WEBVTT 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.120 Hello, I am Anthony Garcia. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:12.640 I am so grateful that you tuned in to our social media or to our video ministry here. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.599 Thank you for taking the time to listen to these messages. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:17.359 I hope that they're a blessing to you. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:23.280 If you have any other questions or ways that we can minister to you, I would be glad to connect with you. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:26.160 You can do so through the information below. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.960 Thank you again, and I hope this message is a blessing to you. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:38.640 Chapter number one this morning, and uh we're kind of alternating between the book of Genesis and the book of James. 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.039 I think we'll find this helpful in Genesis. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:52.560 We have a lot of narrative, and uh we even went over some genealogies this last Sunday, and now we're in the book of James, and the book of James is immensely practical. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:00.320 Uh a lot of it reads similar to uh uh the wisdom books in the Old Testament, kind of like the book of Proverbs. 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:07.359 You read through the book of Proverbs, and there's a lot of different instruction, parative, words of wisdom. 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:11.439 That's much how the letter of James is written. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:19.519 And it's uh it's built upon these Christian paratives, which the letter assumes who the letter is intended to go to. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:24.079 It's assuming that there is already salvation in Christ. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:37.840 It has the feel of a pastoral letter, or even you can think of like a pastoral blog, to where there's these little exhortations all throughout the book to believers. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.120 And so let's read. 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:46.959 Uh if you would, I'll invite you to stand one more time together, and we're gonna read just in verse number one, down through verse number four this morning. 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:49.359 James chapter number one. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:52.239 Here's what the Bible says in verse number one. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:02:01.439 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:13.199 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:21.439 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:27.039 Let's pray, and as I pray out loud, I invite you to pray in your heart to the Lord and ask him to speak to you this morning. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:28.879 Lord, I thank you for your goodness to us. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:32.560 I thank you, Lord, for the blessings that you give us. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:50.960 I thank you, Lord, for the blessing of, again, the blessing of this country that we live in, and uh the blessings that you've offered to us of the gift of life, uh the opportunity to gather this morning, the blessing of uh electricity and air conditioner and uh this uh building that we have here. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:03:06.319 And Lord, I thank you for all your servants who have gathered this morning to hear from your word, and thank you for those serving in the nursery today, in the children's ministry, music ministry, hospitality, various areas, Lord, within uh your body, Lord. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:16.639 I thank you that we get to gather together in your name and edify one another, encourage one another, and point each other back to you. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:27.039 And Jesus, I pray that you would help us to be pointed back to you from this text this morning as we face a very real reality and truth concerning trials. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:32.319 Help me, Lord, this morning as I deliver your word, fill me with your spirit. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.680 Help me because I am a needy servant, Lord. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.319 I'm in need of your help to speak clearly. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:46.159 I'm in need of your help for my mind, for the thoughts that uh uh you've laid on my heart from this passage to flow accurately. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:04:00.879 And I pray, Lord, that as I'll give a great account, Lord, for what is taught from this pulpit, I pray that what is taught today would be helpful, would be truthful, um, would be glorifying to you and exalting to you, Jesus. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:03.599 And so help us this morning as we hear from your word. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.080 And thank you for how you've already spoken to me. 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:07.919 Thank you for how you can speak to us today. 00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:09.439 I pray in Jesus' name. 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:10.319 Amen. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:11.599 Thank you for standing. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:13.840 You may be seated this morning. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.600 James is the author here of the Epistle of James. 00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:31.120 He gives us a common epistle greeting where he introduces himself at the beginning and he introduces us to the original audience here, all in verse number one. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:37.439 Now, James, he says, is a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:46.560 God the Father, God the Son being one, recognizing that Jesus was in fact fully man and fully God. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.199 And James writes here, he says, I'm a servant of God. 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:55.839 Understand that this James, and we're not gonna look at all the passages this morning. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:04.959 We might do that a little bit more on Wednesday night this week, but understand here that this James is actually the half-brother of Jesus Christ. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.519 He's the half-brother of Jesus Christ. 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:18.160 Uh James is here and he is writing this later on in life as he has now become a pastor and a leader in the church at uh Jerusalem. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:20.079 And you see this within the book of Acts. 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:32.399 But if we backed up and we went to the New Testament, what you would see is that James originally, when Jesus was walking on this earth, James was not a believer in Jesus. