James

Transcript

As my brother Phil astutely pointed out, we're going to be studying Paul today.

No, James. The epistle of James will be in. We'll do a little introduction into the epistle, and then we'll take a look at some of the things that James had to address in his time. Some of the stuff was the influence of Greek thinking, or worldly thinking, which of course affects us. But today, we're going to take a look at enduring trials. The trials in James's time, they were under heavy persecution from both their fellow Jew and from wherever they fled to. Of course, anti-Semitism was always present. So James is encouraging them to endure trials. And of course, we know life brings trials. We've all got trials to deal with. So that's what we'll take a look at this morning. If anyone's got anything they'd like to interject with as we go along, just shout it out.

So James, he's the half-brother of Jesus. This is in Mark here. This is when Jesus is out. He's in the synagogues, and he's teaching. And the Jews are amazed at his incredible wisdom. But then they're like, ah, he's just this carpenter, right? He's the son of Mary. And he's the brother of James, Judas, and so forth. And they're just like, this can't be this special guy that is speaking such great, powerful words. We know this guy. And then Paul, he says, then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him 15 days. And I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. So some have thought that maybe James was written by someone else other than the half-brother of Jesus. But it is written by, most believe that it is written by James, the half-brother of Jesus. Here we have a nice little picture of James and Paul greeting each other with a slow dance. You didn't see this too often. But it's a good custom, I think they must have had. We have an AB meeting tomorrow, a business meeting. Maybe we'll bring up this. This is how we should embrace one another. So again, I mentioned the persecution. This is his audience. These Christians have scattered out throughout the Roman Empire. And in Acts it says, while those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews. So this is his audience. This is what he's trying to encourage them in a time where they're being persecuted. Of course, God uses this to spread the gospel message. And then when Jesus says, where I go, you can't follow. So they're wondering, where is he going to go? Where won't we find him? He's going to go to the dispersed among the Gentiles.

So that's where the message is going. And that's who he's trying to encourage to endure these trials. Now, Jesus' family didn't believe in him as the Messiah. John says, even his brothers didn't believe in him as the Messiah. Even though they're hearing these great words that he's speaking, they didn't quite get the full picture. And Jesus here in Mark, Jesus has been out teaching. He's been out healing people. And there's been quite a crowd that has gathered. Jesus then retreats into a house. And he's with his apostles. He's selected his 12 apostles. They move into this house. And I think he wants to have this intimate time with them. But the house is surrounded by people who want to hear more. They want to see some miracles and healings. And also the Pharisees are out to kill him. And his family hears about this. And they're outside. And they want to get him. And they think, we've got to get him out of here. He's a little too enthusiastic. Hey, he's getting a little carried away. Don't mind what he's saying. He's out of his mind. They're trying to remove him. They don't quite get that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, yet. And then this is one of those Messianic passages. I've become a stranger unto my brethren. Jesus came to the Jews to serve the Jews. And they rejected him. Even his disciples eventually flee out of fear from him. And then this last passage, this really speaks about the loneliness, I think, of Christ. I'm an alien unto my mother's children. The world can be a cruel place. But the home should be a place of comfort. And Jesus, he didn't even have that amongst his siblings. And it says that his mother's children. I think there's an intimacy there that's being portrayed. We think of the patriarchs who had multiple wives and many siblings. But who were the close ones? Well, the ones you would have drawn closer to would have been from the same mother, like a Joseph and a Benjamin had a close relationship because they were from the same mother. So this intimacy in Jesus just speaks of his loneliness. So they don't believe in him as the Messiah. But a big change is about to take place. And that's the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians, it says here, then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, convinced by the resurrection. And of course, why wouldn't he be? Look at the astonishment on his face. He's in awe. What? I just saw you. You died. No one survived the crucifixion. It was brutal. Our brother Joel gave a very nice prayer last week. Said something along the lines of, Jesus, sorry you had to go through this because it was torture. But we're glad you did. Is that close, Joel? Yeah, it was very nice. And yeah, we're glad that he did. But it was a torture. No one survived. So this is the look of astonishment. You get how?

And then it must have clicked. He is the Son of God. And all those sayings and things that Jesus said would have come back to him. And he's moved by this. And we'll see what an effect that the resurrection has on James. And the rest of his family, they're told to, the Peter and John and the apostles, they're all told to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. And it says, and these all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. So they're all moved by this as, of course, they should be. It's an incredible event. The resurrection from the dead. And it reminds me of the raising of Lazarus. I think we'll turn and we'll read a few passages from John 11. So Lazarus, he's died. And the word gets to Jesus. And Jesus decides he's gonna wait to glorify God. And people have come to mourn with the family, some of the unbelieving Jews. So it says, I'll pick it up in verse 36. It says, then the Jews said, see how he loved him. It says, Jesus wept. But some of them said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor. For he has been there four days.

