1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:04,480 Welcome to the Islands Christian Church podcast. 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:07,160 Subscribe to hear a new episode every week. 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:13,600 Thanks for joining us. All right, guys, as Jason just 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:15,760 said, we're going to start a series of the book of James 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:17,280 today. This is going to be 10 weeks. 6 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:18,920 We're going to be in the book of James for 10 weeks. 7 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,600 Are we excited? I am, I'm excited for 10 weeks. 8 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,200 The reason I decided to do this is I was just praying about 9 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:26,960 where to go next to the church and just seeking God on this 10 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,800 like as the preacher, you know, so it's a lot of content and so 11 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,000 and just asking God like where to go and what I sense was I 12 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:36,680 preach a lot from the apostle Paul. 13 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:38,800 I just I find myself in Romans a lot. 14 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,040 I find myself in all of Pauline's Paul's letters because 15 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,240 I just relate so well to Paul and I just love the fact that 16 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,480 he's teaching such theology and doctrine, helping us understand 17 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,400 how the gospel works. And so I thought, hey, you know, 18 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,240 what if I camp out in the book of James for 10 weeks and 19 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,400 that'll force us to look at someone different. 20 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,480 And James is completely different from Paul. 21 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,840 James grew up, if you don't know this, he is the half brother of 22 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,280 Jesus. And actually Jesus would have 23 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,280 known him as Jacob. Jacob would have been his. 24 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,920 That would have been his name, James. 25 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,080 Jesus would have called him, and James grew up in the family with 26 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:18,160 Jesus. And what's interesting about 27 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:22,160 James is James was not a follower of Jesus when Jesus was 28 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,320 doing his ministry. James was actually resistant to 29 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:27,320 Jesus. He thought Jesus was crazy. 30 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:30,760 He's like, hey, we need to get Jesus home and get him back to 31 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,960 where he belongs. And James was didn't believe 32 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:36,680 this stuff. It was after the resurrection 33 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,160 that James decides that, oh, wait a minute, this is all real. 34 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,600 And so I want you to think for a second, if you have a sibling, 35 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:43,880 if you have a sibling, think about this. 36 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:46,440 What would it take for you to call your sibling God? 37 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,160 It'd be tough, right? For you. 38 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,080 So this is James, the brother of Jesus, and he calls his sibling 39 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:57,240 God. Like what would it take? 40 00:01:57,640 --> 00:01:59,840 I'm telling you what it would. I have two brothers and I have 41 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:01,600 two sisters. I will tell you what it would 42 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,760 take for me to call either of my brothers God. 43 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,920 It would take me watching them down across, take their last 44 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:10,039 breath. It would take me watching them 45 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:13,000 being put in the grave with the stone roll in front of them. 46 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,480 And it would take me having breakfast with them a few days 47 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:17,760 later, right? It would it would take me 48 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,920 talking to them and going, oh, let me check your pulse. 49 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,880 So you're alive now. I might consider that you're 50 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,520 God, right. And so this so the fact that 51 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,560 James is a follower of Jesus, the fact that he's now a 52 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,880 believer and the fact that he's writing this, this letter to 53 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:36,560 other believers, it suggests that James, the brother of 54 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,120 Jesus, had an experience that pushed him over the line of 55 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:40,880 faith. All right, you follow me. 56 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:46,200 Now the letter of James is being written primarily to Messianic 57 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,400 Jews, people who were Jewish and who believed also that Jesus was 58 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:52,080 the Son of God, that he was the Messiah. 59 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,840 And so he's, he's addressing Jews who believed in Jesus. 60 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,400 Now in this letter, what you're going to realize as we walk 61 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,720 through this over the next few weeks is that these Jewish 62 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,520 Christians are facing persecution and challenging 63 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,120 circumstances primarily from Jews who didn't believe in 64 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,920 Jesus, right? They're being persecuted by Jews 65 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,080 who didn't believe in Jesus. And so and so this letter is a a 66 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,800 letter of encouragement. Now, whereas Paul is, when you 67 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:23,360 read Paul, he is bringing out theology and doctrine and 68 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,240 explaining things from the Hebrew Scriptures and helping us 69 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:29,680 see how it all fits together. And he's basically screaming 70 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,240 that the gospel is the good news, that we can be right with 71 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,760 God, no effort of our own, but through faith. 72 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,240 James, on the other hand, is like, yeah, yeah, yeah. 73 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:39,480 That's we believe that that's good stuff. 