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:44.879 His family rejected him initially, but we have other passages that point us to this change in James' life, to where now he is a believer. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:57.360 And he does not pull from his bloodline or his uh uh uh his status as a brother of Jesus, but instead he identifies himself as a servant. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:04.720 I am simply a servant of God, a servant of Jesus. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:13.120 Through the audience, he says to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:28.079 All the way back in 722 BC, the Jews began to be scattered abroad in different regions due to other uh enemies coming in and uh taking them, whether that was the Babylonians or the Assyrians. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:32.399 And so these Jewish people they were starting to get spread around the region. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:40.959 But then in the book of Acts, you start to see that many of these Jews they come to faith in Jesus Christ, and so now they're Jewish Christians. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:49.199 But something takes place in the book of Acts and all throughout the book of Acts where there is great persecution on the church. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:07:00.079 And because of this persecution, these Christians begin again to flee, to spread, to be scattered abroad. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:10.079 And so James writes here this epistle to an audience of Jewish believers who were spread out due to what? 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:27.040 Due to persecution, in the middle of struggle, sometimes treated worse than slaves, sometimes put out of their home due to the political powers or through peer pressure that was around them. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:38.800 These people that James is writing to are in the midst of trials, are in the midst of affliction, are in the midst of difficulty. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:40.800 They're believers in Christ. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:08:07.519 And so Pastor James writes to them and he encourages my brethren, my fellow believers, those of you that have taken the name of Christ, and it almost seems crazy when you consider their particular predicament that he says, count it all joy when you fall into all sorts of trials. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:20.720 Christian, embrace trials with joy because God uses them to mature you in Christ. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:27.360 Embrace trials with joy because God uses them to mature you in Christ. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:38.399 We have to recognize this morning that how you face trials, how you face tribulations, how you face difficulties in this life is very important. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:50.559 And unless we gain a biblical perspective on it, unless we know what the Word of God teaches about trials and afflictions, then we won't be able to face them properly. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:09:02.480 And James, in his pastoral heart, he recognizes this with his brothers that are suffering, that are going through real persecution, that are going through real trials and afflictions. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:10.799 And so he writes to them this encouragement, this exhortation, this imperative for the Christian. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:13.279 So we've got to look at a few thoughts this morning. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:21.120 And the first thought there, if you're following in your notes this morning, is we have to understand the reality of trials. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.120 The reality of trials. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:36.799 James writes here, and he says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:44.320 James does not write if you face a trial, he writes when you face a trial. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:48.240 You may have heard it said, it's been said for many generations, right? 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:56.799 That you are either in the middle of a storm, you just came out of a storm, or you're preparing to go into a storm. 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.360 This is a reality. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:08.159 Trials in this life, tribulations in this life, afflictions in this life, they actually exist. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:15.679 We should expect this life to be one that has hardships. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.759 There's difficulties. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:34.639 The expectation that this life is perfectly comfortable is absolutely easy, is just a walk in the park, is a very modern way of thinking, but it's not a biblical way of thinking. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.679 2 Corinthians 11.23. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:44.240 The Apostle Paul, arguably one of the most godliest Christians who ever existed, right? 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:45.200 We know Paul. 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:48.240 We know the Apostle Paul and how he spent his life. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:55.279 And yet in 2 Corinthians 11.23, at the end of that verse, he says, in stripes above measure. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.080 He says, I've I've faced stripes above measure. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:01.039 I've been in prison more frequent. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.679 I've faced death more often. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:08.399 He says, five times I was whipped 39 times across my back. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:11.600 He says, three times I was beaten with rods. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:22.240 He says, one time I was taken outside of the city, and the people of the city grabbed large rocks and they threw them and hurled them at me in order to kill me. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:29.200 And he got back up and he crawled back from that city and he went and he continued to preach the gospel. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.799 The apostle Paul says, three times I was shipwrecked. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:40.159 Then he goes on in the remaining verses and he keeps saying, in perils, in perils, in perils, in perils. 00:11:40.559 --> 00:11:57.360 You get the idea that the Apostle Paul recognized that this life, though he was doing a worthy thing, an important thing, a God-glorifying thing, it was not necessarily comfortable. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:02.080 Face trials, tribulations. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:08.879 First Peter 4 12 says, Beloved, think it not strange. