when you could look at those trees and immediately other people what james is about to teach us james is about to show us that other people should be able to look at our lives and immediately without hesitation say oh i'll tell you who that is that's a follower of jesus there is evidence on the outside of the faith that they profess to have on the inside now james is writing here and what james refers to or what we're talking about fruit james calls works james refers to this fruit as works that are demonstrated through our lives and in james's letter he's teaching about the relationship between faith and works if you have your bible open it to james chapter 2. if you're visiting with us we're studying straight through this new testament letter written by the half brother of jesus we come to the second half of chapter two this weekend and we're again going to read like last weekend when pastor brian was here a larger section of scripture because james is dealing with one idea in this large section of scripture it's the idea of the relationship between faith and works we're going to read 12 verses of scripture the word faith is referenced 13 times either in noun or verb form the word works is mentioned 11 times so these verses are dominated by the relationship between faith and works let's pick it up in verse 14. what use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith but has no works can that faith save him if a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them go in peace be warmed and be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body what use is that even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself but someone may well say you have faith and i have work show me your faith without the works and i will show you my faith by my works you believe that god is one you do well the demons also believe and shudder but are you willing to recognize you foolish fellow that faith without works is useless was not abraham our father justified by works when he offered up isaac his son on the altar you see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works faith was perfected and the scripture was fulfilled which says and abraham believed god and it was reckoned to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of god verse 24 you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone in the same way was not rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way for just as the body without the spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead james is talking to us if you hadn't picked up on it yet about faith and works and how they relate to one another and i want to unpack this these verses that we've just read this week and i want to unpack them with two truths and a question so we're going to look at two truths that james is teaching here and you got to understand james is teaching here not in contradiction to what paul has taught in the new testament about faith james is teaching and adding to what paul has been teaching us when we've read in other places of scripture all of scripture works together to teach us the whole counsel of god so we're going to look at two truths and then we're going to ask a very penetrating question towards the end if you're ready say amen truth number one faith alone saves say that out loud with me you ready one two three faith alone saves this is a major theme of the teaching of the apostle paul when you read in places like galatians when you read in the book of romans chapters 5 6-7 paul does a a major job of teaching on this subject that faith alone saves us this single truth here that we're talking about faith alone saving us is so important because it actually is what distinguishes the gospel from every other false gospel and every false religion and what james is doing here is not contradicting the truth that faith alone saves james is reinforcing the truth that faith alone saves r.c sproul is a writer that i enjoy reading listen to what r.c sproul said about this subject faith alone saves he said the doctrine of justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls the article that is so important luther said that if we lose it we lose christianity did you hear that if we lose this truth that faith alone saves martin luther the great reformer says we lose christianity if you don't have the doctrine of justification by faith alone you don't have the gospel and if you don't have the gospel the church has no reason to exist the way that we come to know god the way that we are saved is by faith and faith alone this single truth answers the deepest question of the human heart how can i know that i am right with god everybody in this room has been to more funerals than you ever wanted to go to in your life it's probably the worst part of my job being a pastor is you've i've wound up over the years 31 years of ministry i've been at hundreds and hundreds of funerals i've been in those moments at bedsides when somebody took their last breath i've seen people die leave this life physically a few weeks ago a couple weeks ago i had the the opportunity to preach a funeral for a family in our fellowship whose little son that was 11 years old had died he'd been sick for some time and funerals are always difficult but they're even more difficult and challenging when it's a parent burying a child it's just not natural there's something unnatural about that but if you've ever been to a funeral if you've been to one recently you just know there's those moments and every funeral particularly when it's a little 11 year old child when you sit there and you just are face to face with the frailty and the brevity of life and i don't care who you are everybody in that moment facing death thinks about what happens after this life because you just realize in that moment it's quick man this life doesn't last long that question what happens after this life how do i know that i've been accepted by god when this life is over and the one who sits on the throne of the universe i stan how do i know that that i'm accepted by god here's the reality every major religion and every false gospel answers that question the same way and it's one word and here's the word do every false gospel every world religion you boil it down the question how do i know i'm right with god here's what they say you got to do something now the doing changes depending on which flavor of religion you've scooped into your bowl right i mean maybe it's the five pillars of islam maybe it's the seven sacraments of the catholic church maybe it's karma that is taught in eastern thought or maybe it's