Then Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God? So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank thee for you have heard me. I knew that you would always hear me. But I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. Then he said this. Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, the unbelieving Jews, had seen what Jesus did and put their faith in him. Of course, right? He just raised someone from the dead, right? So some of them are like, obviously he was sent from God. He is the son of God. Of course, others, they still didn't believe and they ran and they told the Pharisees who plotted to kill him. So, you know, the power of the resurrection in a few weeks, you know, we've got Easter coming up where, you know, Christianity is supposed to, that's supposed to commemorate the resurrection. But unfortunately, you know, it's been diluted because of false beliefs, right? The immortal soul dies and goes up to heaven. There's no power to the resurrection. Who cares about the resurrection if I'm in heaven, right? That's the problem with false doctrine, right? For us, the resurrection, Paul says, you know, if there is no resurrection, we're just wasting our time, right? There is a power to the resurrection, I'm afraid, that has been diluted. It's turned into a Easter is a children's holiday now, isn't it, unfortunately? But, you know, this is how we're gonna look, right? That look of astonishment. You know, I wake up, I should wake up every morning, but sometimes, you know, sometimes I do, sometimes I say, I wonder if today my angel will appear to me and tell me today's the day. Of course, the first thing he's gonna say is what? Fear not, right? Because when he shows up, no matter how prepared you are in your mind, we're gonna look like this, right, astonished. And it's time to go. And we're probably gonna, we're not gonna be able to say anything. Probably gonna have to grab our hands like they took a lot up. Come on, let's go, it's time to go. Or if I'm asleep and we're raised, it'll be the same thing, right? What? Yeah, come on, it's time to go. You've been raised from the dead. Power of the resurrection. And Jesus, he's looking forward to the resurrection. He gets to raise his mother. He gets to raise his brother James up. This is a great event that he is looking forward to. This is what he says in John six. And this is the Father's will who hath sent me that all that he hath given me, I shall lose nothing. We have been given to Jesus. The sacrifice of Jesus was not gonna be in vain. It was not gonna, oh, sorry, no one believed, we'll have to try something else. Wasn't gonna happen. And Jesus knows who has been given to him by the Father. He says, I won't lose you, I know where you are. And I will raise you up again the last day. No man can come to me except the Father who sent me, right? He keeps repeating, he sent me because it's the only way I would be able to have the power to raise you because he's given me that power. And he has, unless the Father has drawn him in, right? He can't come to me unless the Father draws you. Or that word can mean dragged. Some of us, myself, dragged, right? My angel's gonna say, what took you so long, right? Really, I had a lot of work with you. Why did you, I'm a slow learner, what can I say? But some were drawn, right? By the grace of God were drawn by the Father to Jesus. And then you've got the promise. Jesus guarantees it. I will raise him up at the last day. It's a guarantee. Is there anybody, is there any man more trustworthy than Jesus? Of course not, and he guarantees it.

He who eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood. Well, who is that? Well, that's gonna be us. That's why we're here today. When we partake of the memorial, we are taking in the life of Jesus, right? That's what we're promised to do when we put on that saving name and we take of that bread and that wine. We're taking in his life to live a sacrificial life, to follow his example. And what does he say? Well, the person that does that, they have eternal life, right, that's past tense, right? That is a guarantee. You have already got it. We all here possess eternal life if we just keep going, keep enduring to the end, no matter the trials, we endure. And he says again, the guarantee, I will raise him up. That's the power of the resurrection, right? Revelation, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore. And he has the keys to Hades, end of death, right? Jesus says, don't fear the man that can put you in the grave. Fear the one who can leave you there. That's him. He opens up the gate, he's got the keys. He can take you out or he can leave you right where you are. That's the power that this man has. That's the power of the resurrection. And it's motivating. It was motivating for these guys. It was motivating for all that Jesus saw

after his resurrection, right? They suffered some pretty gruesome deaths, some tough persecutions. When trials come into your life,

people often either draw closer to God or they move away further. So this really built up their faith, as we'll see, certainly with James. So James, he opens up, first verse, James, a servant of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

This is how James sees himself. There's nothing about, ah, he's my older brother. He's my half-brother, Jesus. That relationship, that sibling relationship has been superseded by the master-servant relationship. James, that's how he sees himself, I'm a servant. That's the more important relationship that he has with Jesus. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus

who you have crucified, both Lord and Christ, right? That same Jesus that you thought, oh, I know, he's a brother of James, his father's a carpenter, I know, he lives over there, I went to school with his brothers and sisters, this. No, that same one, that one, he was no ordinary man. He was the Messiah, he was the anointed one, and you kill them, right? And they're like, oh, right? I think it says there, they pierced their heart, and they, what can we do? What could you possibly do? You were there screaming, crucify him! And it's all Peter says, repent and be baptized. He was just no ordinary man, and by this point, James knows this. Jesus says, it is the spirit that giveth life, the flesh profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you, this spirit, they are life. Jesus spoke, when he spoke, he spoke about spiritual things, heavenly things, things to attain to eternal life. It wasn't just fleshly things that, there's no prophet in them, right? That's what you can be concerned with. I'm concerned with the spiritual things that give life, eternal life. I'll tell a quick story. So my college roommate, he's been talking to him about four or five times a week for the last three years. He's got a son that has bipolar, and he doesn't know how to deal with it,

and nor does his wife. And so he's been into some mental hospitals, a couple of them, and you know, quoting to my friend, it didn't work, so they've just kind of ignored it. And so the son's been self-medicating, and my friend gets very frustrated, and I've been telling him for quite some time he's gonna get help, he's gonna get help. So finally I convince him to call up his son's doctor and tell him the situation about the mental health, and he's gotta get put into McLean's. And so he finally does it, and he's got a lot of other family things going on, so there's a lot of stress in his life. And he's walking, and I'm walking, and we're talking on the phone, going for our walks as we normally do, and he goes, oh man, I tell you, my chest. I'm getting this, what a pressure on my chest. And I kind of jokingly say, oh, are you having a heart attack? And he goes, well no, no, because I'm too young to have a heart attack, you know, I'm in good shape, and I don't have any numbness down my arm, or anything like that.