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:23.279 Don't think that this is a foreign thing concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:28.159 Beloved, don't think this is strange. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.639 That you're going through a difficulty, that you're going through a trial. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:46.399 The fact of the matter is that sometimes in life, probably if you took the time to think about it, maybe a weekly thing, a daily thing, perhaps, that things don't always go as planned. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.960 They don't always go perfectly. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:55.440 There's struggles, and they might be minor inconveniences or mountain size problems. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.240 Now, they don't want to diminish the trial. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.679 The trial's real, and Jesus is the comforter, and he walks through those trials with you. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:13.440 But I think we have to remind ourselves this morning that there is a reality that trials do exist and they will persist. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:23.279 Sometimes, sometimes your brother and your sister-in-law move in. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:29.039 Arthur and Lauren moved in and they had to uh help me get that house ready, right? 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:35.039 And sometimes they move in, and now we have more people in the house that need showers, and sometimes you know what happens? 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.120 The plumbing gets messed up. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:39.919 And you have to become a plumber all of a sudden, right? 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.480 And it's a nuisance, it's an inconvenience. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:47.360 I didn't have that planned to have to fix that particular issue, right? 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:48.960 But things break. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:50.559 You gotta fix them. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:58.159 Sometimes the job that you were promised, it falls through. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:00.480 You were counting on it. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:07.759 Sometimes your crazy kid starts a fire in your house and you lose everything. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:10.879 That happened to my family? 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:12.159 That was me. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:24.879 Sometimes you're up all night taking cover of your family because they're sick. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.559 And then right after that, you get hit with something else, right? 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:31.759 Sometimes you lose the job. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:39.440 Sometimes you get diagnosed with something that was unexpected. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:42.720 You weren't anticipating it. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.679 You don't even really have the answers of why. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:52.159 Sometimes someone says something ugly about you behind your back or maybe even straight to your face. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:59.120 Sometimes you face discouragement because the plan isn't working out how you expected. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:06.159 My friend, we must understand that there's a reality of trials in this life. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:09.200 Trials are inevitable. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:12.480 This life was never going to be paradise. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:20.320 As long as there's brokenness, as long as there's sin, as long as there's this world, this life is not going to be perfect. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.000 It's not going to be paradise. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:23.519 The next life is. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:27.600 We can look forward to that, but this life, there's a reality of trials. 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:41.759 But if you're unaware of this truth, life will be more frustrating if you think this life is supposed to be a paradise and then suddenly you're hit with a trial, your whole world can come crashing down. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:45.600 And I'm not dismissing the difficulty of the trial. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.360 It can be very real. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:54.879 And there's at times opportunities where we lament towards God and we give God our care and we say, Lord, why is it like this? 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.480 Can you help me through this? 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:02.000 But we have to understand that trials persist in this life. 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.240 Not if, but when. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.039 When the trial hits. 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:16.240 Nor should we walk in this life, though, in a pessimistic view that everything in life that can go wrong just is gonna go wrong. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:29.120 We can live instead with the reality of trials, not to think that it's strange, and as well as the reality of God's plan within the trials. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.759 Notice he says diverse temptations. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.960 Or we could say it this way, various trials. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:41.200 Trials come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, don't they? 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:47.600 It can be, okay, a minor inconvenience or a mountain size problem. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:48.720 Both are trials. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:56.480 Here's what we have to understand: a trial is anything that you need God's grace to persevere through. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:00.720 It's anything that you need God's grace to persevere through. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:08.720 It can be a minor at times inconvenience where we at times we maybe even think of them as, oh, that's a first world problem. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:11.279 And we have those, right? 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:17.519 It might be an inconvenience, but it's a very real, though uh not a mountain size. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:23.839 It's a trial that you need to persevere through in Christ Jesus. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:26.720 Okay, an inconvenience. 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:37.599 On our wedding day, Liv took her friends to uh Dunkin' Donuts, and as she was pulling into the Dunkin' Donuts, she hit the curb the wrong way and her tire popped, right? 