74 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:43,760 But now once you believe, here's some practical ways to live once 75 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:45,360 you claim to be a Jesus follower. 76 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:47,000 And that's what we're going to be unpacking. 77 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,480 And so today we're going to start with James chapter 1, 78 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,240 verses 2 through 8. So if you have your Bibles, 79 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:54,440 that's where we're going to jump in and read. 80 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,320 And today we're talking about the idea of wisdom in trials, 81 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,920 wisdom in trials. So we all live through trials. 82 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,120 We all go through tough times. We all go through hard times, 83 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,920 but we don't always have wisdom. We have a belief in our culture 84 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,440 that just because you get older, you're automatically going to 85 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,280 get smarter. But is that necessarily true? 86 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,280 It's not necessarily true. Just because you get older 87 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:16,600 doesn't mean you will get smarter. 88 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:22,480 Getting older, growing older you the only way you grow wiser when 89 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:26,040 you grow older is based on how you respond to the circumstances 90 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,960 you live through, how you react to the circumstances you live 91 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:29,840 through. All righty. 92 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:31,680 So we're going to jump into this text. 93 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,520 So James chapter 1 going to read verses 2 through 8. 94 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,200 If you want to read the whole letter today and encourage you 95 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:39,480 to do that as we jump into the series. 96 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,480 But today we're going to look at verses 2 through 8. 97 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,560 Here we go. Consider it pure joy, my 98 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,040 brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 99 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,200 because you know that the testing of your faith produces 100 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,440 perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work 101 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:59,240 so that you may be mature and complete comma not lacking 102 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,600 anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you 103 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,000 should ask God, who gives generously to all without 104 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:08,320 finding fault and it will be given to you. 105 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:11,720 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because 106 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,480 the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blonde and 107 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,160 tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to 108 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,600 receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is a double minded 109 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,760 is double minded and unstable and all they do all righty. 110 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,920 So here we are. We're talking about wisdom, all 111 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,640 right. Wisdom in the midst of trials. 112 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,680 The fact of the matter is, and Mallory alluded to this in her 113 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,160 communion thought, is that all of us tend to go through 114 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:40,160 difficult seasons of life. And I think as I've gotten 115 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:44,040 older, I feel like the the seasons of difficulty are longer 116 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,240 and more regular and the seasons of not difficulty are shorter 117 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:49,480 and fewer between. Does anybody else kind of feel 118 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:51,720 that way sometimes? Like there just seems to be like 119 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,480 lots of as you get older, there's lots of difficulty. 120 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:57,480 We all go through seasons of difficulty and seasons of 121 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,640 trials, seasons of struggles, and the tendency is to think, 122 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,040 well, if I'm going through something hard, then God must be 123 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,000 absent. Our hearts are programmed to 124 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,480 think like religious people. If I do good, good things will 125 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:11,680 happen to me. If I do bad, bad things will 126 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,080 happen to me. If something bad is happening to 127 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,880 me, then I must have done something bad. 128 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,880 And this this is kind of how our hearts are programmed to think. 129 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,520 And I will say that that that the enemy, the the Satan uses 130 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:26,920 that lie to manipulate us and to turn our hearts away from God 131 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,080 and to mistrust God. But this is not what the 132 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:30,880 Scripture teaches. The Scripture actually teach 133 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,960 that trials and difficult circumstances are a part of 134 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,320 life. I like to tell people that in 135 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,480 this world, Jesus said in this world you have trouble. 136 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,360 And so in the world, people struggle and they have difficult 137 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,200 time and they have difficult circumstances. 138 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,160 And you live in this world. Therefore in this world you will 139 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:49,800 have trouble and difficult times and difficult circumstances. 140 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:54,720 It's just the way it is. Well, the good news is, is that 141 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,400 what James says is that when we face trials, when we face 142 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:02,480 difficult seasons, James tells us to consider it pure joy to 143 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,520 count it as joyful. Now is he mean like whenever you 144 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,880 face something hard to go, man, I'm so happy this is exciting. 