And I said, well, you know, you're not too young, you're 57, you know, it's not out of bounds for someone to have a health condition. And I said, you know, it could be stress, you know, you've been under certainly a lot of stress in your family, that's for sure. And he said, yeah, so long story short, about an hour, I convince him to go to the hospital. I go, just go to the ER. He didn't wanna go because there was a lot going on. He had hockey the next day, he plays in this old man league, and he's gonna go skiing on the weekend, and he had a lot of work to do. And so he goes, I just wanna put it off. And so I say, you know, I convince him, just go to the ER, tell him you're having chest pains, you cut the line, I don't wanna spend all day at the ER. I go, nah, you tell him you got chest pains, you go, they take you right in. So he goes there, he gets an EK, and he's texting me while he's in there. He goes, EKG came back, no problem, waiting for the blood test. And I said, oh, okay, that's good, maybe it was just stress, but at least you know. Oh, no, blood test, no good. I'm in a critical condition. They're rushing me into the Lahey Clinic. There's a surgeon waiting for me. Right, and I'm like, whoa, you know, so the next day he calls me up, four stints, 100% blockage, 100% blockage, 95% block, 93. Now he's 165 pounds, exercises all the time, eats pretty well, so he never thought that this was gonna happen to him. And he's like, I can't believe it, you know, wow. He goes, you know, you saved my life convincing me. And I said, yeah, but I could have very easily convinced you, don't be a baby. I would wait till Monday if I were you. That's what men do, right? I go, you're gonna miss skiing. This might be your last time to go skiing, I would wait. But he said one thing, he said, he goes, it kinda feels like I'm having a heartburn, but I never have heartburn. I remember a coworker of mine who had a heart, I said, what did it feel like? And he had mentioned, it felt like I was having a heartburn. And if I didn't have that in my mind, I might have just told him, ah, just blow it off. And so he goes and he gets all that done. He meets with his cardiologist who he knows about a week later, and he tells him, boy, did you dodge a bullet. And he's like, yeah, he goes, I'll tell ya, I almost didn't come. He goes, a friend of mine convinced me to come. He goes, I had other things I wanted to do. I had hockey the next day, I wanted to go skiing on the weekend, and he goes, what do you think? He goes, would I have died? He goes, you wouldn't have made it. He goes, I'm not sure if you waited much longer in the day. You would have made it. So my friend's like, can you believe it? I almost died. And I said to him, wow, I know. He goes, I was in the ambulance, butch, and I'm looking at the guy, the empty, and I can see the concern on his face. And I'm going, I can't believe, I'm not ready to die. I can't believe I'm gonna die. And I said, so what does that make you think about your mortality? He goes, well, the doctor said, you know, it could happen again. And I said, no, no, no, what about beyond that? Bigger picture. I don't know. I go, no, like, what happens to you next? What happens to you when you die? I don't know, I didn't think of that. I go, how did you not think about that? It's just common sense. You're gonna die. Don't you think what's gonna happen? What about God? Did any of that come? Maybe I shouldn't have wasted my time. Maybe I should have paid attention. He goes, no, that's your thing. You're religious. I'm not, I didn't think of any of that. Didn't even dawn on me. I go, how's that possible? And he goes, you know what I was thinking about? I was thinking my taxes weren't done. I go, are you kidding me? Your taxes weren't done? The spiritual things meant nothing to him. Blind to him, deaf to the spiritual things, right? That's what Jesus says. I speak to spiritual things. We want those spiritual things. We go for them, we grasp them. We understand the importance. But I'm afraid to many, like my friend, they're meaningless. They're just foolish words. Just like I was speaking a different language to him. And that could be me, right? That could be you. By the grace of God, he has dragged me here. But I could very easily be that man who those words mean nothing. James is a leader in the Ecclesia. James, Peter, John, those reputed to be pillars in the community gave me and Barnabas, this is Paul, the right hand of fellowship, right? That's a leadership role. James, I don't know what path James was on prior to the resurrection, but when he sees the resurrected Christ, it makes a big difference. It's a big impact on his life. He's a leader in the early Ecclesia. When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. The next day, Paul and the rest of us went to see James and all the elders were present. James was one of the elders, leaders in the Ecclesia. The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about all the wonders God had done among the Gentiles. When they finished, James spoke up. Brothers, listen to me, Simon has described to us how God has first shown his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. James, he's a leader, big impact. He has now dedicated his life. James has written about 40, 50 A.D. or so. He dies about 62 A.D., he's a martyr. Of course, it's not in the scriptures. It's his death, but according to Josephus,

James is summoned by the Sanhedrin. You're gonna come before us and you're gonna denounce Jesus as the Messiah. He shows up, he obeys the command to show up, but of course, he doesn't denounce Jesus. He says he is the Christ. He is the Anointed One. He is the Son of God. He is the future judge of all the world. And he is promptly stoned and clubbed to death. Now, he has to know, showing up there and saying what he's gonna say, that he's gonna be killed. Just as Jesus knew he was going to die by crucifixion, James going there, no, I say this, I'm gonna die. But he didn't care, because his half-brother, the Messiah, has the keys to the gate and the resurrection. And he will pull him out of that grave. He doesn't fear the one who can put him in the grave. He fears the one who can leave him there. So that's the impact of the resurrection, knowing that Jesus has guaranteed it. And it speaks of that impact that the resurrection has. He's not fearful. And then what's he gonna say? Because he's writing to people about suffering persecution. Is he gonna go and not go? Is he gonna run and hide? And he's saying, no, we gotta endure these persecutions, these trials in our lives. So he just goes in quite confidently, says what he has to say, and this is how we endure it. We have the hope of the resurrection, just like we do, brothers and sisters. We don't have much to fear. We get the hope of the resurrection. Hopefully, we don't suffer persecution today in North America, maybe one day we will. I don't know how I would respond. But with a faith, with a strong faith, we might respond like this as well. James says, my brother encountered all joy when you fall into various trials.