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:39.200 Man, that stinks. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:40.880 Your wedding day. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:56.240 Well, a while back, maybe a month or two, maybe longer than that now, uh, I was driving down the freeway in my truck, and I must have hit something, and the tires were about done, and my whole tire like exploded, and I'm on the side of the road there, right? 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:58.960 Tire pops. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:07.440 Last summer when I was out preaching in Ohio and uh Arthur was here and they were taking the van out to go pick up the kids, you know what happened? 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:08.960 The tire popped. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:12.960 And we look at that and we think, wow, that's that stinks, it's an inconvenience. 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:22.319 Now it's something that we can fix, we can address, but it is a small trial that we have to persevere through and we have to have the right attitude in. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:35.359 But if we don't know this reality, if we think that everything's gonna be perfect, if we think that nothing's ever gonna happen to us and nothing bad is ever going to happen at all, well then we can be very dismayed when that trial comes. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.279 It's not the end of the world, right? 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:38.880 A tire popping. 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:43.039 But if you experienced a flat tire, you know it's a bit of an inconvenience. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:47.599 The trial's anything that you need God's grace to persevere through. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:50.720 Sometimes it's just an inconvenience. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:56.880 Other times our trials are mountain-sized problems that alter our life forever. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:03.440 There are real illnesses that affect our life forever. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:04.720 And you know what? 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:10.799 We need God's grace in that trial, we need God's grace to persevere through it. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:14.720 Trials come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:16.720 You will face them. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.200 John 16, 33, this is what Jesus said. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:27.839 These things have I spoken unto you that you might have peace in the world, ye shall have tribulation. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.200 But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.400 In this world, you're gonna have difficulties. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:41.119 You're gonna have tribulation, you're gonna have trials, you're gonna have affliction, trials will come. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:45.839 But here's the question: how do we deal with them? 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:50.960 Number two, the response towards trials. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:20:03.039 James exhorts these Christians when ye fall into all sorts of trials, count it all joy. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.799 This is the response that we're gonna we're supposed to have. 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.400 By God's grace, we will have, and we'll look at this in just a moment. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.279 But there's a couple different responses that we can have. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:20.160 And the Old Testament gives us many examples of the most natural response that we have towards trials. 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:24.960 And the most natural response that we have towards trials is that of the children of Israel. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:37.920 The children of Israel were delivered from Egypt, they were delivered from bondage, they were delivered from slavery, they're being led by Moses through the wilderness into this promised land that they haven't seen yet, that they haven't got to yet. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:49.519 But as soon as they're in this wilderness, as soon as they've been delivered, they are immediately faced with a trial, a testing of their faith. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:56.160 And how they respond to it, the example that they leave for us is a negative example. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.400 They respond in disillusionment and complaint. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:21.759 They're disillusioned about it because they've been freed from slavery, they've been freed from their hard labor, they've been freed from being ruled by another, and yet when they run into the problem of water, they think, oh wow, I'm gonna complain about this, and we had it better back there. 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.519 We had it better in slavery. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:30.400 You know what this is? 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:38.559 They were disillusioned in the middle of the trial into thinking that they had it better back here. 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:40.079 Did they? 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:45.440 No, they didn't have it better in Egypt, they were slaves. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:53.519 The Egyptians were taking their children, their babies, from the womb and throwing them in the river to be killed. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:55.680 They had to hide their children. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.759 They worked day and night for in slavery to another. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:01.920 They lost their dignity. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:05.200 They did not have a thing better in Egypt. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:12.000 And yet, in the middle of a trial, they get disillusioned to think, I wish we were back there. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:14.960 We had it better over there. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:20.720 And when we are met with trials, this can be a temptation for us as well. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:23.680 Oh man, I started living for God. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:26.160 And I'm always trying to do this for God. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:35.039 And I've been faithfully trying to read the word and be a witness, but now my friends have kind of ostracized me, and nobody wants anything to do with me. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:38.559 And this thing fell through, and that thing's not going right. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.279 I had it better back then. 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:43.200 No, you did not. 