the moral code of conduct that is embraced by much of so-called american christianity but here's the way you answer the question in one of those world religions or in any false gospel if you want to know you are right with god when it's all over you got to make sure you do something and if you don't do all the right stuff and not do all the wrong stuff you can never know you're right with god but the gospel of jesus teaches the exact opposite the gospel of jesus answers this word this question with one word too you know what it is done done everything that needed to happen in order for you and i to be made right with god has already been done it's already finished listen it's really not good news if there's something you got to do think about that for a second i got myself in this mess if it's up to me to do the right things to get myself out of this mess that's not good news but the word gospel is a word that at its core it's a greek word that literally means good news and that's why when jesus died on the cross the last words jesus spoke on earth you know what they were it is finished it's done everything that needed to happen for you and i to be made right with god was finished when jesus died my friend david platt said it this way god loved us so much that he sent his son jesus christ get this to live the life we could not live and die the death we deserve to die christ took the wrath we rightly deserve and gave us the righteousness we cannot merit and the way we get in on it is simply by get this faith it's faith everything that needed to be done for you to be forgiven and to be accepted by god as his child jesus has already done and all you and i have to do is receive it by faith let me show it to you paul wrote this in ephesians chapter two look what he said in ephesians two verse eight he said four by say it out loud for by grace you know what grace is right that's done that that's god has grace is talking about the fact that god has already done everything grace is is getting what i don't deserve grace is god doing for me what i cannot do on my own for by grace you've been saved how through say it out loud and just in case you're not clear what point he's driving home here he says and that not of yourselves it is the what gift of god how do you get a gift you receive listen if you got to do something it stopped being a gift not as a result of say that word out loud the word works is a greek word that means something to be done something you have to do said it's all what god's already done by faith you simply receive it it has nothing to do with anything you're going to do so that just in case you wanted to you got no grounds for boasting here's what that means nobody ought to come strutting into church right we all got here the same way by the grace of god he did for us what we could not do on our own that's what james is doing here when james gives us the example of abraham james is quoting from the old testament book of genesis chapter 15. look at james chapter 2 verse 23 i'll put it back up here it says and abraham believed god and it was reckoned to him as what say it out loud righteousness two things happen in this verse two things the first one says abraham what believe that's the verb form of the noun faith in these verses same root word this is just it as a verb to express faith is to believe what did abraham do he believed what he believed he believed god you see there's one way to be saved from genesis to revelation in the bible and it's by faith some people have this mistaken idea that in the old testament the way people got saved was by keeping the law and in the new testament now people are saved by faith that's not true the bible says here abraham in the old testament he believed god now the difference is abraham believed looking forward he looked forward in faith based on the promise that god had made that he was going to send a messiah he was going to send someone into the world who is going to reconcile and redeem humanity back to god you and i today we're saved by faith looking backward not on a promise but on a person who came as the fulfillment of the promise but whether it's old testament or new testament it's by faith abraham believed god here's the second thing that happened and it was reckoned to him as righteousness the word reckoned it's not originally a spiritual word when a church word it was actually a math word it was an accounting term it means to credit something to someone's account the bible says abraham by faith trusted in the promise of god to send a messiah into the world and god did something to his account reckoned let me give you a definition of reckoning as it applies in the bible here it is look at it on the screen reckoning is the act of god whereby he credits christ's perfect righteousness to the sinner's account and declines declares the debt fully forgiven somebody should have shouted hearing that definition i'm going to read it one more time for you just so you get it reckoning is the act of god whereby he god credits christ's perfect righteousness to the whose account to the sinner's account and declares the debt done fully forgiven here's what that means when you came to god as a sinner having rebelled against god having stepped across his boundaries having rejected god's laws god's ways god's authority god's sovereignty when i when you when we came to god as a sinner and we threw ourselves on the grace and mercy of god god responded by crediting to our account the righteousness of christ himself here's what that means when god looks at your account right now you know what he sees done done let me show it to you in second corinthians chapter five paul said he made him god the father made him jesus god the son who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of god in him on the cross when jesus died he took all of your sin and all of my sin all of my unworthiness all of my unholiness every lustful thought every wrong word every angry response he took it all on the cross and on the cross jesus the one who lived the perfect life i could not live jesus offered his body as a substitute for my sin he took all the junk of my life on himself and he drank the full bowl of the judgment of god against sin and he died but he didn't stay dead he rose again as a testimony that god had accepted his sacrifice for our sin so that now you and i by faith can grab a hold of jesus and when we do what gets credited to us is the righteousness of christ himself here's what that means when you've been in heaven for ten thousand years you'll be no more righteous before god than you