That's a strange saying, right? Trials and joy really don't kinda go together. He says, knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work that he may be perfect and tire-locking nothing. So these trials, we fall into them. These are the things that come into our lives unexpectedly. Some things, you know, you don't take care of yourself health-wise, you're gonna have some health problems, right? That's just gonna be what it is. But sometimes things come upon us completely unexpectedly, out of our control, and these things can happen. In the various trials, well, of course, there are problems and pressures of life. There are many, and there are varied, right? We all go through something. We all have something, right? Jesus, what does Jesus say? You know, don't worry about tomorrow, right? It's gonna have its own problems. You're always gonna have some problems. So there are wide, there are many, there are varied, the struggles that we go through. And then Peter, let's read from 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter one.

We'll pick it, we'll pick it up right in the beginning. 1 Peter chapter one, verse one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Glacier, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Remember, right, we've been given to Jesus. We've been called, we've been chosen through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for the obedience to Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of his blood. Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus, right? That's what we have. And into an inheritance, right? That's what we are, right? We have inherited those promises that can never perish, spoil or fade, they're kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. It's guaranteed. In this, you greatly rejoice, right? We rejoice in those promises. Though now, for a little while, you may have to suffer grief and all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes, even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed, right? So, yeah, we're gonna go through some trials. I mean, life is difficult, you're gonna have those. And there's also the testing of the faith, right? Sometimes these trials are brought into our lives to prove our faith, to strengthen our faith. And this is Paul. He's out preaching and they don't like what he has to say, so they stone him. They think they've killed him, but then he pops right up and he goes on to say, they preached the good news in the city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Coney, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples, encouraging them to remain true in the faith. And Paul says, I'm gonna go to the church We must go through hardships to enter the kingdom of God. No one skates into the kingdom. No one escapes the suffering of the flesh, right? There's always a price to pay and no one escapes it. He says, knowing this in verse three, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, right? The testing of your faith. Now, I don't always, I don't think of trials that I've gone through. I don't really, I'm like, oh, is my faith being tested? But it is, right? And it worketh patience, toil, intense effort, right? It doesn't come easy. And what's the result? A cheerful endurance, right? We endure to the end. The hope is for endurance to the end, a cheerful endurance.

Paul writes in Romans, not only so, but with glory and tribulation, really? Knowing that tribulation worketh patience. Patience, experience and experience, hope, right? This endurance, we stand our ground. It builds up our faith. So no matter what comes our way, we can stand our ground. We survive, we persevere. And what do we have? We have this hope, right? We have the kingdom, no matter what, good times, bad times, we look up, and what do we see? We see the kingdom. No matter what struggle I'm going through, that's my end result. I see the kingdom. Those who don't know spiritual things, my friend looks up, he doesn't see anything. He's blind, so he looks back down. It's a temporary thing. It's the only thing of concern to those that don't understand the spiritual thing. But we've been blessed because we get the vision of the kingdom, and it helps us to get through tough times. God is working and work within us, molding our character, preparing us for the age to come. We work now, there's work to be done and necessary now, but also a preparation for the work of the kingdom age.

He then says, James goes on in chapter five, take my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy who endure. You heard of the patience of Job, right? And Job's suffering, and you saw in the end, the Lord was very pitiful and tender mercy, right? Though we know the struggles that Job went through, right? I mean, devastating things. Most would have walked away, and yet he endured in his faith. And you know, for us, we can just flip a few pages and say, ah, it all worked out in the end for Job. His life was greater at the end. God bless him, right? The view of the kingdom is what we get there, a little kingdom age snapshot. But when you're going through the trial, sometimes you can't see, sometimes you can't see what that end is, because you're so consumed. That's what we don't wanna do, is be overwhelmed by the trial that we go through, that we lose our faith. I'm gonna close early. I think I'm just gonna do one more slide. Because we have a business meeting, I think we're gonna discuss timing and whatnot. So I'm gonna give us plenty of time to stretch our legs, meet with one another. So Job, it was a man in the land of us whose name was Job, the man was perfect, complete, upright, right? It speaks of moral character. One that feared God and shunned evil. He believed him, and he obeyed. This is what we would like to have written about us, isn't it? And yet this man suffered trials. So we should expect trials in our lives. And what helped Job when these trials came along? He had a lifetime of faithful practice, good spiritual habits already in place when times were good. So when the tough times came, he already had these in place. And we are steadfast in the apostle's doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer. Really simple things. If we keep at these things, right? Brother Rich spoke last week about prayer. There's no excuse. We have no excuse not to have a strong prayer life. It's easy to do. Set aside five, 10 minutes, a couple of times a day for prayer, it's easy. We meet together, right? That's what we're gonna do later. We're breaking the bread. Remember the memorial. You think Jesus is happy when you look into this ecclesiast and says, oh, look at the remnant. They're still meeting to remember me. They remember the sacrifice. They know what it was. They believe in me. They believe that I'm the one. I am the resurrection. It pleases him. We share in fellowship together. We do our readings. Okay, I think I'm gonna stop. Good enough? Okay.

