Restoring a Wanderer (James 5:19-20) // July 25, 2021

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're tuning in we hope you enjoy this service [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hey hope church family my name is carly 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 open up the hope church lv app or visit hopechurchlv.com and click connect with us and fill out a short digital connection card so we can do just that now here are a few things we want you to know about one of the best ways to stay connected and engaged at hope is through our mobile app you can download it today by searching hope church lv in your app store during today's gather time you can take notes during the sermon fill out a digital connection card request prayer and get more information about upcoming events then throughout the week you can use our app to get weekly updates watch or re-watch previous gather times and much more secondly are you following us on social media if you have your phone close by open up instagram or facebook and give us a follow by searching hope church lv throughout the week when you come across our content like share comment or direct message us if you have any questions that's what i've got let's continue with our gather time [Music] what's up tonight come on [Music] we're gonna sing about our god who is it's coming on the clouds kings and kingdoms will bow down every chain will break his broken hearts declare his praise but who can stop the lord almighty our god is [Music] his blood breaks to change [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on put your hands together [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] and [Music] who can stop the lord almighty who can stop the lord almighty who can stop the lord almighty who can stop the lord almighty who can stop the lord [Music] who can stop the [Music] can stop lord lord is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] somebody give god [Music] i know satan felt like lightning from you darkness runs for cover [Music] but the miracle that i just can't get over my name is registered in heaven hallelujah i believe in signs and wonders what about you i have a resurrection power [Music] still the miracle that i just can't get over my name is registered in heaven and my praise be lost to you forever come on let's sing it out this is my testimony this is my testimony this is my [Music] sons and testimonies but with blood and washed in water come on sing the praises of the spirit son and father our god this is [Music] this is my testimony this is my [Music] let's proclaim it together if i'm not dead you're not done cause greater things are still to come oh i believe if i'm not there you're not done [Music] [Applause] if i'm not dead you're not done oh i believe this is come on this is my testimony from dance to life cause grace rewrote my story i'll taste the pie this is my testimony this is my testimony this is [Music] [Music] as we continue our service we are going to worship god through a time of giving financially i definitely want to remind each of you that each week as we give to share in the mission of god together we are not giving to a church come on you know the line we are giving through a church as an investment in god's kingdom being expanded locally here in las vegas and globally your generosity through hope church is fueling ministry across the las vegas valley here planting churches in the west and to take the gospel to the nations all around the world church family thank you thank you for demonstrating your belief that what god is doing through hope church is bigger than us by the way you live generously so right now as an act of worship we're going to give to the lord and i know back in the day we used to pass the buckets and it would be a time to think about what we're giving and so even though we're not doing that as just we prepare to give now let's thank god for his ability to provide through us and for others so there are several ways that you can give whether you're online watching us today or you're on campus and so let's take a look at the screens now for the ways in which we can give [Music] well now it is time to pray together as a church family we want to continue in our heart of worship by praying together and so we want to pray and read from joel 2 12-13 yet even now declares the lord return to me with all your heart with fasting with weeping and with mourning and render your hearts and your garments return to the lord your god for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love with that scripture in mind let's pray together heavenly father in jesus name we thank you for the opportunity to be able to give to you today our financial resources in many ways that could be a way of returning to you putting first things first lord we want to return to you in these moments that we can pray together we want to return our hearts to you maybe our hearts have wandered this week we want to return our minds to you maybe our minds have not been thinking about you this week we want to return our devotion to you maybe we've been devoted to other things your word says that when we draw near to you you draw near to us and so before we continue on with our singing today lord in this time of prayer we draw near to you and as you and as we do that lord i pray that you would draw near to us we love you and we thank you for this opportunity to pray together as a church family in jesus name we pray [Music] amen your love sustaining me before i hear you brought me here to rest and given me space to breathe [Music] arms of a beautiful father [Music] who creep deep and know that he is good he's in love like no other thing you'll never leave [Music] you brought