are right now because you can't get any more righteous than god himself and he already sees you clothed in the righteousness of christ you say why why would god do that this is the mind-blowing part because he loves you let that sink in for a minute god loves you faith alone saves there's a second truth the faith that saves is never alone the faith that saves is never alone that's what james is teaching us laying on the foundation of other scriptures that teach us justification by faith alone faith alone saves and there's actually a famous quote in christian history some say it's attributed to martin luther others say it's john calvin i'm just going to say it's james here's what it says it is faith alone that saves but the faith that saves is never alone three times in this passage james is emphasizing this truth i'm going to show you verse 14. what use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith but he has no works can that faith save him you see what he's saying how can somebody say oh i've got faith but there's no evidence there's no working out of that faith in their lives yes it is faith alone that saves but james is saying the faith that saves is never alone look at verse 17 even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself and then in verse 26 for just as the body without the spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead i said earlier this greek word works it's used three times in those verses i just read it's used eight other times in this passage of scripture the word works is a word that means something done works are the outward visible evidence of inward saving faith did you hear that works are the outward visible evidence of inward saving faith works do not earn our salvation did you hear that works do not earn our salvation what was the first truth faith alone saves works do not earn our salvation works give evidence of our salvation that has been received by grace through faith let me take you back to those famous verses by paul in ephesians 2. paul says for by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of god not as a result of works so that no one may boast the problem is a lot of christians stop reading right there and say i'm good but look what he says next for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for what good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them so what are these works well for sake of time what i want to do is boil it all down to its simplest form anything that the bible would call works good works the works from salvation any of those works you boil it down here's what they are the life of jesus in me being lived through me that's works faith alone saves by faith we receive the gift of salvation the gift of salvation means christ by his spirit comes to live in us what james is teaching is the christ who lives in us if our faith is genuine is now a christ who will live through us and it will be evidenced in the way we live our lives you think about any good work you boil it down here's what it is the life of jesus in me being lived through me now to make this as practical as i can i want to give you three defining statements about faith and works here's the first one it is through faith alone i have been saved now we've already unpacked this that was the whole first point of this message faith alone saves it is through faith alone that i have been saved read that out loud with me it is through faith alone that i have been saved here's the second statement being saved by faith means god is now changing me salvation is not a moment salvation is a movement it's a movement of god that begins in your life at the moment of faith and works in your life into eternity where god is at work conforming us to the image of jesus a faith that saves us is a faith that changes us as we begin to be conformed to the image of christ let me show it to you in second corinthians chapter 3. again paul writes here and he says but we all with unbelied face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the lord are being say it out loud do you hear that that the tents of that are being transformed is that finished or is it still happening still happening right r being it's it's present active it's continuous action now what was done is at the moment of salvation when i put my faith in christ positionally before god i am saved i'm as righteous before god as i'm ever going to be but before men before others he is working out in my life practically the righteousness that is mine positionally as i'm being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the lord the spirit that word transformed it's a greek word metamorpha oh we get an english word from it metamorphosis it describes an inward change that is outwardly visible here's the good news it's something that god's going to finish he said in philippians chapter 1 and verse 6 that that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of christ jesus he's going to finish what he started one day one day one day the stuff that we deal with right now we won't deal with anymore because he will finish what he started here's what that means salvation is not you and i working hard to change our lives salvation is god at work in us through our union with christ conforming us to his image and works are the outward visible evidence of the change that god is making in our lives and the point james is driving home is if there's no evidence the faith is not real it's not genuine it's not true so here's the third part the third statement i want to give you let's put the put them back up here it is through faith alone that i've been saved being saved by faith means god is now changing me now we're in a process we hadn't arrived yet amen don't look at them but they hadn't arrived yet we're in a process works are the change in me spilling out of me that allows others to know my faith is real when james said here in this text of scripture he refers to us being justified by works it's not a justified before god we've already been justified before god the moment we put our faith in christ the justification that james is talking about is a justification in front of my brothers and sisters in christ and the world that is watching my life the word justified means to show to be righteous i've been declared to be righteous by god and as i live out my faith the righteousness of christ in me is shown in and through my life now in one sense it's going to look very different in every one of our lives because think about it we're all at different places in the process amen i mean some of us are further along than