The Martyrdom Of St. James son of Zebedee Brother of John Sunday, Christ The KING Presbyterian Ministries Rev Paul Wallace
Paul Wallace
Ordained Pastor, Both Conventional & Social Media Ministries, Fire Department Chaplain, Maintenance Worker 1, Certified Safety Professional, Proven Governmental Leader, True Team Builder, You will love all of this resume
The Martyrdom Of St. James son of Zebedee Brother of John Sunday
I understand last week was the Festival of St. James, and yet we talked of St. Stephen’s Martyrdom, but this was done to immerse ourselves in the understanding that the LORD has the right to use us as HE alone has perfectly planned.
It must through the HOLY SPIRIT’S awakening, also walk us to the true understanding these two brothers were immediately escorted Home upon their Deaths and as such, How exactly were they cheated?
We have had a very unusual month of July 2021 as we has gone to 4 Funeral/Memorial Services, two of them were for our Mom, and Aunt, and the other two for friends.
Now in today’s western typical sermon model one might ask what cause these deaths and was it an error in the person’s faith or did do something to cause the LORD to allow them to die?
You see the Western understand of life and Death especially in the Church is polluted with the Health and Wealth narrative, instead of a Heavenly focus, and fulfillment of our Tour of Duty as ordained by the LORD.
You see for each Death in the LORD Ordained time is NOT cheating them of Life but is INDEED their true passage in Christ into True Eternal Life!
They were immediately rewarded through Christ our LORD!
Call To Worship
Psalm 95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
Processional
For All The Saints
Passing Of The Peace Of Christ
May the Peace of Christ Be With You
ALL: And Also With You!!
Please take a minute to pass the peace of Christ
Hymn
Praise My Soul The KING Of Heaven
First Reading The Stoning Of St Stephen
Acts 7:48 "However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
?49 'HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?' says the Lord, 'OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE?
?50 'WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?'
?51 ? "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.
?52 "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;
?53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."
?54 ? Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.
?55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
?56 and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
?57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.
?58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
?59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
?60 Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep.
(NAS95)
This Is The WORD Of The LORD
Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD
Hymn
I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say
The LORD’S Prayer & Apostles Creed Read By All
Matthew 6:9 ? And Jesus said "In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
?10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
?11 Give us this day our daily bread.
?12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
?13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Christian What Do You Believe?
I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The Holy Catholic Church;
The Communion of Saints;
The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body,
And the Life everlasting.
Amen.
The Doxology
Praise GOD From Whom All Blessings Flow: Tune All Creatures of Our God and King
Second Reading And Lesson: The Martyrdom Of St. James son of Zebedee
Acts 11:18-12:10
Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."
?19 ? So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.
?20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
?21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.
?22 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
?23 Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord;
?24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.
?25 And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul;
?26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
?27 ? Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
?28 One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius.
?29 And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea.
?30 And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.
Acts 12:1 ? Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.
?2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.
?3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread.
?4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.
?5 ? So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
?6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
?7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands.
?8 And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he *said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."
?9 And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
?10 When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
This Is The WORD Of The LORD
Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD
Lesson: The Martyrdom Of St. James son of Zebedee
This week we will be looking at the Martyrdom of St. James the Greater (Brother of John) and the Feast of St. James.
I picked the first reading as it reminds us that except Jesus HIMSELF, Stephen was perhaps one of the best at explaining the Gospel and History of the Bible cover to cover. It shows also that a proper reading of the Old Testament really does only points to Jesus, and HIS rescue and Stephen clearly lays this out, and yet it was the LORD’S pleasure to call him to HIMSELF at a young age.
The two passages also should put to rest a heresy that I have actually heard multiple time over the years in Sermons and my Seminary History Class, and two of the people who uttered this next statement have written countless books and are yet, world renowned.
“The Jews handed Jesus over to the Romans because they were unable to execute anyone” and YES as I say this each year but it is really important as THEY Really said this!!!