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:57.920 Did not have it better before Jesus Christ, who rescued you from your sin, who promised you eternal life, who promises to walk with you and be with you every single day and every single moment. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:03.839 You are tempted to be disillusioned that you had it better back there. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:09.680 And in the trial, we're tempted to complain. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:13.759 That's what the children of Israel did. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.640 They have no water, they complain. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.039 They have no food, they complain. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.839 They have food that they're tired of, they complain. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:30.079 They have too much of the new food that they were originally tired of, the manna, and now they're tired of the quail, and now they complain and they complain and they complain. 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:36.240 But what God was trying to do is he was trying to test them. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:42.559 He was offering a trial so that they could learn to lean on him in greater dependence. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:48.400 But if we're not careful, we can fall into the same trap. 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:50.480 We're disillusioned. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.359 And we can make our complaint towards God. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:58.160 And we think God just wants to make my life miserable. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:04.000 My friend, no, he doesn't want to make your life miserable, but he does want to make you mature. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:09.359 He doesn't want to make your life miserable, but he does want to make you mature. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:14.000 We can respond to the trials in a life of complaint. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:20.640 But at the heart of complaining is a misunderstanding of God's purposes in the trials. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:26.319 So this is what James, Pastor James here in the epistle, this is what he addresses for us. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:28.319 This is where we need our heart change. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:33.759 Complaining comes when you only see the trial, not the purpose behind it. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:38.400 Complaining comes when you see the delay and not the destination. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.480 It comes when you see the struggle but not the completion. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:54.880 Louis Zamperini has one of the most compelling stories in the book Unbroken, where he was an endurance athlete who uh prepared and went to the Olympics. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:25:13.279 He was a prisoner of war for many years through World War II, and he came back and he also later, through uh the evangelistic crusade meetings of Billy Graham, became a Christian and was able to go back and forgive his torturers through that POW camp that he spent life in. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:25.839 But when he was training for the Olympics, his brother being his coach, he told Louis Zamperini, he said, one moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.559 He said, Louis, a moment of pain. 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:34.799 The endurance that you have to go through is worth the glory that is ahead. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:46.079 The moment of pain, the endurance that we have to go through within the trial is worth the maturing, the glory that we're going to reach through God's grace. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:50.240 We're only refined through the fire. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:54.799 We're only purified through the trials. 00:25:55.359 --> 00:26:05.839 You have to remember that diamonds are only formed over time under intense pressure and intense heat. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:14.960 Now, we have a choice of how we will face these trials and temptations. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:21.039 We can have a victim mentality or a victor's maturity. 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:26.079 A victim mentality or a victor's maturity. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:34.000 A victor's maturity knows the reality of trials, but also sees the reality of God in the trials. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:36.480 So what does James tell us? 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:40.480 Consider the trial with joy. 00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:43.119 Now that sounds kind of crazy, right? 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:45.359 What does he mean by this? 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.880 When you get sick, yippee! Yay, I'm sick. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.519 When the roof gets a leak, alright, yes. 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:57.279 The AC goes out, woohoo! Yeah. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.920 Is that what you think Pastor James is saying? 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:04.640 Consider it with joy. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:09.200 These trials hop up and down when all these bad things happen. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:10.559 Not exactly, okay? 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.079 Not exactly. 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:18.000 Considering this trial with joy is continued in verse number three and four. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:50.880 My brethren, count it all joy, consider it a joyful occasion when you fall into all sorts of trials, knowing this, knowing this, that the trying, the testing, the trial that you're in, the trying of your faith, it worketh patience, it works endurance, it works steadfastness, it works, we could say it this way, toughness in your life. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:28:05.119 But let endurance, let patience have her perfect work, let it come to completion, that you might be perfect or mature and entire, lacking or wanting nothing. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.960 What's James telling us? 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:28.799 You can consider the trial with joy because you know, you know the bigger purpose behind the trial, you know the bigger picture in the trial, you know what God is gonna use that trial for. 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:31.200 Knowing this. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:38.079 See, a victor's maturity sees the trial as an opportunity for God. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:45.839 And here's what God's gonna do: He is either gonna show up and walk with you through that trial. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:52.480 Sometimes God all he does is he shows up and he walks through the trial with you. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:29:07.680 He doesn't change the circumstance, he doesn't change the difficulty, he doesn't change anything on the exterior, but God is with you, walking right there, providing grace day after day after day. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.279 Do you know who he did that for? 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:11.200 Again, the Apostle Paul. 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:15.680 Three times he prayed, Lord, remove this thorn from my flesh. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:27.920 This is intense seasons of prayer where he's begging and he's asking God, Lord, would you please remove this trial, this affliction, this difficulty from my life? 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:30.960 And God doesn't remove it. 00:29:32.480 --> 00:29:36.640 He says, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:39.920 He says, Paul, I'm gonna show up. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:43.119 I'm gonna walk with you through this, Paul. 00:29:43.599 --> 00:29:49.200 You're actually gonna be stronger in your weakness than you would be without this affliction. 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:55.759 I'm actually gonna show up in some supernatural ways, and I'm gonna strengthen you for the work that I have called you to. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:06.880 See, sometimes God, He's gonna show up in your life, and the circumstance might not be removed, but you're gonna know God closer than you ever knew him before. 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.400 Sometimes God is gonna change it up. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:25.200 Sometimes, I believe, I believe that people that you can still be healed through prayer, that God can heal an affliction and ailment in your life. 00:30:25.440 --> 00:30:29.039 I believe that he can still restore relationships. 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:42.799 I believe that he can make the the issue that you're facing, he can change it, completely rearrange it, he can work in supernatural ways, and he shows up sometimes and he changes the situation. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:45.039 Sometimes he changes it. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:48.480 The book of Acts, the Apostle Peter is doing what is right. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:51.920 He is preaching the gospel, he gets thrown into prison. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:57.839 The church goes back and they pray and they seek the Lord and they say, Lord, would you please free Peter? 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:08.319 And Peter is met by an angel, and the angel delivers him out of jail, and the situation, the circumstance is completely changed. 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:14.240 Sometimes God can change the situation completely. 00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:26.480 But every time if we allow ourselves to face the trial properly, God is always going to grow us up. 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:29.279 He's gonna mature us in it. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:32.480 This is what James primarily focuses here. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:39.759 I gave us some things to consider in a broad sense of scripture, but this is what James is getting at in the text. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:56.720 He redirects the Christian that's facing trials to understand that God can grow you, mature you, change you as you consider the trial with joy instead of complaint. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:08.079 This is where we know, we know you have to know, you gotta recognize trials exist, but then you gotta know God's purpose behind it. 00:32:08.160 --> 00:32:16.720 And if you don't get this view, if you don't look at your trials from a biblical perspective, then you're gonna continue to struggle with those trials. 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:19.759 You're gonna be frustrated in the middle of those trials. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:27.759 You're not gonna know how to handle those trials appropriately and properly, like the children of Israel in the Old Testament, where they never came to maturity. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:37.920 The reason we consider the trial with joy instead of complaint is that we know God has a greater purpose within it. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:43.759 We know that God works all things together for good to those that love him and are called according. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:47.279 We know that God is at work in the middle of it. 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:54.880 God's not out to make you miserable, but he desires to mature you. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:01.359 Consider the trial with joy, knowing God has a purpose behind it. 00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:05.440 Lastly, this morning, the result of enduring trials. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:13.519 The result of going through this trial with endurance is that we would be mature. 00:33:14.319 --> 00:33:16.880 Trials are a testing of our faith. 00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:22.640 It's a testing of where does your dependence truly lie? 00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:31.440 When the testing comes, when the circumstances are difficult, where is your dependence actually at? 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:34.720 The testing of our faith, what does it produce? 00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:37.119 It produces the trying of your faith. 00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:40.799 It works patience, it works this endurance in your life. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:44.000 This another word we can use is steadfastness. 00:33:44.720 --> 00:34:04.559 But you have to allow the steadfastness to endure this trial, considering Christ, counting it all joy, and as you endure this trial at the end of it, God forms a more mature, a perfect, and entire believer wanting nothing. 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:11.280 The testing of your faith produces this patience, this endurance. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:17.119 Remember, this book, it's written to Christians. 00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:17.679 Okay? 00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:21.679 So they already have Christ living within them. 00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:30.000 We don't endure trials and afflictions through our own strength, but through the strength of Christ Jesus. 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:36.639 Philippians 4, 13 is a wonderful verse, and sometimes you see athletes use this. 00:34:36.800 --> 00:34:39.280 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:44.400 And I can score the goal this week through Christ, I can make the basket, right? 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:46.079 And that's all well and good. 