others some of us just came to christ just getting started some have been walking with jesus for 10 20 30 40 50 60 years so we're at different places in the process so it's going to look different in one sense but in another sense there's going to be a sameness about it you know why because we're all being conformed into the same image we're different parts on the journey but here's what it's going to ultimately look like out of our love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness self-control what is that it's a nine-dimensional configuration of the person of jesus christ so it's different meaning i can't look at somebody else and think i've arrived because i'm further along than i am or look at somebody else and get all guilty about where i am because they're for the no we're all a different place in the process but man i ought to begin to smell something similar james gives us an example look back at verse 15. james says let me make this real practical if a brother or sister is without food or excuse me without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them go in peace now you got to know go in peace is a familiar jewish form of dismissal it's really a way to say have a nice day if you have a brother or sister in christ who's without clothing without food they're in need and your response is have a nice day and then he says be warmed be filled in the greek language those are either middle or passive verbs mean meaning it's either saying go warm and fill yourself that's the middle voice i'm a christian i've put my faith in jesus there's a brother or sister in need have a good day go fix it your go fix your own problems or in the passive voice it'd be find somebody else to do that for you this is what james says go in peace be warm be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body what use is that even so faith if it has no works is dead here's what james says listen the first the fir this is proven in the teaching of jesus in john 14 and 15. it's proven in the teaching of john in the epistle first john it's proven in the teaching of paul james here is proving the same thing the first obvious evidence that jesus has come to live inside of me is he begins to give me a love for my brothers and sisters in christ and if there is not a genuineness of love and a display now listen we're going to all be at different places in the process but james said if you can't hear a brother or sister in need and something inside of you is not moved or respond to that james said the faith you're professing is a dead faith let me say it another way it's not a saving faith the word dead means without life it means useless it means inoperative first john john writes the same thing first john chapter 3 verse 17 this is what he says but whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need listen we haven't even got to the part of how god's called us to reach the people that don't know jesus yet i'm just talking about how we relate to one another james and john are just drawing the circle real narrow right now it's just this just brothers and sisters in christ we're going to get deeper in this where you learn hey we got a whole world that we've been called to serve but john says whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him how does the love of god abide in him that's a rhetorical question that john is asking and here's the answer he's implying the love of god doesn't abide in him james goes on and gives us two examples abraham and rehab two very different stories two very different backgrounds what's the similarity here's the similarity both of them professed a faith that you could see in the lives that they lived faith alone saves the faith that saves is never alone so here's the question i'm closing with do you have saving faith james is addressing something that was happening in the church a lot of people in the early church were saying oh i believe i've put my faith in jesus and there was no evidence there was no change there was no christ in them being lived through them and james is challenging that listen if there's ever been a moment for the church in america to listen to the words of the book of james it is now a profession of faith with our lips that didn't evident in the lives that we live in the community and in the world that's watching james lands on a verse of scripture here in james chapter 2 verse 19 that i'll finish with and james tells us first of all that that faith that saves is not merely an intellectual faith look what he said you believe that god is one you do well so does every demon in hell intellectual faith is accepting a historical gene oh i believe jesus is god's son i believe jesus died on a cross i believe jesus rode from the rose from the dead i believe jesus is coming again i believe jesus is a miracle worker i believe all of that listen so does every demon in hell they intellectually know that to be they don't just believe it they know it to be true saving faith is not only not just intellectual it's not just emotional you believe that god is one you do well the demons also believe shall be the next friar the next phrase and say it out loud that's a greek word that literally describes the hair standing up on the back of your neck the demons not only intellectually accept who jesus is they have an emotional response to who jesus is [Music] the church is full in america of people who would give intellectual assent to who jesus is and even have their emotions stirred and fired up over who jesus is like every demon in hell but the faith that saves it's not just intellectual faith it's not just emotional faith it is faith that involves our intellect we need to know the truth about jesus and there is a heart response of this [Music] but the faith that saves is a volitional faith it's not just the mind it's not just the hardest the will it's a surrendering of the control of see that's what the demons didn't do they've never surrendered to jesus the difference in the intellectual and emotional is is when we get to that place of surrendering our lives to christ the 19th century there was a famous french acrobat he was known all over the world by a stage name stage name was blondin and blondin performed these feats of the world of acrobatism whatever you say it he he performed these feats all over the world and had he was acclaimed internationally and through newspapers in the 19th century he made an announcement that he was going to do the greatest feat he'd ever set out to accomplish he was going to take a tightrope and run it 1100 feet across niagara falls and after