145 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:09,760 I'm going through something hard. 146 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,880 No, it's joy is not happiness. Joy is a deep seated sense that 147 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,560 things have a purpose, that things have meaning, that that 148 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,440 life is not just random, that God is in the middle of every 149 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,120 single thing I'm going through. And this brings us joy. 150 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,920 So I can walk through something very difficult and I can have a 151 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,080 deep seated sense of joy because I know that God is present in 152 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,480 the middle of that with me. And what James goes on to 153 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,360 explain is that you can have joy because God is using your 154 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:38,360 difficult circumstance. He's using your trial. 155 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:42,600 He's using your challenge to mature you, to grow you, to 156 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,720 shape you, to change you. Recently, I was talking to a 157 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,000 friend about me helping someone else with their challenge, 158 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,120 helping someone else with their difficulty, and I was in the 159 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,240 middle of this, you know, counseling this person and 160 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:56,960 helping them. I said, you know what's ironic? 161 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,240 Because I can see how God is forming them and shaping them 162 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,240 through this challenge, but also just being in proximity to their 163 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,480 challenge, just being close to them and helping them. 164 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:09,960 God is also forming me and shaping me. 165 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,520 So it's not just our difficult circumstances. 166 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:14,680 It's when we're in the middle of difficult circumstances with 167 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,320 people we love. What James says is that the 168 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:22,120 testing of our faith and do not get it sideways. 169 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,640 When you go through, when you go through difficult circumstances, 170 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:30,240 it will often feel like a test. I mean, have you ever found 171 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,200 yourself in difficult circumstances where things are 172 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,960 going hard and you wondered, is God even real? 173 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,400 You command is this, is this, is this stuff even true? 174 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:41,000 Is God even real? Does this, is this really true? 175 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:45,240 That is how we know that these things are a test of our faith. 176 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:48,320 And what James says is that these these trials, these 177 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,600 difficult circumstances, they're testing our faith so that they 178 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,480 produce perseverance. In other words, they produce 179 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:57,840 sticking power. And James says, if you have 180 00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:59,760 sticking power, then what's going to happen is you're going 181 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,800 to be mature and you're going to become complete, not lacking 182 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:07,400 anything. And this idea of complete, you 183 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,000 know, this is an interesting term in the original language. 184 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,560 It means to be sound or whole or integrated. 185 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,120 Many of us as believers of Jesus, if you're a follower of 186 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,680 Jesus, maybe this is you've noticed this about your life as 187 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:21,360 well. Many of us as followers of 188 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:23,520 Jesus, our lives can be disintegrated. 189 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:25,800 They can be, they can be fragmented, right? 190 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,440 In other words, we can kind of like love Jesus and love to come 191 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:33,560 to church and then on Thursday wonder if it's all true, you 192 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:36,920 know, or we can struggle with some terrible sins, some 193 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,360 terrible temptation that keeps coming up over and over again. 194 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:41,920 And yet on Sunday we can say, I'm going to overcome this. 195 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:43,400 The Lord, you're going to get me through this. 196 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:46,160 Is any, does anybody else relate with this or is this just me? 197 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:48,960 Right. So we can be fractured people 198 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:51,400 and, and, and this is part of the human condition. 199 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,520 The natural condition of the of the human being is we tend to be 200 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,480 fractured people. And what this word complete 201 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,520 means is, is James says that the the testing of your faith, the 202 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:02,120 going through difficult circumstances. 203 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:04,640 It has the potential potential being the keyword. 204 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:07,880 It has the potential to make you complete, to integrate you. 205 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,280 This is why if you've ever met older people who have been 206 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,160 following Jesus a long time and who have been leaning into Jesus 207 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,240 and trusting him for a very long time, they're well and up in 208 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,000 years. You will when you're around 209 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,280 them, you sense that they are genuinely integrated, meaning 210 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:24,640 they are the same person no matter who they're around. 211 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:26,440 They are comfortable in their own skin. 212 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,240 They they, they are honest about who they are and they're 213 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:30,600 comfortable with being honest about who they are. 214 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:31,800 Does anybody know what I'm talking about? 215 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,680 The reason that those older people have gotten there is 216 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:37,680 because they've gone through some trials. 