James the Son of Thunder

turn your Bibles to acts 12 acts 12 We are continuing our Series today on the dirty dozen uh this is the 12 apostles and uh as we've gone through this we've had a little illustration there so if you can put that on the screen with the dozen eggs there's fellas if you could put that up there and uh we made our Dirty Dozen here our dozen eggs I can't bring them in the auditorium anymore because we've been doing the series so long I'm afraid one was going to break and that's going to end the service right there and so we're just going to use a picture of him but if you remember last week we specifically talked about Jesus favorite three of the Dozen and that was James and John and Peter and so

he had his favorite three that he had chosen out now I I know you're not supposed to have fav but the Lord did uh he chose them to uh go to special occasions with them uh up on the mount and uh see someone raised from the dead and and just took him and to pray with him and so these were his favorites we talk about last week that if we want to be God's favorites if we want to be the ones that God chooses what do we need to do and we talked about that last week and then today we're going to talk specifically about one of these three and that is we're going to talk about James okay so this is James right here that they're putting on the screen so that one's James that's what he looked like we

know that for sure uh but uh uh so that's James and we're going to talk about him today now James we what we know about him is first of all his first mention really uh is well the last mention of James is acts 12: 1-2 so let's look at that right now it says now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands and uh and and to uh to Vex certain of the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword and so James was the first of the 12 to be martyred he was the first one to die in fact it wasn't too long after Jesus was resurrected that that James was put to death and and so he was the first of the 12 to die but James we know about James first mentioned was Mark 3:1 17

it says in James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James and he surnamed them bernus which is the sons of thunder and so that's what we know about him first of all that he was the son of Thunder he had a nickname and it's interesting that this nickname was chosen for him by Jesus and um now Proverbs 2122 1 says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold how many of you here you know sometimes you're you you don't go by the name you got at your birth you have another name that you picked up somewhere along the line maybe as a baby maybe as a child maybe as a teenager maybe even as adult in the military how many of you uh often go

by another name a nickn name or another name than your actual given first name raise your hand how many of you have that all right so quite a few people there and that's that's fairly common and uh apparently James and John were were known as the sons of thunder and and and you know the the Bible tells us that he Jesus surnamed them it it so this isn't necessarily a name that they came into the discipleship with but this is one that when Jesus met these two he says you two are sons of thunder and I wonder if if God were to choose a name for what would it be you know in the Bible there are many people that are known by an adjective after their name for example Rahab the prostitute or Thomas

is known as the doubter he's also called Another Place the twins so he's apparently a twin James the less is one of the other disciples and you wonder why he got that name probably because James the the other James of Thunder dominated and so he was like well you're the other James and um and then there's Simon the zealot another one of the disciples and and so each of them had this addition to their name that described something about them and so if God were to come down today a and give you a name you the blank what would it be would it be you the late some of you that's uh the only time that there get you know you're at your funeral I'm going to be able to say the late so and so and I'm

exactly right because your whole life you are late for everything you know you the late or would it be you the fearful some of you are your personality the way you are you're afraid of everything or or maybe you're the you the complainer that would be a terrible thing to be known as isn't it but there are people you know don't you like that there are certain people you know they just complain about everything or you the angry person I know a person like that just it's angry all the time or would it be something like you the faithful or you the friend to all or you the helper or you the lover of God if God himself if Jesus were to come into this room today and meet you and give you a name you

the blank just be honest with yourself for a minute by my personality by my actions by the way my testimony is what would the name he gave me be interesting thought isn't it because it's Jesus that gave them the name you see what do you want your reputation to be because that's really what it means when somebody's called the son of thunder you can imagine what kind of reputation they have they're loud boisterous uh imposing if somebody's called the um uh the doubter you you understand what kind of what kind of reputation they have it's usually because of their reputation so what do you want your reputation to be in 1st Samuel 18 in verse number 30 it says David behaved himself more wisely

than all the Servants of Saul so that his name was much set by when someone hears your name what do they think of when someone heard James's name they thought man thunder loud boisterous uh you know dominating so what do they think of when they think of you again be honest with yourself in fact if you want to do something that's hard this week ask people to honestly tell you what would they add to your name what do they think when they hear your name most people won't tell you the truth but if you can get them to do that that can help you learn a lot because we all care about what our name means what our reputation is we were having the staff over for a staff dinner this last week and we had