me here to rest and given me space giving me [Music] in the loving [Music] that arms is [Music] father [Music] he's your love is better than all the others [Music] kindness to me now i can see your love is [Music] kindness [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] oh he's is [Music] he's [Music] arms of a beautiful father hungry [Music] and know that he's good there is no one else for me [Music] none for jesus [Music] crucified to set me free now i live to bring in praise in the quiet in the stillness i know that you are kind in the secret of your presence i know there i am restored [Music] and when you call i won't refuse [Music] each new day how can how true and there is crucifies you set me free now i live to bring in praise [Music] [Music] you give me grace to do your will and when you call i won't devote oh [Music] [Music] [Music] there is no one else [Music] crucified to send me to bring [Music] [Applause] [Music] your is spirit oh [Music] forevermore [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Music] and there is no one else [Music] me free now what you live for now to bring here come on can't sing that one more time there is no one there is no [Music] crucified crucify to set [Music] [Laughter] i hope you enjoyed that worship as much as i did before we dive into the message let's just take a moment to pray together lord we just come before you and i thank you so much for all that you have taught us through the book of james the last few months i pray lord that you would speak through pastor travis today as he just closes it up for us that you would just confirm and seal in our hearts all that we've learned and we just thank you for your goodness in jesus name amen [Music] if you have a copy of god's word today would you meet me in james chapter 5. this weekend as a church family we are concluding our verse by verse study through this new testament book in just a moment we're going to look at james chapter 5 verses 19 and 20. this summer my family and i took some time to go on vacation and we decided to go to southern california and the community that we stayed in was very very small it was so small that we actually never had to get in the car and drive anywhere we actually walked everywhere that we went in this small community so when we wanted to go to the beach we walked when we went to a restaurant we walked when we went to the park we walked and it was awesome we were doing somewhere between fifteen thousand to twenty thousand steps per day and i thoroughly enjoyed it but every day i ran up against a challenge and it was the same challenge every single day as we navigated this island walking on sidewalks and crosswalks and on the beach and here was the challenge my children do not listen to anything that i say maybe you can relate maybe it's just me maybe i'm a bad father but my children do not listen to a single thing that comes out of my mouth i want to show you a picture of my kids this is them sitting on the front porch of the house that we rented there on vacation no is scarlett she's eight this is reagan she's six this is noel she was really excited in this picture she's two and then this is cadence she is four and they were a massive challenge for me as we walked all around this island and here's why because even though we walked everywhere there were still cars and traffic and traffic signals and crosswalks that we had to navigate and so every time we walked somewhere i was constantly watching my children when we would go across the street my wife char and i were holding their hand as we went to the park i would say okay you go to the stop sign and you stop and you wait for daddy as we're walking down a sidewalk when i see a car coming i would remind them the street is for cars the sidewalk is for people and this happened over and over and over literally every single day that we were on vacation here's what happened i had a responsibility to help direct my children away from the wrong path and toward the right path now it's one thing for me to tell you in kind of a funny way that when we would walk across the street my kids maybe took a couple steps off the paint of the crosswalk however as we're going to see in the book of james today it is something very different when a follower of jesus drifts or strays from the truth as we conclude our study through the book of james this weekend we're going to see that there is potential for jesus followers to drift away from god's plan and calling on their lives and we're going to see who has the responsibility to help bring them back to walking in step with god's good pleasing and perfect will so if you look with me in james chapter 5 it should not surprise us but james's conclusion of this letter is not a warm and fuzzy goodbye it's actually a bold call to action so look at these verses from james chapter five he begins by saying my brothers which reminds us who he's writing to he is writing to believers in the first century who are scattered he says my brothers and sisters if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins during our time today i want to ask and answer three very simple questions that will hopefully give us some clarity to be able to apply these verses from the book of james to our lives and here's the first question i want to ask and answer who is a wanderer the word wonder comes right out of our text in verse 19. verse 19 says if anyone among you one of the things i love about the greek language is the power of word pictures and as you look in the original language specifically at this concept of wandering here's the word picture it's the picture of a planet being in orbit according to its design it's the idea of a planet in orbit but the wandering comes in as