217 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:39,520 It isn't because life's been easy. 218 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:41,120 It isn't because life's been a walk in the park. 219 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,880 It's actually the opposite. It's because life's been hard 220 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,600 and difficult and challenging. And in the middle of that, God 221 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,880 has been using those challenges to make them an integrated 222 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,720 person. So James says you can count your 223 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,760 trials as pure joy because of what they are producing in you. 224 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:07,080 Their your trials lead you to victory over fragmentation and 225 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:14,080 some of what listen some of what fragmentation is is sin acts the 226 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:19,320 action of sin. So when the Bible talks about 227 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:24,880 sin, it talks about sin, meaning our guilt, our sin guilt and the 228 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:28,240 cross has removed that guilt from us through the blood of 229 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:29,800 Christ. Praise be to God. 230 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,680 But the Bible also talks about the fact that we still have sin 231 00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:37,880 acts. We still do things ACTS. 232 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,680 We still do things that are outside of the will of God. 233 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:43,360 Am I the only one? Is it just me? 234 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:45,160 No. And some of you are like, should 235 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:46,320 I confess to that? Yeah. 236 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,400 It's good for the soul. The Bible teaches that it's good 237 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:49,960 for the soul. Yes. 238 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,280 I still, I still have sin acts in my life. 239 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:57,960 What James is saying is that the the process of becoming complete 240 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,200 and being integrated through your trials and through your 241 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,360 difficult circumstances actually leads us to overcome acts of sin 242 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,760 in our lives. So that as we grow older in the 243 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,880 faith, we do indeed have less sin acts in our lives. 244 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,200 Not because we're trying hard, not because we're determined, 245 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:19,800 not because we feel guilty or tons of shame, but because God 246 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,920 is working that out in our lives through our difficult 247 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:25,480 circumstances, through our challenging seasons. 248 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,600 Now, all this good news about your trials and all this good 249 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:32,480 news about your difficult circumstances that they will 250 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,360 lead you to more integration. They will lead you to maturity 251 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,160 and completeness versus 4 and 5 going out of versus four and 252 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,120 five. They tell us that it's not 253 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,640 automatic. In other words, it's not 254 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,040 guaranteed. It's not an automatic thing that 255 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,000 just because you go through something difficult that you're 256 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,480 going to come out the other side more integrated and more mature 257 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,280 and more complete. It's not guaranteed. 258 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:57,560 It's not an automatic thing. This is this is what versus four 259 00:12:57,560 --> 00:13:02,000 and five seem to suggest. In other words, the productivity 260 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,600 of your trials, whether they are productive or not, depends on 261 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:10,680 your response to the confusion and the pain they bring in your 262 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:13,160 life. See what I'm saying? 263 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:18,040 It's how you respond that determines whether those trials 264 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,840 will produce completeness and integration. 265 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,760 In other words, your trials don't automatically grow your 266 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,400 faith. How you respond to your trials 267 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,560 determines the growth of your faith. 268 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,600 So let's look at verses four and five again. 269 00:13:35,880 --> 00:13:39,800 It says, let perseverance finish its course so that you may be 270 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:43,080 mature and complete, lacking anything. 271 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:47,880 And then it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask 272 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:52,240 God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it 273 00:13:52,240 --> 00:14:00,440 will be given to you. Now, the request for wisdom in 274 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:05,200 verse 5 is a request based on the trial you're walking 275 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,440 through. Here's the assumption that James 276 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,720 is making. The James is making assumption 277 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,520 that life, which can be difficult at times and 278 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,920 challenging at times, will leave us feeling confused. 279 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,600 Anybody say, yeah, that's true. That's true. 280 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,880 It leaves us feeling confused, Confused about ourselves, 281 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:27,960 confused about God, confused about the person that we're in 282 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:31,960 conflict with, just confused. Why can't life just be easier? 283 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:36,000 Why can't things just slow down and trials and difficulties 284 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,280 leave us be Feeling confused. And what James is saying is that 285 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:42,760 in the midst of that confusion, the solution is found in the 286 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:49,520 wisdom that God offers you. So in the context of trials, we 287 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,920 feel confused. We need God's wisdom. 288 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:59,880 But also James is assuming this, that you don't know at all that 289 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,960 you don't have complete and total exhaustive knowledge when 290 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,760 he says if any of you lacks wisdom, that's a tongue in 291 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:10,880 cheek. That's that's sarcasm. 