he took that tightrope around 1100 feet across niagara falls he was going with no harness no safety net no ropes he was going to walk across niagara falls on a tightrope when the announcement was made people showed up by the tens of thousands on both the canadian and american sides of niagara falls to watch blunden do this [Music] the type road was stretched out and he had a pole in his hand to balance and he began to walk i think we have a picture of it that they're going to pop up for you we can see it blondin began to walk across niagara falls took him 22 minutes the crowd literally held their breath nobody moved his blonde and one foot in front of the other just began to make his way across niagara falls 22 minutes it took him he got to the other side took the last step and on both sides the the crowds erupted in celebration and applause that blondin had completed this unbelievable feat but but he wasn't satisfied he he did it again and this time he pushed a wheelbarrow to the middle turned around and came back then he did it again he went back to the middle and he took a little skillet of some sort and he cooked an omelette and he ate an omelette sitting out over the middle of niagara falls and walked in and the crowds again just went crazy and celebrated then he took his manager and he put his manager on his back and he did it again a fourth time across niagara with his manager just said can you imagine all every step and when he got to the last step and he stepped up again the crowds just lost their minds and blondin turned to the crowds and he said how many of you believe that i can do that again and everyone began to cheer we believe we believe emotionally they'd been moved and they'd been stirred and blondin looked back at the crowd and he said okay i need one of you to get on [Music] and nobody [Music] you believe in jesus i believe i believe believe he's god's son i believe you believe he died on the cross i believe do you believe he rose again from the dead i believe [Music] do you believe he's the only way to save i am to be saved i believe that here's what jesus says then get on because here's the deal man when you get on you give up control [Music] wherever blondin stepped that guy on his back he was he was in at that point right he'd surrendered that is saving faith saving faith is a surrender of the control of my life to jesus that then begins to be evidence through my life by the works and that's what james teaches us about the relationship between faith and works here's the question for you today do you have saving faith what incredible message from pastor vance about being reminded that faith alone saves but but that kind of faith is never alone and so we have the opportunity to respond before our final song i want to invite you to be a part of this next moment because we believe that god is working the bible tells us that as we draw near to him that he will draw near to us and we believe that god is speaking even now and i don't know if you've ever thought about this but it's not by accident that you are online hearing this message there's purpose and he is wanting to draw near to you but it doesn't just stop there he wants to draw near to you because he chose you because he loves you and because he wants a relationship with you you see no matter what you've done or where you've been or even what mistakes you've made god wants a personal relationship with you but we fall short so many times we make so many mistakes and it creates this distance between us and god but the bible says in romans 3 23 that all have sinned and fall short of god's standards you see the harsh reality is that we come into this world broken and left to ourselves we can't fix anything but here's the good news even though we didn't deserve it even though we can't earn it even though we don't feel worthy of it god made a way through his son jesus christ have a life-changing relationship with god you see jesus stepped out of heaven and onto earth and he chose you and he wants a relationship with you but we've got to be willing to choose him back you know the truth is you know no matter what we've done he wants to invite us into a personal relationship with him you know he lived a perfect life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin once and for all and three days later he was raised from the dead and because he lives now we have the chance to live through him romans 10 13 tells us that whoever calls upon the name of the lord will be saved that means right here right now where you are today if you desire to be in a relationship with jesus you can do that right now and so i want to invite you wherever you are today cry out to jesus to accept his grace into your life and to believe that he came and lived and died on your behalf and confess that you've tried to do this on your own but you can and ask for his forgiveness to surrender your life to him that is when you discover real life now if you cried out to jesus and you began this relationship with him we want to walk with you you're now a part of this family the family of god and we were never meant to do this christian life alone so if you gave your life to christ we want you to take your phone and go and text jesus follower to 94090 and we're going to have some people walk with you pray with you and answer any and all questions for you or maybe you just need prayer so if you need prayer you can text that same number 94090 and set right pray for me and we'll have people that are gonna be praying for you every day over this next week we're so grateful that you're listening and we believe that god is doing a good work through you thank you so much for being a part of this moment [Music] that is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is or two and all the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] [Laughter] [Music] will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones [Applause] our hearts will cry these bones [Music] is [Applause] in our lives [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] are you [Music] [Music] lord great are you lord [Music] great are you thanks again for watching our online service today if you want to join us in person on thursday nights at 6 30 p.m or sunday mornings at 8 30 a.m or 10 30 a.m you can reserve your seat at hopechurchlv.com we hope to see you soon have a great [Music] week

Channel: Hope Church LV

Views: 960

Rating: 4.7647057 out of 5

Keywords: hopechurchlv, hope church, hope church lv, church

Id: MX9d7D4SV34

Length: 79min 35sec (4775 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021