some questions we were asking one of the questions is what would you like to have on your Tombstone what would you like written on your Tombstone and I believe brother Brandt got the question he said uh that I I think he said to be respected that he was respectable and uh what would you want on your Tombstone I I looked up a few tombstones online I found some of the some of these here so the first one here is first Tombstone is I I told you I was sick uh I think that's a great Tombstone um and then here's another one here all right here's another one there goes the neighborhood you know uh you guys get that one it means you're moving into the the graveyard and there goes the neighborhood all

right just forget it all right let's go on here here's the next one okay think about that for a minute and and see if you can get this next one here this one's a good one here he who has the last laugh all right I do we have one more there did we have one more yeah all right and I think that's it there one more Fells is that it all right that's that's that's the last one I believe yeah all right so so what would you but seriously what would you like to have written on your tombstone in Ecclesiastes 7:1 the Bible says a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth so why would the day of your death be better than the day of your birth because the

day you die that's when all you've done in life will be remembered and so at your funeral what would be on your Tombstone at your funeral what would they say in the eulogy what will they say about you see James was known as the son of Thunder what would you be known as what would your reputation be what would what would God name you if he came down today now James actually lived up to his name turn over to Luke chapter 9 might even say he lived down to his name in Luke chapter 9 beginning with verse number 53 down through verse number 56 this is U one of the few times we hear James actually speak okay and this so something we can know about him it says and and they did not receive him Jesus

because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem he's going through Samaria uh they wouldn't let him into the city because they knew he was going to Jerusalem and there was a big uh fight on between them and they didn't want to have him in their city and verse number 54 when his disciples James and John saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did but he turned and rebuked them and said you know not what manner of spirit you are are of for the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them and they went to another Village so here's Peter and John uh they're living up to their name the village says

don't come in we don't want you in our town and and Peter and John immediately they want let's bring down Thunder From Heaven you know the Suns of thunder and and they wanted to bring down the Judgment of God the Father fire of God and that's the kind of personality that James had now James the Apostle did not write James the book but I want you to turn over there book of James towards the end of your new testament uh right after Hebrews and just before 1 and second Peter and 1 second John 1 second and third John uh the Book of James chapter 1 James chap 1 and verses 19 and 20 James chapter 1 now again James was already dead when James was written okay so this is this is probably James the

brother of Christ who wrote this book but this is good advice for James the Apostle in James chapter 1 beginning verse number 19 it says wherefore my beloved Brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God see James had this idea that he was going to do God's work by calling down Thunder From Heaven and calling down fire from heaven and and and he wanted to he was angry and he was trying to do the work of God In the Flesh a and the wrath of man never does the work of God when you're mad when you're angry when you're upset then you're not controlled by the spirit of God and and so he need to listen to the advice of

the Book of James James need to listen to the advice from the book of James because Jesus said what manner of spirit are you of he said back in Luke 9: 55 he says what manner of spirit are you of and I wonder if that same thing is true of you what manner of spirit are you of turn over to Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 see some of you your manner of spirit is judgmental you're just looking all every time you look around you're looking to judge people about how they dress what they do what they say what they don't do and you just have a judgmental spirit and then there's other people that what they have is is an angry Spirit they're just angry about everything and and you don't you don't

want to cross them and you don't want to get in their way because they can get angry very quickly and they just have an angry spirit and then there's others that are complainers you know what I'm talking about nothing's good nothing's ever good enough it's it's always something else and no matter how well you do there's always something else that's going to be wrong they're just complainers so so what kind of a spirit do you have in in Matthew chapter 7 beginning with verse number one it says judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge you shall be judged and what what measure you met it shall be measured to you again and why beholdest thou the the the moat that is in

thy brother's eye but consider not the beam that is in thine own eye or how will thou say to thy brother let me pull out uh the moat out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye thou hypocrite First cast out this beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou See Clearly to cast out the mo out of thy brother's eye see what I want to challenge you from the life of James is this is the question that Jesus asked James in Luke chapter 9 and verse 55 and he says but he turned and rebuked them and said you know not what manner of spirit you're of of I want to challenge you this morning to look at what is my reputation what is my spirit am I a complainer a whiner an angry person uh