292 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,160 That's like saying if you don't have full and total knowledge 293 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,760 about a thing. So James is using sarcasm to 294 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,000 say, if any of you lacks wisdom, This is a question. 295 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,520 Hey, do you lack wisdom? So if you're going through 296 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:24,240 something tough, you're going through something challenging. 297 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:26,600 And and I said to you, are you confused? 298 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,640 And you said, yeah. And I said, well, do you 299 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:30,080 understand everything about the situation? 300 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:32,880 You would say, obviously not. This is the context in which 301 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:37,160 James is now saying, hey, if you lack wisdom, ask God. 302 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,000 So we all lack wisdom in general in life. 303 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:43,440 We all lack complete and exhaustive knowledge about 304 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,240 everything, but especially when we're going through a 305 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,520 challenging circumstance, we lack wisdom. 306 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,840 Now I need to pause and just kind of say, well, what is 307 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,280 wisdom? Because I'm just going to tell 308 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,080 you what I think. And there was a whole part of 309 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:00,280 the sermon I cut out just for time's sake, going into Proverbs 310 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,160 to talk about wisdom. So I'm just going to tell you 311 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,480 what I think. In Proverbs chapter 1, wisdom is 312 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,640 personified as a woman calling in the streets. 313 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,160 And she says, hey, if you would listen to me, I would tell you 314 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,240 my ways. I would tell you my 315 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,080 instructions. And when I tell people 316 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,200 biblically what wisdom is, biblically wisdom is God's 317 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,840 perspective. So if you take notes, write, 318 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,640 take that, write that down. Wisdom is God's perspective. 319 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:27,080 It's the way God sees things. It's what God would do, how God 320 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,400 would act, how God would, what God would say. 321 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:34,520 It's in other words, wisdom is the the view that God has on the 322 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:36,200 situation. That's what wisdom is. 323 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,440 And so that's the working definition of wisdom, God's 324 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:44,560 perspective. So whenever we read James 15, if 325 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:46,200 any of you likes wisdom, you could say it this way. 326 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,720 If any of you lacks God's perspective, if any of you don't 327 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,720 have a God's viewpoint of a thing, let him ask God. 328 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,520 All right now. So wisdom is God's perspective. 329 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,400 God offers us his wisdom in the midst of our confusion, and we 330 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,560 all need it. We're following this argument so 331 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,040 far. Now here's the next idea of this 332 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:08,839 text. The next idea of this text is 333 00:17:08,839 --> 00:17:12,480 this, that God is not stingy with his perspective or his 334 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:14,480 wisdom. God is not stingy with his 335 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,119 perspective or his wisdom. God is generous with his 336 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,079 perspective. Now notice verse 5. 337 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,839 It says, and he is, He gives it generously. 338 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,200 He gives it generously. Now I love this that that, that 339 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,400 this is a descriptor of how God is giving us something, that he 340 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,520 just pours it out to us. And this is beautiful. 341 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:38,440 He gives it to all without finding fault. 342 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:41,040 I love that part of the path, that verse 5 as well. 343 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:46,520 He gives it to all, to all. What does to all mean to all? 344 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,640 Everybody means everybody, right? 345 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,040 I tell my atheist friends, I'll, I have friends who don't believe 346 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,000 in God, who don't believe in this whole Jesus stuff. 347 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,680 I'll read this passage of Scripture to them and I'll say, 348 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:00,960 hey, verse 5 says that you do not even have to believe in God 349 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:05,400 to pray this prayer, that you can stare at the wall and sit on 350 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:10,400 your bed and say, God, if you're real, if this is genuine, I 351 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:11,800 would like to have your perspective. 352 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,760 I would like to have you your viewpoint of this. 353 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:20,040 And what the Scripture says is that God gives it generously to 354 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:26,720 all without finding fault. Now, without, what does that 355 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,120 mean without finding fault? Well, have you ever had anybody 356 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:32,960 ask you for help with something and you gave them as some advice 357 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,560 and they didn't take it and they made a mess of things and then 358 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,760 later they came back and asked you for advice again, anyone 359 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:43,160 talking about and you thought to yourself, I just don't think I'm 360 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:44,960 going to waste my breath. Anybody. 