Transcript

well good morning everyone

Um you know last time we were in James and we talked about uh you know James being the halfb brotherther of Jesus and you know the great impact it had on him

uh with the resurrection right he really he really turned around and he became uh you know a very influential uh leader in the in the early Christian church Um and he's um you know he he's in you know it's a time of great persecution for the Christians and James is encouraging them to endure these trials and that uh you know God is molding us and trying to perfect us with these trials in our lives So we talked he said you know knowing this that the trying of your faith workketh patience right you know our faith is going to be tested right we get this testing of your faith and you got to work through it right great intense personal effort to get through it But then there's a a cheerful endurance

uh or as Paul says in Romans right we glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation workketh is patience This patience right to help us to stand our ground Gives us this endurance to work through these trials that inevitably come upon all of us right and then this brings experience And of course we can get through all of these things because of the hope that we have right we've got a vision of the kingdom that many don't have And they crumble under trials but we don't We want to persevere through these trials because God is working in us He's trying to prepare us for the age to come molding our character you know and it's not unreasonable for God to say you know uh I I want your character to change I want it to be like mine because he's willing to share his divine nature with us So it's not an unreasonable request that he says "Be like me."

And of course then James brings up the example of suffering and he brings up uh the example of Job right take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Behold we count them happy who endure You've heard of the patience of Job right and then at the end the Lord you know he doubles everything that he had right and it's kind of a kingdom age picture for us Yeah there's going to be struggles in this life but in the kingdom they'll all be forgotten Uh and so he he spoke of Job right what what did it mention about Job right he was perfect He was upright He uh shunned evil and he feared God right and these were the characteristics of Job how God saw him He was a man who had faithful practices And so when the tough times came you know those faithful practices were there to help him get through um get through those tough times So as we move on he he's again he's encouraging the brethren to endure Um he's telling them you know Jesus will be back and these afflictions will be alleviated He's speaking of AD70 at the time But for us you know the kingdom Christ is coming back and all our afflictions will be a a distant memory Right so he gives the analogy of the farmer Behold the farmer right waiting for the harvest to come right he's got this great patience Uh the farmer has to have as he waits right but he's not just idally waiting by twiddling his thumbs He's got work to do He has to prepare the crops right so there's a lot of work to be done just as we have to prepare for Christ's return How do we want him to find us when he comes back and it's going to be working right and these faithful practices that we build up will also help us when times of trouble come upon us So the farmer has to prepare the soil right it's got to be good soil for that seed to grow Then he's going to lay the seed right that's our minds The soil is our minds and the seed of course is the word of God Right we got to be prepared We got to cut out some time in the day to sit down You don't want to rush through those readings I've done it many times and you walk away because then you lack what the water is going to bring The understanding right i don't even know what I just read I read it so fast I was I had to get to work you know so you got to carve out some time of the day to prepare our minds to take in that word So we do have understanding right that farmer's got to water that lots of water right it takes a while for the stuff to the word of God to get into our minds that we understand And then after we understand then we can apply it to our lives And then the farmer's got to he's got to remove those weeds He's got to go weeding because that chokes out the seed And the and the weeds of course represent the uh cares of this world that can take us away from those spiritual things right i'm just too busy at work um career oriented or I've got these other struggles in my life that are just consuming my thoughts and it's the cares of the world that drowned out

um that that hope that we can have So and then he's got to prune right he's got to cut off those branches that aren't producing any good fruit right for us got to remove those bad habits that we can develop and uh prune those cut those right out of our lives and replace them with good habits good spiritual

habits So God working in our lives So even when we're going through the trials that maybe God brings into our lives to mold us it's not like he doesn't care right god cares for us all the time Uh you know Jesus says you know uh not two sparrows sold for a penny right yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of my father and even the very hairs of your head are all numbered So don't be afraid You're worth more than many sparrows right god cares for us right uh are the angels right not all ministering spirits set forth to minister to them who are shall be heirs of salvation That's us We are the heirs through our baptism into Christ Jesus We're heirs of the kingdom That's pretty incredible Now the angels are there to minister to us not necessarily prevent trials from coming into our lives though they could but to help us through those trials again And those trials are there to to mold our character And just the psalm psalmist says just as a father has compassion on his children so the Lord has compassion on those that fear him For he himself knows our frame He's mindful that we're just dust He's not asking us to do something that we're not capable of He's not giving a trial that oh this should crush them That's not what he's doing right he knows our weaknesses There's no one who knows our weaknesses better than God does

So we'll look at um quickly the the trials in Joseph's life right he had plenty of them right hated and rejected by his brothers left to die in a pit sold into slavery falsely accused right Piper's wife And then he's imprisoned right this is he's in prison for like 13 He's 17 when this all comes upon him and he's in prison for like 13 years now He had that vision right he had those dreams and of course he told his family that you know his brothers weren't too pleased with it You we're going to bow down to you What and he you know they weren't so they weren't too happy But he he could see that oh God has a purpose I mean what kind of a dream that must have been because it kept them You don't hear anything in the scripture about him being in prison going God I thought there was a plan You know what's what's going on well poor me I'm in prison That that that that get that those dreams get him through that there's a purpose I don't know what it is yet right but there is and then finally when he is elevated God elevates him number two in Egypt And then then he reveals himself to his brothers And of course they're upset right oh it's Joseph Oh what why did we do what we did right he says "Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me here for God did send me to before you to preserve life God sent me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth to save your lives by a great deliverance." He knew he says "No this is all part of God's plan He was working in me." Now when you know again when when he does he realize that God's working in his life I got to think it's those dreams right that he had those dreams at seven and he hung on to them and said there's a purpose here he certainly learned patience he's in prison and then finally he's elevated but so he suffers for like 13 years and then he lives like another 70 or 80 years after that so we suffer for a small time now for eternity with

