James 5 - "Reprove, Rebuke and Exhort"

Today, Sunday December 6 – James 5 – Over the years as a pastor and a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I’ve had to remind myself what the Lord has really called me to be doing.  It is so easy to get side-tract, distracted and discouraged as we serve the Lord and have to deal with the “raw” side of life so often.  Paul’s last words, just before he was martyred by Nero, were written to his son in the faith, Timothy.  “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:1-2)  So, even in these “Pastor Chats”, there are three things you will notice that we are doing as we look at almost any passage of Scripture – “Reproving, Rebuking and Exhorting”!  And that’s exactly what James has been doing in his epistle.  He wants believers to grow up into Spiritual maturity!  This means, that sometimes, when we are acting like babies, we need a sound word or rebuke to get our attention and then told what we are doing is wrong.  Personally, I would rather do the last of the three all the time, and that is exhort and encourage!  Today, do you need a rebuke?  Or maybe, you need a word of encouragement!  You’ll find it all in the Book of James!  God bless!