if a planet in orbit according to its design begins to drift begins to wander in the wrong direction that's the picture here that we see in verse 19 so as we think about wandering and looking at this text i want us to think about it this way wandering is a gradual moving away from something wondering is a gradual drifting it's a gradual straying away from something well the natural question is okay what is it possible for god's people to wander away from well james continues his thought james finishes his thought by saying believers can wander away from the truth now this is describing a deviation from the life that god intends for us according to his word it is possible for a jesus follower to drift away to wander from the truth to go out of the design god has for us and to go in the wrong direction i love what tony evans says about this verse and his commentary he says there are these are the two options regression or progression there's no such thing as static christianity a christian cannot shift life into neutral or idle for a while you can move forward or you can slide backward if you're not moving forward you are automatically drifting backward now here's the part of this verse for me that's so challenging james says this can happen to anyone verse 19 says if anyone among you wanders from the truth so here's what that means it doesn't matter how long you've been going to church it doesn't matter how many decades you've been following jesus how much scripture you have memorized there is potential that anyone who follows jesus can drift away from the truth of god now before we continue to unpack this i think it's really important for me to share a spiritual reality that must guide the way we view this idea of wandering it's really important so i want you to lean in these verses in james 5 do not mean in any way that a child of god can walk away from a relationship with god god's people have an eternal relationship with him god gives us eternal life not life for a week not life for a month not life for a year not life for a decade god gives his people eternal life and nothing can ever change that i want to show you this in the scripture there are multiple places we could look at but i want you to see a few verses from john chapter 10 and these are actually the words of jesus he said my sheep or my people hear my voice and i know them and they follow me i give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all i love that and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand there are some people who look at this verse of scripture in james chapter 5 and question the eternal security of the believer but as we study this passage tonight i want us all to be on the same page that our salvation is secure for all eternity if you are a follower of jesus you are forgiven you are made right with god you are adopted into his family and nothing will ever change that as the people of god we've been reconciled to him in christ and we are secure what james is referring to are followers of jesus that for whatever reason drift or stray or roam away from walking in the truth and they pursue a different direction i love what john stott said in his commentary on the book of james he says james brings us within the local church talking about believers and urges us to watch for anyone who is losing grip on the truth and in whose way of life the error of sin is showing itself but here's what i know as i think about moments in my life when i've wondered and maybe you can relate with this it usually doesn't look like all-out immediate rebellion and that's not the word picture here in james chapter 5. it's subtle it's a slow drift it's a subtle roaming away so here's what i want to do to help us grasp this principle that we're studying here in james chapter 5 verse 19. i want to share with you kind of an overview of a progression of a wanderer if you and i are going to wonder from the truth how's it going to start and how is it going to progress and maybe even in this overview you would be able to sense from the spirit of god a place you are right now because you may be wandering from the truth i believe it starts here it starts with neglect if you you and i are going to wander from the truth as james is describing here it more than likely not always but more than likely is going to start with neglect which is taking your faith for granted and here's what that sounds like that sounds like i know i should spend time with god today maybe i'll do it tomorrow it looks like i love hope church but they'll be having services again next weekend it's not in opposition but it's not passionate and intentional it's just a nonchalant perspective on faith so if you and i are going to progress in wandering i believe in most cases not all it's going to start with neglect but it moves on to insensitivity and this is a this is a phase of viewing sin as not so sinful and in my life and as i've talked to different people and been in ministry now for almost 20 years here's what i've seen it's at this place when habits or appetites of the flesh either rise up in your life or come back in your life and i find myself in many cases justifying why what i'm wanting to do is okay and beginning to develop a hard-heartedness toward the voice of god so if there's a wondering if there's a progress to this thing it's more than likely going to start with neglect and then go to insensitivity and then it's going to become resistance which is ceasing to listen and grow it's ceasing to listen and grow and people wandering to this place take on a strong sense of arrogance here's an example they get a text message from someone in their group that says hey thinking about you today and praying you grow in your relationship