God So why do trials come into our lives well Deuteronomy says "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us to our children forever that we may do all the words of his law." Or Paul in Romans says "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out." Well you know what sometimes trials come into our lives and uh we don't know why Often when we're in the trial we might not know why Sometimes later you can connect the dots as to why something was brought into your life And sometimes you know we might have to wait for the angels to come and get us and they might explain it to us Sometimes we don't know And that's when our trust in the Lord comes into play But um I I'll just tell a quick story You know again you know when you can connect those dots in your life and look back to a trial you went through and see ah now I now I get it I uh I was in Abington a month ago teaching a CYC class And after the class I was talking with U brother Rich Senior and sister lovely sister Judy I'm sure they won't mind me sharing the story but if you didn't know Rich's dad um came into the truth at age 70 And I said ' Rich your father came in at 70 I go you know you know I I tell people you know I was talking to one one friend and I said 'You know there's really there's two times when it's too late to turn to God Uh when you die it's too late There's no like oh can you explain yourself you're dead And the other time is when Christ has come because you can't live by faith anymore because here he is And I said 'You know but you know personally I think there's a certain age you get to where your pride comes in I don't know if it's 40 50 60 Certainly by 70 you know 70 you might say "Yeah you can't teach a dog an old dog a new trick." Or I kind of know life I'm not changing now Right pride gets into the what am I supposed to say i for 50 years I've been living my life wrong and now I'm going to make a change And people will fight that

And I said 'Wh did your father at 70 decide to make this great change?' So he told me a story He said uh he said 'When I was two years old we lived in an Jen you know this story it's a great story So he goes "We lived in an apartment building on the third floor." And he goes "I had some older sisters and they were out on the balcony and they were shaking the railings." And he goes "And they had loosened the railings." When I go out there and as a two-year-old and I do what my sisters

did fell right off three floors He goes "I broke every bone in my body Shouldn't have survived It should have been dead." And the doctors told my father "Wow I can't believe it But he's going to have trouble walking If he walks he'll walk with a severe limp." And he says "My father

um when I got out of the hospital tied my feet to a tricycle and made me ride that thing everywhere That was my physical therapy and I rode it everywhere." And of course Rich if you don't know Rich grew up to be a big football high school football star right he never had a limp And Rich said uh he goes "My father saw God working in me when I survived that fall." And he says then Rich uh he says Judy and I went through our own trial when we lost a child and that made Rich Judy was obviously quite upset and uh Rich was going to find out answers as to why that would happen and Rich was working in a a nursing home and on the weekends of course all types of priests and reverends and stuff would come in and they'd preach and Rich was there ready He was reading his Bible and he'd say me these and they couldn't give him a satisfactory answer

And then he was uh he was frustrated and uh was in an elevator and I forget what he said but he said something like someone has to know something about this and in the elevator happened to be an elderly Chrisadelfian sister and she said what you got some questions about the Bible and he said yeah he goes well you just need a Bible class and he goes to the Bible class one thing leads to another and Rich says so my father saw from two years old when I survived when I shouldn't have that God's got a plan for me and then he saw the change in me when I found the truth and then he saw how I was raising my children his grandsons and he said there's something and he goes "So when I spoke to him he just absorbed it really because he always thought and so Rich is able to connect." I go "Boy that's a great connection from when you you know and the impact you have on your father and then you know your children and so on." And so there's a connection for those struggles for those trials that we go through that that you know brings it all brings it all about Now sadly the um his mother uh did not accept the truth because she couldn't give up the false hope of going to heaven and seeing her family You know that's the that's the real trouble and sadness of false teaching But but it's it's a good story isn't it

and then we've got this in second Corinthians Why do trials come into our lives the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God So imagine taking that trial that you're going through that you're struggling with and thinking of somebody else I might take this trial that I'm going and I can help someone who goes through it Right sometimes you know you you can't give you know Tammy had a couple of miscarriages I'm kind of I was useless But another woman who went through that could have given her comfort I couldn't have given her comfort I didn't go through it Right and now Tammy could say that to someone who had one I I had one also right um but to have that mindset it's service to our brothers and sisters that we could help them out And when I read this uh I always think of uh Sister Sandy's mother when Robbie died in a terror attack And this basically what she said Is that correct Steve right That's basically what she said is we can help someone who goes through such a tragedy And of course uh and she you know that's a a woman of faith right i had this class ready two weeks ago And in that two weeks poor sister Norma has went through more tragedy in her life And I bet you should say the same thing You know there's no greater time to witness to the greatness and wonder of God when things are not going well When thing when we're having trouble and everyone knows it and we speak of the greatness of God that's the best time to witness to him And that's our job is to witness to the greatness of God Tell them of my wonders No better time when things are not going

well Trials are necessary in our lives The psalmist writes "Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I've kept thy word It's good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes." Right so sometimes you know life we get a little too comfortable in life We think I don't you know I had a friend tell me once that's good for you I don't need God right now Maybe one day when I have troubles in my life I will right you're going to have them They come for everybody So afflictions can be good because it hopefully makes you turn to God Some turn away with the afflictions but some of us turn to God He is our refuge He is our comfort That's where we should be turning