361 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,520 Has anybody ever felt this way? I'm going to tell you as a 362 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:54,880 pastor, I have felt this way most of the time, little 363 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,520 confession moment. I can count on one hand the 364 00:18:57,520 --> 00:19:00,960 amount of people that I've said, Hey, this is what I think God is 365 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,040 telling you you should do. This is what I think you should 366 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:04,240 do. Like this is the advice I would 367 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,240 give you. And I can count on one hand the 368 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,400 amount of people that said, yeah, I'm going to do that. 369 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,080 And they went and did it. And the stores have been amazing 370 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:14,520 because I don't, I just don't randomly give it. 371 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:16,600 But I'm just not like, I think you should do this. 372 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:20,200 And you know, like this would. I mean, anyway, I don't want to 373 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:22,240 go down that road because it was just the whole turns of the 374 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,880 whole thing of me complaining and everybody doesn't need that. 375 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:33,320 But there is a sense sometimes where you got you kind of go, 376 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,760 man, we've, we've had so many conversations, we've had so many 377 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,360 meetings. I just don't think I can drink 378 00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:47,120 coffee with you anymore because you don't do anything I say and 379 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:51,760 you stay in this mess. You're just, it's not worth it. 380 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,400 And I have been known to like, say I'm done, like I love you, 381 00:19:55,400 --> 00:20:00,480 but I'm done. You know what this text says is 382 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,360 that God never does that with us. 383 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:09,040 He gives to all without finding fault that without finding fault 384 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:10,680 part. That's the part where he goes, 385 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:15,360 listen, Steven, you've never listened to me before, but I'll 386 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:20,240 tell you again for the 7th thousandth time, OK? 387 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:25,160 He he continues to give is is there a reason for him to find 388 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,360 fault? Certainly there is, but he does. 389 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,320 He doesn't say, well, you're not good enough, you're not holy 390 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:31,440 enough. You don't go to church enough. 391 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,120 He says no, I don't find fault. You see, here's the deal. 392 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,360 God knows that his perspective is the universally correct 393 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,520 perspective of the universe. In other words, he knows he has 394 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,680 objective knowledge of how life works on this planet, that he 395 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,160 knows more than you do. He knows that and he offers this 396 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,480 to you because he is the designer and originator of this 397 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,000 whole thing. And he knows that you have 398 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,960 limited scope that you can only see so far. 399 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:03,800 And so basically God realizes that you and I need his help. 400 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,840 God realizes that you and me need his help with this thing 401 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,320 called life. I think about this, I have had 402 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:17,160 two Chevrolet Suburbans, two 2003 models, and I still have a 403 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:21,000 2003 model. I know a 2003 that's 23 year old 404 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,960 vehicle and it's got 280,000 miles on it. 405 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:28,920 That's nothing people. We're we're going to a half 406 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:30,600 million in that truck. We're going to make it. 407 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,480 That's 280 baby. She broke and she just get she 408 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,760 just get going and I have had to do some work. 409 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,240 I've got to do some work on it. Now I've had to work on that 410 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,400 truck through the years and then the one before I had to work on 411 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,960 it a few times. My son will be 16 in November 412 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:53,320 and what I would like to buy him if I could is a similar year 413 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,800 model Chevrolet truck with a 5 three in it. 414 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,560 Do you know why? Because I know that truck and 415 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,880 that engine back and forward. I will know if it makes the 416 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,520 slightest. No, I know what that is because 417 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,600 I have been around them now for a decade and a half. 418 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:15,080 But let's imagine he does get a 2002, 2003 model Chevrolet 1500 419 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:20,440 with A53 in it and it has a problem, let's say not to get in 420 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,640 two of the weeds too much, but let's say it's in limp mode. 421 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,960 It won't go over 30 mph. I know exactly what that is. 422 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,120 I've cleaned a throttle body many a times on the side of the 423 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:32,280 road with paper towels and rubbing alcohol. 424 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,520 All right, I know exactly what that is. 425 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,720 But let's say that he calls me and he says, Dad, my truck is in 426 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:40,560 lint mode. It won't go over 30 mph. 427 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,040 What do you think it is? And in my head, I know exactly 428 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:44,480 what it is. Been there a million times. 429 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,320 Those things are those those throttle bodies are known to 430 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,640 carbon up and not run. The computer limits it to 30 431 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,600 mph. But I say to him instead, I 432 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,920 don't know, buddy, I'm not telling you, but Dad, I'm over 433 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,840 here on, you know, wherever in town, it's not, as you know, 434 00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:01,160 it's late. I'm it's dangerous. 