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:49.920 But Philippians 4, the context of it, here's what Paul's saying. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:54.079 He's saying, I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. 00:34:54.320 --> 00:35:00.239 That if I'm going through a mountaintop of life, man, I can praise God through it, I can be content through it. 00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:06.639 But if I'm going through a valley of life, I can still be content through it, I can praise God through it. 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:07.280 How? 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:11.599 How in the world can you consider trials with joy? 00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:31.280 How in the world can these Christians who are persecuted, who have had to flee their home, who don't have a home, who are facing uh just so much around them from social pressures and uh through physical pressures, how can they consider, James, a trial with joy? 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:32.480 How can they do this? 00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:34.159 Philippians 4.13. 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:40.960 I can do all things through Christ Jesus, which strengtheneth me. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:43.840 Jesus lives within you. 00:35:44.079 --> 00:35:50.960 You know Jesus Christ, he lives within you, and he can strengthen you through the difficulty. 00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:54.800 He can strengthen you through the trial. 00:35:55.519 --> 00:36:07.679 You see, we can endure trials through Christ's strength, who lives in us, because Jesus was able to endure the most significant trial on our behalf. 00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:37.679 Hebrews 12 tells us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured, was steadfast, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, for consider him, consider Christ that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest he be wearied and faint in your minds. 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:43.840 How can we actually face the most horrific, difficult trials? 00:36:46.000 --> 00:36:47.599 It's only through Christ's strength. 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:53.280 Trials come to everyone. 00:36:54.480 --> 00:36:58.960 If you're here this morning and you know Jesus Christ, we're gonna face trials. 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.599 If you're here this morning you don't know Jesus Christ, you're gonna face trials. 00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:06.320 Everyone faces trials. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:15.920 Don't believe the social media feed that shows all the highlights and you think, oh, well, they don't know Jesus and they're living however and their life is perfect. 00:37:16.159 --> 00:37:18.960 No, my friend, they face trials just like anyone else. 00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:20.960 There's a vast difference. 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:24.719 You can face trials in Christ's strength. 00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:27.920 You can face trials knowing there's a greater hope. 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:32.960 You can face trials knowing that he's growing you and forming you and maturing you. 00:37:34.719 --> 00:37:39.440 But if you don't know Jesus this morning, I promise you'll face trials too. 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:54.159 And sometimes what God does is he allows those trials in your life to get you to a position where you realize that you need a relationship with him. 00:37:56.880 --> 00:37:58.239 Sometimes that's what God does. 00:37:58.559 --> 00:38:00.239 That's what he did in my family's life. 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:03.599 He allowed a difficult trial. 00:38:04.079 --> 00:38:04.639 Several. 00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:10.000 In fact, if you get a chance to talk to my parents and through our testimony, several different trials, right? 00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:12.079 And he used those things to what? 00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:13.760 To bring us to himself. 00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:17.519 So you might be here this morning and you don't know Jesus. 00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:19.920 You're gonna face trials just the same. 00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:28.239 The purpose behind it is not for God to make you miserable, but so that you can have a relationship with him. 00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:31.039 You're here this morning and you're a Christian. 00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:40.079 There's a real reality of those trials, but by God's grace, you can count it all joy when you fall into various, all sorts of trials. 00:38:40.480 --> 00:38:44.159 Knowing this, you have the bigger picture. 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:47.840 You know the end of the story, you know the outcome. 00:38:48.079 --> 00:38:50.000 You know how God can use it. 00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:55.280 You know that he's either gonna show up, he's gonna change up, but he certainly is gonna grow you up. 00:38:55.599 --> 00:38:57.199 And so may we look to him. 00:38:57.599 --> 00:39:03.199 I am sure across the room this morning, probably several different trials that we're facing. 00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:08.559 He tells us to cast your care on him, for he cares for you. 00:39:08.960 --> 00:39:14.079 And later we'll look at, he he tells us that if you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:15.760 You lack wisdom in the trial. 00:39:15.840 --> 00:39:16.880 What are you doing in this, Lord? 00:39:16.960 --> 00:39:19.199 How can I what am I supposed to do in this Lord? 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:20.159 Let him ask of God. 00:39:20.320 --> 00:39:22.639 We'll look at that more next week. 00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:24.880 But let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer this morning. 00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:27.760 And why don't you just pray in your own heart today? 00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:30.400 I hope this message was a blessing to you. 00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:36.480 If you are in the Phoenix area, we would love to have you come in for a visit. 00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:40.079 We're located on Indian School and 23rd Avenue. 00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:45.360 If we can be a help to you in any other way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. 00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:54.320 Or would love to answer any questions that you had about the sermon, or maybe a question that you have about eternal life and a relationship with God. 00:39:54.559 --> 00:39:58.559 We're here to serve you and to point you to Jesus Christ. 00:39:58.719 --> 00:40:01.199 Thank you so much for watching this message.