with god but here's how that lands on a person who's resistant they think to themselves well who do they think they are they should know that i'm growing in my relationship with god there's a resistance because they don't want to hear truth that encourages them to grow and to learn here's here's another one that i think as we progress in wandering we we find ourselves in isolation this is a pulling away from relationships but it's subtle we neglect then we become insensitive then we resist and then we begin to isolate ourselves we don't want to be around anybody who's going to speak truth toward us and this arrogance that we had becomes stubbornness there's no desire to hear from others and it's at this place that fellowship with god and with god's family is usually broken there's a pulling away from fellowship notice i did not say relationship there's still a relationship with god there's still a relationship with god's family but the fellowship is broken and i want you to think for a moment pulling away from relationship with god and god's family the fellowship the intimacy the nearness that's exactly what the enemy wants he cannot take us out of god's hand he cannot disconnect us from god's family but we can have a break in fellowship and that's exactly what he desires to see happen and then finally this progresses to rebellion which is engaging in patterns of sin and people who wander to this point are deliberately disobedient in the face of truth and from conviction from the spirit of god and here's what the bible says for people who are here those who continue in an ongoing pattern of sin will experience the discipline of god because scripture tells us in the book of hebrews god disciplines those that he loves so this speaks to what james is describing as a wanderer it's someone who is subtly drifting or roaming away from the truth and i believe if we lay out a progression of wandering it looks something like this in most cases once again not always but it looks like neglect which becomes insensitivity which becomes resistance which becomes isolation which ultimately becomes rebellion and engaging in patterns of sin so that speaks to this question of who is a wanderer what does that look like i want to ask and answer a second question for us today and it's this who is a restorer so we look at this first question of what is a wanderer we see that word here in verse 19. well the second question i want to ask is who is a restorer if you notice in verse 19 there's a second person that is described in this verse my brothers if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back i want us to refer to the second person as a restorer god leads his people to be a part of restoring brothers and sisters in christ who have wandered away from the truth one of the aspects of faithfully following jesus is seeking to lovingly restore those people who have wandered away from the truth and i believe the ultimate desire of a restorer is to see a brother or sister in christ brought back into fellowship with god and fellowship with god's family to sit back when we see a brother or sister in christ that we love when we see them wandering to sit back and do nothing would be the equivalent of me on vacation watching one of my children go into the street where i know there is danger and me stepping back and saying that's none of my business you would look at me and think what's wrong with you that's not a healthy family well in the same way god's word tells us that as the church we are a family and we are called to care for one another and when one of us wanders god desires to use his family in order to restore brothers and sisters in christ back into fellowship with him and fellowship with his family so for us to really get our minds around this what i want to do for a few moments is i want to give you a few marks that should be a part of your approach if god leads you today to be a restorer for a brother or sister in christ who's wondering now this is not an exhaustive list but i felt like it brought some clarity to this principle just to list a few things a few characteristics that should be a part of our approach if god is going to use us to help restore a brother or a sister in christ who's wandering now i want to say a couple of things up front i believe the restoration process happens best in the context of relationships so these moments that we're going to talk about of approaching and seeing a brother or sister in christ repent and be restored to fellowship with god and his family happens best in relationships but listen it should never be attempted through technology which means the heart of a restorer should never include the word i'm gonna put that on facebook all right just so we're all on the same page i felt like we needed to lay that out so here are a couple things that i believe should be a mark of the heartbeat of a restorer first of all prayer prayer and here's the first part of this the first prayer is not for the person that may be on your heart the first prayer is looking at your own heart to say lord is there any part of my life that is wandering before i go to a brother or sister in christ to to share my heart with them is there anything that you want to do in me that maybe needs to be brought back in line with the truth but once you feel like you are right before god and your heart is right before god the best next step is to begin to pray for the person that god has put on your heart and there's a lot of things that you should pray but i want to share something with you that i believe is one of the greatest things you can pray the greatest thing you can pray for another follower of jesus is that they know the heart of god through the word of god and here's why