Hope For Those Who Have Strayed | James 5:19-20 | 7-5-26 | Sunday PM

**Pastor Andrew Montoro** (0:02)
All right, we're gonna be in the Book of James. This is actually, believe it or not, our last sermon from the Book of James. We kind of flew through this a little bit, but I believe there's been some good reminders and some helpful truths from the Word of God. So James 5, we'll find our places there. As I give a couple announcements, just in case any did not hear, Pat Vecchio did pass away on Saturday, and the funeral services are going, there's going to be a viewing at the McLaughlin Hefner Funeral Home, Thursday of this week, 3 to 6 PM. And then the funeral service is going to be at 1030 this Friday, there at the funeral home. I will be speaking at the funeral service. That will be followed by his interment at St. John's Cemetery there in Riverhead.
But if anyone from the church would like to attend, you are invited to the services, you are invited to the viewing, and if you have not gotten a chance, there is a card in the back where you could just sign, praying for you, or something of that, that we're going to give to the Vecchio family, and then the church is going to get a thing of flowers or whatever from the church, just to say condolences from the church to be able to be there with that. So be in prayer, just as I get to share the gospel and get to speak some of the family. I'm not sure the salvation testimony of all the family. Pat did have a testimony of salvation, so we praise the Lord for that. And let's be in prayer for just opportunities to minister, be in prayer for the family there. Continue to pray for the Henderson family. The storm is still going on at this point. I believe the eye just passed to the north there of Guam, and they're really getting nailed, and with the typhoon there, Cat 5, so please, I believe they last checked the wind was somewhere gusting around 180 miles an hour. And so at this point, their house has not flooded, but they're about three feet above sea level, where they are on the south coast. And so please, if you would keep, it's my wife's family, they're missionaries in Guam, keep them in prayer during the storm, just for safety and protection, not only the life, but property and all of that, as things are very hard to replace all of that in Guam. And so would appreciate prayers for that. All right, I believe that's all the announcements, pardon me, that need to be given. So let's get to the Word of God. James chapter 5 tonight, James chapter 5, we're gonna get, we're gonna consider the last two verses of James, try to tie some things together.
But James chapter 5, verse number 19 and verse number 20, he addresses the saved believers that are struggling one more time, brethren, that is a phrase he has used over and over again through the book of James, brethren, brethren, kind of when he has a new point, instead of saying number one, number two, number three, he goes, brethren, all right, let me, I'm talking to you, let me get your attention again, brethren, verse number 19, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Here's our title tonight. Hope for those who have strayed. Hope for those who have strayed. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you tonight. Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord, how it speaks right to us. We thank you for your word and Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord, we thank you for your word and Lord. I hope that you will listen to how it speaks right to us. I pray that you would help us get, Lord, please give me clarity of thought, simplicity of thought to be able to communicate your word with, Lord, and apply it to our lives. I pray that you would speak to us tonight, bring conviction where necessary, bring encouragement where needed, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
We all like to think that we're pretty mature. We like to think that we are. We are handling life in a grown up way. We like to think we are doing pretty good. Oftentimes we like to have a good opinion of ourselves. I remember when I was a student at Heartland Baptist Bible College, I refer back to this time often, there's a lot of learning experiences. But I remember I got the privilege of traveling on one of the singing teams, and we got to go to churches, and we got to sing, and got to minister, and there were teams coming up saying, Oh, I'm going to go to Heartland Baptist Bible College. You were such a blessing in my life. And I thought, man, I must be pretty mature. I must be doing pretty good. And now the music teams come through, and I look at the students now, and I go like this. I hope I was at least that mature. Probably not. But like, I'm looking at them, and they're like, they're so young. They're so, like, what are they doing? Why aren't they? And it's like, I don't even want to know what people thought when I showed up, when I thought I was so mature, but there was a, as I am growing, there's reality check. You need to keep growing. There's a reason why you need to keep growing, is because you haven't arrived yet, right? And really, that's what James is emphasizing is, hey, wake up. You have not arrived yet. In fact, there's a lot of growing you need to do to be Christ-like. And if you remember from the beginning, the very first sermon, the road to Christian maturity, as Brother Gadda said, is uphill the whole way.