Steve I remember you telling me a story years ago of a brother you knew that had a very successful business was doing really well Want to say maybe his partner stole from him or or something along those lines and he lost everything And Steve was like "Boy I'm really sorry about that." And he went "It was the best thing that ever happened to me." He goes "I was so focused on that business and making money and b" He goes "The spiritual stuff fell aside." Is that fair to say yeah Yeah Right So these afflictions right bring us back to

God The crucible for silver the furnace for gold to purify right and that's what the testing of God does to our faith It purifies our faith Should strengthen our

faith And in Ecclesiastes it says "In the day of prosperity be joyful." Right it's okay You know we're talking about uh you know trials you know you know our life's not filled with trials right it's just happens to be the subject that James is talking about but there's plenty of good times right so the trials help us to appreciate the good times and we should appreciate them Enjoy the fruits of your labor right it's a gift from God So that's good Enjoy them Appreciate those good days You know how how do you feel like that first day you get out of a hospital man you are so thankful to be home because you hated being in the hospital so much That's the way I felt Uh you know but in the day of adversity consider stop and consider recognize God working in our lives and don't resist the correction that he's making Remember he's trying to mold us What should I learn from this adversity what can I apply those spiritual practices that I've been you know trying to do what do I need to apply

trials ought to be expected and accepted No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful Later on however it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by were being trained by this discipline Although he was a son this is speaking of Jesus right he's the son of God He's the savior of mankind Guess what he's not exempt from suffering So why would we think that we would

be for his anger lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime Weeping may remain for a night but rejoicing comes in the morning Again our trials are only temporary Eternity

awaits And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose Right god is bringing these things into our lives to prepare us for the life to

come The testing of your faith Again you know I don't you know when I go through trials I'm not always like hey is my is my faith being tested but you know that's what God does right the nation of Israel he tested them Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness all these 40 years to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart right whether or not you would keep his

commandments Adam and Eve right that was a test that the tree of knowledge of good and evil Don't eat from it They had plenty of other things to eat from plenty of the other trees but that was a test

By faith Abraham when God tested him offered Isaac as a sacrifice Now he did it by faith Now it wasn't a blind faith right we we we do not believe in blind

faith right abraham did what what did God tell me what was the promise hey the promised seed's going to go through Isaac So the one who can give life if I take his life he will raise him up That's how confident he was That was his

faith So God's like "Okay he understood He understood what I've been telling

him." And Job but he knows the way that I take When he has tested me I will come forth as gold Right i'm being purified Right what did Job say to his wife right shall I only accept the good from God and not the evil

and of course Jesus when he was led by the spirit into the desert was tested by the devil So yeah our faith will be

tested And Isaiah says "We are the clay," speaking of Israel "you are the potter We are all the works of your hand." Right god molding the nation and he molds us as well like the potter

My son do not despise the Lord's discipline Do not resent his rebuke because the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in Endure hardship as discipline God is treating you as sons For what son is not disciplined by his father so as parents of children we discipline our children because we like it No we don't Right we do it for their benefit

That's what God does for us It's our benefit that he disciplines

us Everyone who is called by my name I have created him for my glory I have formed him I have made him Right he is the potter We we have to allow him to form us And James says in verse 12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial." Because when he has stood the test when he has shown to be steadfast under trial right sometimes a trial comes into a believer's life and they crumble Their faith it wasn't strong enough and and they just crumble under the weight of the trial But he says "Those who are steadfast who stand the test while he shall receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." Right god is our refuge God is our comfort We trust in God And when those bad times come we don't shun them We turn to

him If anyone's got any uh questions just comments just shout them out What does that say 10 o'clock Yeah

Okay So James um he also talks about you know temptation Uh he says when tempted no one should say God is tempting me for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt anyone So you know he's trying to I think differentiate between trials right these come from the outside uh these are things that God allows but the temptations we have our lusts and desires they come from the inside these are our thoughts right we are connally

minded right that's what the connally minded man is this is the description of man and it hasn't changed and God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth in every imagination of the thoughts of his heart His whole

imagination his purpose his motivation his desires evil only

continually Um that's the enlightened man That's the natural man Now we got the carnal mind but we've also got the spiritual mind So then the battle begins right that's what Paul talks about I want to do this but I do that That's the struggle But for the unenlightened this is what this is what he is This is what man

is F of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornication thefts false witness blasphemies These are the things that defile a

man For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh lust of the eyes the pride of life that's not from the father That's of the world Right this is of the natural This is the downfall of mankind This is when we sin These are our mistakes Our lust of the flesh lust of the eyes pride of life Someone leaves the truth and we go "Geez I don't know why they left It's right here." Lust of the flesh It's been that way from day one And it's always going to be a problem And it's always going to be our fight against these things

Um so the source of sin James says chapter 1 verse14 but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed He's drawn away to draw out to lure like we would draw out a fish out of water by putting in a lure or bait very attractive bait for the fish And we're trying to draw him out Now the fish looks at that bait and he sees it's good for the eyes I want that He doesn't see the deadly hook that is hidden behind what seems to be

attractive Right so being drawn away it's our own lust right enticed It gives the example of by like a seductive woman right and it I was going to go read Proverbs but I'm gonna I'm going to say we don't have enough time We'll save that for for another day But Proverbs 17 it speaks of the crafty harlot And it's a warning right it's a father warning his son Oh son don't don't fall for I know it looks good I know she looks good but you know those flattering words she gives you don't fall for it and and it and it describes the son who falls for it as uh

dimwitted unable to

discern and it says and it brings to him his death Right that is what sin that's our lust right we just ah sometimes we block out the repercussions of what might happen and we're just drawn away lured away

