I hope you and your family had a blessed Christmas celebration and a happy new year.

Podcast episodes post a week and a half after the date I preach the sermon. Usually, for podcast listeners, this makes little difference. However, during special occasions like Christmas, it is more obvious that the podcast episodes are behind.

I had the opportunity to hear a fellow pastor in our community preach, and I was out of the pulpit for a Sunday, so I do not have a current sermon for the podcast this week. So, I have pulled one from the archives for today's podcast. In 2020, I preached through the book of James. Originally preached on August 2, 2020, this is the third sermon I preached from James. The sermon is titled Be Doers of the Word, and it is from James 1:19-27.

This simple command – be doers of the word and not hears only – is a much more difficult command to obey and a much more costly truth than you may realize. Many believers have the desire to live out the word in their lives. However, desire is not a guarantee of doing. James teaches that constant, conscious, and conspicuous efforts must be made to demonstrate that your faith is more than a facade and is what is true of who you are.

Jacob is now an old man, but God is still working in his life. Old age can be seen as a time to slow down and rest. But, more dangerously, it can also be seen as a time to coast, relying on past efforts and decisions. Yet we see in Jacob that even in old age, he was ready to respond to the Lord's leadership.

Chapter 4 has one of the best-known verses in the entire book of Esther: “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, ESV)

Looking back at this passage, we can see the grace of God and the faith of Mordecai and Esther. In the moment, it may not have felt like they were acting out of great faith but more out of desperate self-preservation. Even so, though their faith may have been weak, and their actions mixed with much self-concern, they give us a beautiful testimony of faithful obedience.

From this passage, we see a testimony that calls us to reckon with the weakness of worldly wealth, rely on God’s provision, and resolve to act.