depression what is the spirit that I have that controls me because maybe what God is saying that's not the kind of spirit I want you to have and as you begin this new year maybe it's time to challenge yourself that I I I don't want to be that son of Thunder I I don't want to be that angry person I don't want to be the complainer all the time I don't want to be the whiner I I don't want to be the one always depressed I want to change that spirit you see God uses our personality Peter uh James was the son of Thunder he was a he was a take charged kind of outgoing kind of person and there's nothing wrong with that you know we all have our personality some of you have been in my marriage class

and one of the lessons I teach in there is a in a marriage you need to understand each other's personalities and there's four different kinds of personalities I'm going to put them on the screen over here if the can and you can see first of all there's a lion personality and the lion personality is to take charge I'm the king of the jungles my way or the highway they're they're kind of person that are decisive and and and just want they they they make decisions well and they're they're good leaders but some of they also have some challenges to them as well because they can be very uh short with people and they can uh they can get angry easily and and other things then you have the second

personality retriever personality little golden retriever little puppy dog and and the puppy dog you know they want to make everybody happy and they want everybody to get along and and and they don't make decisions very well and they're just uh kind of you know they're the person that just wants to make everybody happy and then you have the third personality which is the the the the um the otter personality and the otter is like a party looking for someplace to happen you ever watched otter they just look like having fun all the time and and they're the kind of person that's very undisciplined but very friendly and very outgoing and the life of the party and all the rest of it and then

finally you have the uh the beaver personality and if you want something done Leave it to Beaver uh the the beaver personali is the the detailed person if you can't do it right don't do it at all uh they're the ones that see everything wrong with everything you know that's the beaver personality now all of them have their good traits and all of them have their bad traits and all of us have a personality and if God were to come down today we we could ask what is my personality James was a son of Thunder well what's your personality and by the way if you want more information on this you can go to uh oh.

church marriage and it's one of the lessons it's like the third lesson in there uh oh. church marage if you've never done this it really helps you to understand your relationship better as a husband and wife when you understand your personalities but the point is is God didn't condemn James for having the wrong kind of personality but he just wanted to be a spirit control personality in Ephesians 5 and: 18 it says be not drunk with wine where it's in excess but be filled with the spirit and God wants us he created James as a son of Thunder he created James with that particular personality and he created you and he made me in our way as well and even within that creation God still wants us to

be not he doesn't want to change us cuz that's how he created us he just wants us to be Spirit-filled he wants us to be controlled by the spirit of God and not controlled by the flesh now James as I said earlier in Acts chapter 12 we find out that he was the first one to die for Christ he was the first one to give up his life you know as we remind we need reminded that Christ died for us in John 15:3 and as is pointed the man once to die but after this the Jud judgement we need to realize that you and I are going to die and when you die are you going to heaven or are you going to hell where are you going you see the gospel the whole gospel story is this over to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 1

Corinthians chapter 15 and look at verses 1-4 1 Corinthians chapter 15 beginning with verse number one it says moreover Brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached you which also you've received and wherein you stand by which also you are saved you keep in memory what I preached unto you unless I you unless you believe in vain for I delivered un you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures that's the gospel that Jesus died for us because all of us are going to die one day you and I are going to die and when we die we need to

understand are we going to heaven or hell see you and I are sinners in Romans 3:23 it says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God in Romans chter 5 and verse number 8 it says but God commendeth or showed his love towards us and that while yet sinners Christ died for us he died for your sins and for mine in Romans 6:23 it says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the lord you and I if we die in our sins we're going to die and go to hell because we're condemned already but if we receive Christ as our savior if we receive the gift of Salvation we die he paid for our sins we're going to go to heaven so which is it for you in