What should our two readings have CLEARLY told us, please take a second and really process and answer this as I am sure the HOLY SPIRIT will lead to the ONLY answer?
Yes, these bestselling authors were 100% Wrong and why we trust the Bible and not someone’s Book explaining the Bible, boy how the Church Pastors and Elders have flipped this.
Before I go on, I want you to know you have a right to ask your Pastor, Elders, and Deacons “Do you write your own lessons, or just use theologians’ books as your lesson prep and actually lessons?”
As we are well aware Stephen and St. James the Brother of John are killed execution style by the Jews, and a Pedestrian reading of the Bible should have shown these Authors this.
This should set up the why questions that really is a North American ,Western?European Church Problem and dilemma, and not something that the rest of the world would even give a second thought too.
As I suggested in the past two weeks that I am frightened that the US Church has as Hebrews 5:11 warns become Dull of hearing and does not read their Bibles but has traded for Theologians video of Book series instead of real Bible Studies “Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.”
(NAS95)
The only part we play is being truly DEAD in our Sins, and it is the HOLY SPIRIT alone who awakens our corpse of a soul to the truth of the Gospel and walks us to obedience.
It asks us what?
This is perhaps the most important question of all as it comes from Jesus HIMSELF
Joh 6:47 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.
And what is the only path;
Acts 16:31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Any Sermon that preaches how you have to change your like apart from Believing in Jesus Christ as your only Hope and Strength is another gospel IS not according to Scripture PERIOD!
Ephesians?2:4 ? But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
?5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
?6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Romans 3:10 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
?11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
?12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
?13 "THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING," "THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS";
?14 "WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS";
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
?24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
?26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Tit 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
This sets the table for another Message that might sound different in that the Happy ending for St. James is his immediate orders to report home.
In Northern America we don’t teach on the end of our lives, oh sure you hear it at Funerals, but we distance ourselves from a reality that 1000’s face EVERY day.
I think of someone I knew on the Mission Field who served in Africa and as I read his reports I saw it over and over families burying children and young adults as health conditions there caused greater mortality.
We constantly hear at Funeral Homes when a Child dies before their parents; “A Parent was never meant to bury a Child” and yet that has only been a late 20th Century thought as Families were large especially due to infant and childhood mortality.
It even flies in the face of the very pain born in the Satanic lie, “You will surely not die” told to Eve and Adam, and these two our very first Parents would endure the pain of Death through the burying of their Second born Abel, a pain My Grandmother Wallace bore twice in the death of her 3rd Born and 2nd Born Sons , and pain my Parents bore in the death of their 2nd born Son our Brother David. This was also the case of a dear friend of mine this year as well as she buried one of the best people I ever knew her 2nd son John last May.
The slithering Serpent of Eden is well represented in today’s typical 3 point Sermons as they all tell us we need to be good, when the fact we can’t be has been the very problem since.
So know let us walk through 4 questions:
1 Who was this James?
2 What was he called to do?
3 How does this address our pain and Suffering in a “do good things, get good things preaching world”?
4 And finally James’s home going
1 Who was this James?
This question is perhaps a “Duh” for the Bible reader, and yet for the Scholar seems to cause them great pain!
Jim Kaat’s philosophy on pitching is a healthy reminder of how we understand the Bible, as Mr. Kaat puts it about pitching “Think Long, Think Wrong” can be applied to many of the Commentaries I have read as the get bogged down in the verse or a certain Greek word drill down so hard that they miss the context.
Quick Example the Letter to the Romans is in 12p print 22 Pages long and a certain Commentary written by to Scholars I had to read that is better use as a door stop was 1200 pages!
The commentary in Question is not Luther’s although that to if carefully read should have you putting it down and reading Romans as Luther seems to contradict himself every couple of pages.
This is why the James questions arise, why asking the pages of Scripture the ONLY healthy path!