i say that if you think through the progression of a wanderer from neglect to insensitivity to resistance to isolation to rebellion at some point probably at multiple points that wanderer has believed a lie and the way that we combat the lies of the enemy is with the truth of god which is the word of god so i believe as we think about going to a brother and sister in christ in order to restore them there's a lot of things that we should pray but i believe the greatest thing that we can pray is that that person ultimately would know the heart of god through the word of god so i believe we start with prayer here's another mark that i think is important as you think about restoring a brother or sister humility humility and i would say to you that if you are not prepared to approach your brother or sister in christ in humility your heart is not ready to talk to them and you should continue to pray and that's not just something i'm saying as an idea that's actually biblical look at this verse from galatians chapter six this is so powerful brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression if anyone is drifting wandering you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness that's humility it's approaching them knowing that potentially someday soon i could be sitting where you're sitting because all of us have the potential to drift from the truth so i think humility should characterize the way that we seek to restore a brother or sister in christ here's a here's a third characteristic that i think is important honesty obviously as we seek to restore a brother or sister there is a point of communication and as we communicate as we share our heart with them i believe it should be marked by honesty people are brought back to the truth by the truth and as we communicate with our brother and sister in christ who may be wondering we are not responsible for their reaction but we are responsible to honestly lovingly and humbly share the truth with them i love this verse from the book of proverbs it's in chapter 27 better is open rebuke than hidden love faithful are the wounds of a friend profuse are the kisses of an enemy we must be honest with those seeking the holy spirit to know what's the right way and the right time to do this but it must be marked by honesty and for me i've been on both sides of this conversation i've been in a place of approaching a brother or sister in order to say look i see some things in your life and i don't think they're right but i've also been the person that's been approached where friends have come to me and said listen man we need to talk about what we see and we just want to share our heart with you and here's what i've learned being on both sides of the conversation the people who really love you are willing to tell you the truth the people who really love you are willing to tell you the truth so as we talk about being restorers for brothers and sisters in christ there must be prayer there must be humility there must be honesty but also there must be patience and trust that means we should not be discouraged if we lovingly share our heart with a brother or sister in christ who's wandering and their immediate reaction is not repentance we need to trust that even when we stop speaking the holy spirit is still speaking and god ultimately loves that person more than anyone else so as we talk about restoring or bringing back a brother or sister in christ i believe these are some marks some characteristics that should shape the way we approach so that's what the text is telling us about the wanderer that's what the text is saying about the restorer here's a third and final question i want to speak to you what is the reward obviously we're talking about some pretty intense situations what is the reward according to scripture for a restorer going to a wanderer with a desire to see them brought back to fellowship with god and his family we'll look at verse 20. let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins just to sum that up as we finish i think there are a couple of ways that we experience the joy and the reward of kingdom living as we seek to restore brothers and sisters who may be wandering first of all the wanderer is restored to fellowship with god and his family the church god has a plan for all of his people and it's good it's a plan filled with joy with satisfaction and with hope and he desires for us to experience that plan and so when someone who is wandering away from the truth is brought back into intimacy with god into fellowship with god's family as the people of god we should find joy and reward in that moment they were wandering away from the truth but they've been brought back in step with god's good pleasing and perfect will we should find joy and reward in that reality but also the wanderer is protected from further consequences of sin the wanderer is protected from further consequences of sin god's heart is for us to experience his very best that's why in his word we see time after time he gives us commands and sometimes those commands say don't do this here's what god's saying protect yourself i know best i know what you're going to be able to walk in and find joy and hope and freedom so when the bible says don't do this god is telling us protect yourself but also when the word says to do this or to engage in this here's what god's telling us help yourself enjoy this because he knows when we choose to go against his commandments it ultimately means pain for us believers will never experience all that sin deserves the eternal consequences of sin have been paid for through the cross and we will never know those things but there are consequences here on earth for sinful decisions so when a wandering believer