Romans chap 10: 9- 10 it says that if thou shal confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has raised the dead Thou shalt be saved for for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans 10:3 it says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved have you called Upon Jesus Christ as your personal savior you see on that Tombstone there's two dates there's a day you are born and there's a day you die because everybody that is born is going to die in Hebrews chap 9: 27 it says an appointed unto man once to die but after this the Judgment so you are going to die because you've

been born and there's a day and a time and a place when you were born there also needs to be a day and a time and a place where you're born again into God's family where you call upon the Lord as your savior in 1 John chapter 5 verses 12 and 13 it says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things that I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life that you may believe on the name of the son of God see you can know for sure you're going to heaven when you die you can know when they put your name on that Tombstone that day that they put that date you died that that day you will be in heaven

this day Thou shalt be with me Paradise Jesus said you can know that if you trust Jesus Christ as your savior see James didn't know he was going to die he didn't know Herod was going to kill him but he knew he was going to heaven because he knew Jesus go over to Matthew chapter 26 Matthew chapter 26 you you know this story how that Peter another one with very strong personality said I I'll never forsake you Lord in verse number 31 Matthew 26:31 then said Jesus unto them all you should be offended because of me this night for it is written I will Smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad but after I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee Peter answered

said to him though though all men shall be offended because of thee yet I will never be offended Jesus said to him verily I say unto you that this night before the Crow Thou shalt deny me Thrice Peter said and though I should die with thee yet I will not deny thee likewise also said all the disciples every one of the disciples said we won't deny you and they all did they all ran away you know it's easy to say that I will die for Christ but you know God's not asking you to die for him he's asking you to live for him when you join the military you know there's a chance you could die you could be killed in battle but you don't join the military to die you join the military to serve in 2 Timothy

2 2 3 and four says Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ no man that Warth entangled himself with the Affairs of this life that it may please him who had chose to be a soldier God doesn't want us to live our life to die he wants to live our life to live he wants us to be prepared for battle to put on the whole armor of God it says in Ephesians chapter 6 what he wants is he wants us to live for him Romans 121:2 I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a Living Sacrifice wholly acceptable on him which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may

prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God God doesn't want us to be a dead sacrifice there are some like James that will be called on to give their life for the Lord but more importantly he wants you to live for him Philippians 1:21 Paul said for me to live as Christ to die as gain there's a lot of life that James never got to live I'm sure he expected to be like the disciples and live and go out and preach the gospel across the world but he never got an opportunity to do that it just wasn't very long after Jesus was resurrected that he was taken in Ecclesiastes 9:9 and10 it says live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life of vanity which Heath

given thee under son all the days of thy vanity for that is thy portion is light and in thy labor which thou takest under son whatsoever thy hand find to do do it with thy might for there's no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave with thou goest folks we're we're we have a new year ahead of us but we don't know how long we have there people not just two weeks ago that that died not even two weeks ago a week and a little over a week ago that died that didn't expect to die and we don't know when we're going to die but we do know if we live we can live for Christ and I want to challenge you to come this new year to make a commitment not to die for Christ but to make a

commitment I'm going to live for Christ and I'm going to live every day to the fullest because I don't know how many days I have left live for the glory of God in 1 Corinthians 10:31 it says whether therefore you eat or drink or what you do do all to the glory of God we know very little about James he spoke one time we know that he was part of that inner circle the favorites of Jesus and went to some special occasions and then we know he died we we don't know a lot about his life but I believe he lived a life for the glory of the Lord so let me ask you a question as we close how long and how bold is your dash because you know when you look on that Tombstone and put that Tombstone over here

when you look up there all it's got is your name the day you were born the day you died with a dash in between and that Dash represents your whole life so how bold is your dash how long is your dash in 1 Timothy 4: 6-8 says for I now ready to be offered in the time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me in that day and not to me only but unto also the all them that love his appearing what lesson can we take from the life of James God created you to be the person you are and he doesn't want you to change that but he does

want you to be Spirit controlled so let me ask you the question what spirit is controlling you right now what Spirit has been controlling you this week if God were to give you a name that match your reputation what would it be what would it be and God's not calling us to die for him some will and maybe even some of this room but he is calling us to live for him and so let's make sure we live that little Dash in a way that our funeral it will mean something Linda Ellis wrote this poem I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend he referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning to the end he noted first came the date of the birth and spoke the following date with

tears but he said What mattered most of all was the dash between the years for that Dash represents all the time that they spent life on Earth and now only those who love them know what that little line is worth for it m matters not how much we own the cars the house the cash what matters is how we live in love and how we spend the dash so think about this long and hard are the things you'd like to change for you never know how much time is left that can still be re arranged if you could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real and always try to understand the way other people feel be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've

never loved before if we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile remembering that this special Dash might only at last a little while so when your eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash would you be proud of the things they say about you and how you spent your dash and that's the question today