Then when lust hath conceived it brings forth sin So one thing I want to say you know I remember I had a friend of mine he goes and he was telling me something He goes "And these are my thoughts Butch This is what I'm thinking This is wrong for me to think this isn't it what's the matter with me?" And I said "You're human That's the problem." I go "It's not the thought that is the sin It's the actions." Right so if I if I'm in a jewelry store and I see a nice Rolex and the saleswoman walks away and I look around say "No one's here I could take this put it in my pocket." It's not the thought right it's the action if I do it right Of course now you know again for the unenlightened these thoughts are constantly going eventually you're going to fail So we want to occupy our mind with the spiritual things right feed the mind with this with this spiritual food

So and when sin is brought forth when it's finished it brings forth death And I saw this I don't know where I got this little saying here but this is pretty good It said "That which has been conceived by the harlot named lust gives birth to a child named sin which develops to maturity and begets a further child called death." Right and that is the process So the fact that we sometimes have these thoughts that we're like I shouldn't have these thoughts That's not the sin It's the action if we take action as the

problem So we want to uh contrast the carnal and the spiritual

mind I still have

time Reading from James

Um let's see

J James 17 chapter 1 verse1 17 he says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning right it's a great gift and the best gift we have is the next verse right he says he chose to give us birth through the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of all that he

created So what do you what do you think that you think the reading of the scriptures is important it's the only way our mind is transformed The only way we can develop the godly character that God expects from us Peter says "Being born again not of corruptible seed the carnal mind but of incorruptible seed the spirit mind by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." You got to have that word in I had uh my cousin asked me "Is there any way you can be saved if you don't believe in the Bible?" I said "No no you can't because you need to be transformed in your mind." He was thinking he could be his good works It's not works alone You need the word in there right james goes on He says "Therefore get rid of the moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent in the connal mind and humbly accept the word planted in you because that's what can save you Because that will turn you around That will change your

priorities Except a man be born of water and of spirit he can't enter into the kingdom of God We just read

from first Corinthians about that you know the big change that's going to come for

us in 1 Corinthians 15 We we know it well Verse 51 says uh uh 50 Now say I say this brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God Neither do corruption inherit incorruption Behold I show you a mystery We shall not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible We shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality So we have a lot of births All right First we're born of the flesh right everyone's born of the flesh And then there are a few that are born by the spirit

word And that spirit word then leads to being born of water Baptism And then finally at the end when we're changed born of the spirit right we have a lot of births to go through right

so what's our response as the children of

God he says in

uh verse 19 in James says "Wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath." Swift to hear the word of God slow to speak We got to take in that word The divine truth is not natural to the flesh So we really need to chew it over right to meditate on the word be slow to wrath right a quick-tempered man does foolish things right that's very true right but sometimes we just respond without thinking it

through He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty He that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city

So uh you know controlling ourselves being under self-control it's difficult but it's what we can do now anger right that's a divine quality right God is angry with the wicked every day are we I would think so right the corruption how about you know like how about the false teaching that gets me angry when I hear someone take the Lord's name in vain when someone says there is no God I don't believe in the Bible that frustrates me gets me

angry So then James tells us I'm almost done Two slides that's it Be doers of the word not hearers only You're only deceiving yourselves Right we don't need emails and phone calls of from scammers to deceive us There's no one will deceive us more than we deceive ourselves Right self-justification Oh brutal Right that's what we we do We deceive ourselves I had a friend I was teaching him the truth and he he was buying in and all that stuff but he was attending a church that his wife really liked She's met some friends They have a lot of good social things And he said "Well I think I'm still going to go I think that'll be okay." And I said "Yeah." I go "You're worshiping a different god You have a different hope You believe this different This is different." And he goes "Yeah but I don't believe that." I go "So what you're going to be secretly you know believe on something?" I go "Well you can do what you want but you're just deceiving yourself into thinking that that would be okay." So in Ezekiel here um they had the hearers right this is God telling Ezekiel "This is why I'm bringing judgment upon Jerusalem As for you son of man your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses saying to each other "Come hear the message that comes from the Lord My people come to you as they usually do and they sit before you and hear your words but they do not put them into practice Their mouths speak of love but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain Indeed to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well for they hear your words but they don't put them into practice Right we can hear it We can come to meeting If this isn't taking an effect on us on our hearts on our minds on the way we act on how we serve one another we're not putting it into practice We're just deceiving

ourselves And finally the words of Jesus

um in his parable he says "Therefore whoever so heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them I liken him unto a wise man." That's what Jesus is saying If you hear my words and you apply them to your lives you're a wise man At the judgment seat you're going to get welcome to the kingdom your father has prepared for

you because it was built upon a rock And the rain and descended and the floods came and the winds blew and they beat upon the house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock And then Jesus says "And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them

not." What kind of a greeting do they get at the judgment seat i never knew

you Shall be likened unto a foolish man Oh the heartache we'll have knowing we could have had it and whatever it was got in our way It was h I just you know my career my habits all these things Why did I put them before the kingdom of God foolish man that built his house upon sand The rain descended and the floods came Winds blew it and beat upon it and the house fell