How to Save Souls (long) please read over 7 days

Day 1. We all need rescuing... healing... saving.

The Beatles said we get by with a little help from our friends.

Our lives are cluttered...
with problems we didn't cause and many we did.

But how do we help others? How do we face our own troubles
let alone find the time, wisdom and chutzpah to help friends?

We're no better... and when people are panicked,
they're rarely able to listen to reason anyway.
Fear is an animal instinct that rarely helps
face our complex human problems.

Last Sunday, a friend asked me not to prepare a sermon,
but to come to his congregation and just let God speak.

Here's what God led me to share a 6-day study of James.
I'd never noticed how this tiny book in the Bible,
CLEARS away the clutter of our lives and
CLEARS a way for us to save others.

Sunday Night
Bonnie and Joe led amazing worship music.
They looked so comfortable together, and Nat said:
"I could listen to Bonnie's voice forever."

This new church launch is going to work!
We've got a great launch team and a
growing vision of what God will do.

I preached that morning at St. Paul's Lutheran in Newark,
a most touching liturgical service and sweet church spirit.
Pastors John and Greg show such true brotherly love
but have a real mischievous, casual quality : )

My sermon on COURAGE was well-received, but I accepted
Pastor Rich's challenge to find the courage myself to
'wait on a word from the Lord.'

Heading for Trouble
Jeremiah was a bit of a complainer, but he had
the longest-running career of any PROPHET.

Now a prophet doesn't predict the future
(though that's often a part of what they share.)
A prophet shares what's on God's heart and mind.

And God's heart was breaking for the people.
They were in deep spiritual trouble, and
God knew their path leads to death!

Do you know people heading for disaster?
But they don't see it or know how to break free?
Are you or others in debt but see no way out?

Jeremiah told the leaders that all of Israel would fall,
the land would be conquered and the people enslaved.

All this came true, but no one wanted to hear it.
The leaders said Jeremiah was a not a team player.

But he still insisted the WHOLE LAND WOULD FALL!
So they beat him, mocked him, and threw him in jail.

All because he shared God's warning and
God's burning desire to save the people from their sins.

My Redeemer Lives
There's an old tradition in Judaism that when you're in
serious FINANCIAL TROUBLE, a relative bails you out.

That person is your REDEEMER,
like buying back an item you sold to a pawn shop.
Redeemers cancel all debt and saved relatives from slavery.

We all need a redeemer sometime. A lifeguard if you will.
In my life, during a very bleak business time, I sang a song
every day from Job.
Job, in his suffering lost his family, health and wealth.
When his loving wife could stand his suffering no longer
and advised him to just 'curse God and die!'

But he prophetically predicted Jesus' coming
and said, 'I know my Redeemer lives!'

We need a redeemer who CLEARS away our debts...
and heals our brokenness
and swims out to where we're drowning an pulls us in.

And we can all be a redeemer for someone else.

Jeremiah's uncle came to him in prison and said his cousin
needed to sell his land quickly or he would become a slave.

Well, Jeremiah had said the whole land would be worthless
and that everyone was going to die or become a slave.

So everyone was shocked when Jeremiah pulled out
cash he had saved... and said yes!

Why? Because it is always on God's heart... and our job,
to be a Redeemer for others.
It sounds very un-Lutheran... but we are sent to save souls.

To Save means many things.
Save from a living hell or future loss.
To rescue from imminent disaster or danger.

But 'to save' literally means 'to heal.'
We are called to bring peace and healing to peoples' lives.

Six Sandwiches... one for each day
Jesus and James were brothers. They grew up together.
So, James probably knows what he's talking about.
And we'd do well to listen.

His little book in the Bible
CLEARS the clutter of our lives:
clears the clutter of our thoughts
- our minds are so worried -
clears the clutter of our words
- our words cause such trouble -
clears the clutter of our society
- so many rules telling who's in and who's out -
clears the clutter of our inaction
- so many half-started projects pulling on us -
clears the clutter of our judgements
- so many poor decisions hurting us -
clears the clutter of our obligations
- so many commitments tying our hands -

FOR SIX (6) DAYS, study the little book of James.
Six little sandwiches to teach us how to save souls.
The first and last verses of each section are bread,
and you can study the meat and cheese each day,
if you want.

But I just repeat the first word to myself all day.

It CLEARS our lives in 6 easy steps.