This James is clearly “And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.” the brother of John, and this tells us much as the timeline of his death also tells us he cannot be the James who wrote the Letter of James, nor the Head of the Council of Jerusalem, the brother of the LORD is both the writer head of the Council ?and helps us prove the letter was indeed written by Jesus’s own half-brother , this along with Jude’s opening Jude 1:1 ? Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
So this Apostle James is the same whose mother asked Jesus whether He and John can sit at the right and left in HIS Kingdom and is indeed the son of Zebedee.
2 What was he called to do?
If someone goes on and on, on just what James the Greater was called to do, remember his ministry is extremely brief and to be honest we simply don’t know much except, James is called to bear witness to and about Jesus Christ and HIS rescuing of we sinners Matthew 28, and is about such when Herod has him arrested.
As with Stephen, James IS about the LORD’S work, and yet he is arrested.
It is important to remember James NOT doing anything wrong, in fact let us repeat he is going about the LORD’S business and this will take us quickly to our third point that we looked at last week.
3 How does this address our pain and Suffering in a “do good things, get good things preaching world”?
As we talked last week This seems to be the biggest obstacle the Church faces the “do good things, get good things” coached in even reformed Sermons across this Country.
As you remember the Pastor will use the term “this is how we need to live” or “We must read our Bible more and change the way we live”, and the worst “this maybe the reason you are suffering”
As we noted last week this is NOT the teaching of the Bible PERIOD!
The list in Hebrews Chapter 11 is not the “All Star list” or “the Heroes of the Faith” as some have suggested, but indeed the roll call of Sinners saved by Grace alone in Christ alone.
We need to really look at James and yes Stephen and again ask ourselves, what did James and Stephen do to cause their martyrdom?
The truth is What the LORD Commanded!
What was the outcome?
They were Killed with the Sword and Stoned to Death!
But He was doing good, and obeying GOD, so what went wrong???
NOTHING!
This sets up our last point
4 And finally James’s home going
As I stated last week and at the beginning of this message, we in North America and Western Europe have a bigger problem as our Pulpits are filled with those who teach Do good, get good in the majority of Churches in these areas.
These preachers fail to acknowledge that and average of 19 Christians (7000 in 2016) A DAY Martyred for Jesus Christ, and they have been living lives for the LORD.
In their North America and Western Europe comfort zones they can come up with this follow the rules and everything will work out teaching, and yet in Africa, The Middle East for example a Christian can and should be following in the footsteps of Jesus and Killed in an instant.
The fact simply tell us that the Health and Wealth and Live a Good Life, or Obey the Law teaching that fills our Services weekly is a fairly tail, and to be frank a Damn Lie!
I am sure that the Majority of us and I was one of them never even knew that July 25 we focused on St. James the Greater and his martyrdom as we went to Church week in and week out, and If your Churches did I bet they did not focus on the fact that proclaiming Jesus Christ and the Truth of the Gospel as we are commanded to do in Mathew 28 could get you killed.
But then again, and this is a question I really want us all to take a second to think over;
When was the last time your Pastor actually preached on Heaven being our true Home in Christ Jesus and our Home going however the LORD ordained it is not the end of our lives, but JUST the beginning.
As we know full well James the Greater, and Stephen did the LORD’S bidding, and ended up quickly with their orders to report home and it leaves us with only one question;
Was it fair that they were taken so soon?
The true answer if we really believe this truth and we should, is, those lucky stiffs are already HOME, and now in Jesus Christ our LORD really living.
This why we end our services for real with
Let Us Go Forth As Those Who Love And Proclaim Our Risen LORD And Savior Jesus Christ
Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, AMEN
Next week We return to our Matthew Series starting with Matthew Chapter 9.
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Hymn
Blessings
The LORD’S Feast
1Co 11:23 ? For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
?24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
?25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
?26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
?27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
?28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
?29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
O Come All Ye Faithful
The LORD’S Benediction
Hebrews 13:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
?21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Let Us Go Forth As Those Who Love And Proclaim Our Risen LORD And Savior Jesus Christ
Response By All: Thanks Be To GOD, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, AMEN
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Recessional
Ye Watchers And Ye Holy Ones