repents and is restored back to fellowship with god in god's family that person avoids further consequences of sin and ultimately does not have to face the discipline of god here on earth and for that we should find joy and reward we have saved them we have protected them from a multitude of sins because of the consequences of sin here on earth as i've spent time in this passage for the past week or so there has been in me such an urgency to lay this over my life and ask myself the question am i a wonderer god are you leading me through a relationship that i already have to be a restorer or god how do you want to speak to me i want to show you a verse of scripture that hopefully for you creates the same urgency that i find in my own heart john 10 10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy if you don't know it we have an enemy the devil satan and his mission is to steal kill and destroy now for the believer he can never take away your relationship with god but he can attack your family he can attack your life that's his that's his aim to steal kill and destroy but here's what jesus says i came that they may have life and have it abundantly god is calling us to an abundant life that is eternal but we have an enemy who is constantly seeking to draw us away from abiding and walking in the truth and god has called us as his people when we are walking in right step with him to be a part of restoring brothers and sisters in christ back to fellowship with god and fellowship with god's family as we conclude our service i believe there are really three groups of people that are participating today for some people here today you know that you do not have a relationship with god and for you i want to remind you of the verse i just read jesus came to the earth he lived a perfect life he died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity he was placed in a tomb but he was brought back to life on a third day showing that god was satisfied with his penalty for sin and he now offers us abundant eternal life that we can experience today so if you're here and you don't have a relationship with god i want to invite you today it's just a few moments we're going to have pastors here along the front of the stage to come to one of our pastors and just say i need jesus i need a relationship with god and we would love to show you from the scripture how you can be born again into a relationship with god but i also know in this service there are wanderers there are people here slowly but surely you've been wandering away from the truth and today god is speaking to you you find yourself in a place of neglect or you find yourself hard-hearted to the voice of god you find yourself resistant to growth and to the people around you or maybe you find yourself in isolation cutting off relationships within god's family or maybe you would say pastor i'm honestly in full out rebellion for a long time now i've been in a pattern of sin if that's you and you know that you here's my invitation be restored repent before god of the sin that he has made you aware of and come running back into his loving arms and experience the fellowship and the intimacy and the joy that is found in a in a relationship with him and a relationship with his family but the third group that's a part of this service are people who are being called to be restorers even as i talk there may be someone god has put on your mind or your heart and you think i need to approach them i know they're wondering from the truth i have a relationship with them and today god has put them on my heart here's my invitation to you today i want to invite you when we sing in just a moment a time of response to come and get on your knees on behalf of that person god has put on your heart because he's leading you to approach them but it doesn't start with a conversation it starts with prayer so i want to invite you if you know god is leading you right now to be a restorer in someone's life to go after a brother or sister who is wandering my invitation to you today is to come and intercede on their behalf to get on your knees at this altar and to pray for them today so regardless of who you are if you're someone who needs a relationship with god if you're a wanderer who needs to repent or if you're a restorer who needs to begin with a time of prayer we're going to respond to the lord right now you give life you are love you bring light to the darkness you give hope you restore every heart that is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] me to you only we pour it out to you guys [Music] our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] the earth will shout your praise our hearts will cry these bones will sing [Music] grace our hearts will cry these wounds [Music] [Music] in our lives [Music] [Music] [Music] praise [Music] oh we sing great are you lord are you [Music] [Music] so we pour out our praise to you [Music] thanks again for joining us today if you need prayer our team would be honored to pray with you visit hopechurchlv.com pray for me if you have questions about jesus or today you surrendered your life to jesus know that we are here for you and we want to connect with you go ahead and grab your phone or tablet or computer and go to this website hopechurchlv.com respond if today you did make a decision to follow jesus welcome to the family of god we cannot wait to celebrate with you lastly we would love for you to join us in person on thursday nights at 6 30 p.m or sunday mornings at 8 30 or 10 30 a.m we hope to see you soon have a great week [Music]

Channel: Hope Church LV

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Length: 68min 19sec (4099 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 25 2021