Consider every trouble a joy (1:2-18)
Listen to others, slow to talk or get mad (1:19-27 )
Equalize relationships, treat others as equals (2:1-13 )
Act on what you believe (2:14-26 )
Respect other opinions (3:1-17)
Save yourself and others (3:18-5:20)

Day 2. CONSIDER
James 1:2-18 Clears harmful, worried thoughts
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever
you face trials of many kinds... He chose to give us birth
through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of
firstfruits of all he created.

Consider your troubles a joy... God is doing something new!
Growth always brings change and loss and pain. But grow!
A snake sheds it's skin. A tight cocoon will let you fly!

Day 3. LISTEN
James 1:19-27 Clears our harmful talk (& email!)
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak
and slow to become angry... Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans
and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from
being polluted by the world.

Pure religion, Jesus' brother says, is not telling others
how to live and what you think... it's visiting people
and listening to them when they're in trouble.

Just be a friend.
You will never save people who are not first friends with.

Day 4. EQUALIZE
James 2:1-13 Clears away social distinctions
My brothers and sisters [we're all family], as believers in
our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism...
because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone
who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

Treating people with different incomes, jobs, backgrounds or
any of a million ways we people discriminate, is not God's way.

Treat all people equally as our glorious Lord Jesus Christ,
died to save every single soul.
Mercy trumps judgement!

Day 5. ACT
James 2:14-26 Clears away half-finished projects
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith
but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?...
As the body without the spirit is dead, so
faith without deeds is dead.

How many piles of To-Do lists clutter your day?
How many half-started projects clutter your house?

Don't let even hopeful inactions tangle your life. Act.
Do it or dump. Fish of cut bait.

And then trust that that God will do the rest.

Day 6. RESPECT
James 3:1-17 CLEARS AWAY BAD DECISIONS
Not many of you should presume to be teachers,
my bro and sisters, because you know that
we who teach will be judged more strictly...
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure;
then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy
and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

When we think we're the boss of the whole world
and always rely on our own limited understanding,
we often make bad choices and disasterous decisions.

We need to be humble and respect the wisdom of others.

This sandwich warns us not to always 'teach' others
but to 'submit' to them and sincerely learn.

When you're dealing with people with problems,
they are the expert on themselves!

Here/s where Day 2 Listen skills really come into play.
Know-it-all, my-way-or-the-highway evangelism
is not Jesus' way... and it just won't work.
It's a big turn-off to anyone in trouble.

And it blinds us to the troube we're in ourselves.

Day 7. SAVE
James 3:18 -5:20 CLEARS AWAY OBLIGATIONS
Peacemakers who sow in peace
raise a harvest of righteousness.... Remember this:
Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way
will save him from death and
cover over a multitude of sins.

Even when we're in our own troubles, like Jeremiah,
we will have saved up a store of spiritual treasure
-- and good stewards save financial resources --
that will prepare us to truly listen to needs
and possibly help save them.

We can be Redeemers for brothers and sisters in Christ.

But we can't do that fighting and demanding.
And we can't do that if we book up our schedule
with all of our own opportunities and obligations.

This sandwich speaks a great deal about being available
to do what God wants when God wants you to go.

You can tell what is REALLY important to a person
by looking only at two things...
their bank statements and their calendar.
How we committ our time and treasure tells all.

CLEARING OUR SCHEDULES AND DEBTS
James says, Don't lock yourself into saying,
I'll go here a year and make money. You don't know
what God has in mind.

And from Genesis 1 to the Ten Commandments,
God tells us not to overbook.

Set aside time to listen to yourself and God. Relax!
Divert Daily.
Withdraw Weekly.
Move on Monthly.
Quit Quarterly.
Adventure Annually.

To be useful to God, we've got to regularly break out
of who we are.

Who we are is not who we are going to be!!

And when we borrow money, we are saying
we know what our future earnings will be
and we're promising to spend our time repaying that debt.

Don't steal from God!
Take a break. Our time is not ours to commit.
It belongs to our gloriuos Lord's Jesus Christ.

And it breaks my heart to see people who admit their
failings and weaknesses but are still wracked with guilt.

Don't steal from God!
Jesus bought and paid for ALL your sins.
And when you take them back on yourself
and live with guilt or try to 'fix it' yourself,
you are taking what Jesus rightly bought.

You are redeemed!

And as a debtor, sinner, troublemaker, failure, victim
who has been fully redeemed from all your troubles,
you are able to help save others.

By pointing to your own life and saying,
"I know that your Redeemer lives, too!"