435 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:02,840 So good luck. You know what I mean? 436 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:09,760 You shouldn't drive all junk. You know, I wouldn't do that, 437 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,080 would I? I would say, here's the 438 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,560 information. Here's the, here's the knowledge 439 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,040 that I have. I want to share this with you 440 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,600 because I love you and because you're in a situation that you 441 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,400 need my perspective, you need my wisdom. 442 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:27,760 And so this is who our God is. He loves us. 443 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,960 He has the perspective we need and he offers it to you all, 444 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,560 even if you're not a good Christian, whatever that is, 445 00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:39,200 even if you don't go to church that much, even if you're not 446 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,960 sure what you believe about all this, He offers it to you all 447 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,680 without finding fall. Now, we could end this sermon 448 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:48,880 here and I could say now go put this in practice. 449 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:54,560 But I need to say to you very quickly, we do not tend to trust 450 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,480 God's perspective. So even though he is very 451 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,960 generous with it and he's not stingy with it, we do not tend 452 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,120 to trust God's perspective. Look at verse 6. 453 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:07,720 It says, but when you ask, you see that. 454 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:11,280 But when you ask, why is James even continuing to write? 455 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,200 Because he knows that we tend to not trust God's perspective. 456 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,240 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because 457 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,040 the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed 458 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,360 by the wind. So first of all, we need to talk 459 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:29,880 about this at first reading. What most people think this 460 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,280 verse means is that I'll leave this verse up. 461 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,480 It says what most people think this verse means. 462 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,320 Is that OK? When I ask God for his 463 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,080 perspective, I better not doubt he's going to give it to me. 464 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,400 I better not doubt it because OK God, I really believe you're 465 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:43,200 going to give it to me. I really, I don't doubt you're 466 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:44,200 going to give it to me. OK? 467 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,000 This is how we tend to read this verse. 468 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:48,720 That is an incorrect reading of this verse. 469 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,320 Do you know why? Because verse five said he gives 470 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:57,280 to all without finding fault. Does does that include people 471 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:58,640 who are doubting he'll give it to them? 472 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,800 Yes. So verse 5 is saying that even 473 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,560 if you doubt, you're going to receive it, OK. 474 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:07,400 Even if you doubt, even if you're like, I don't even think 475 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,320 I'm going to get anything, but I'll pray and ask you for it. 476 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,080 He gives it to you. So verse 6 cannot mean you got 477 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,440 to really believe he's going to give it to you. 478 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,320 This is kind of how this was taught to me. 479 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,800 And you can you can understand how that puts a lot of pressure 480 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,280 and honest on you as the person who's praying like, am I 481 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:24,280 believing enough? Do I have enough faith? 482 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,160 I mean, what a terrible burden that is, right? 483 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,480 This is not what I hope this sets you free. 484 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,280 If you think this way. This is not what this passage is 485 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,800 saying here in verse 6. What this what James is saying 486 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,520 in verse 6 is. But when you ask and you're 487 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,040 going to receive, don't doubt what you receive. 488 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,040 Don't doubt the wisdom you get. Don't doubt the perspective that 489 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,320 God gives you. Don't file 13 it. 490 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,280 Don't don't don't take what God gives you and says and say, 491 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,120 well, you know, that seems like a one of the ideas. 492 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,040 This is what James is saying. You're going to receive God's 493 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:03,560 perspective. Don't doubt it when you receive 494 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,760 it. Don't doubt his way of doing 495 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,760 things. You see, what James knows is our 496 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,440 tendency is to want to do things our own way. 497 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,280 This is why we can ask 20 people for advice and not take any of 498 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,160 their advice and still do it the way we were always intending to 499 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:24,600 do it in the in the 1st place. I see some grimaces across the 500 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,120 room. People like this right here. 501 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:29,560 It has been me like, why were we asking for advice in the 1st 502 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:31,080 place? We don't even know to see if 503 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:32,760 anybody maybe was smarter than us. 504 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:35,600 And what we find out is by the 12th or 13th person, it's like 505 00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,400 nobody's smarter than me. I know what I'm doing. 506 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,640 We tend to treat God as one of our friends. 507 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,520 We go, let me get, give me, give me some advice God. 508 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,880 And just like we kind of pass on our friends advice, we pass on 509 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:54,800 God's advice. And this is what James knows 510 00:26:54,800 --> 00:27:01,960 that we're prone to do. The reason you are prone to 511 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:09,680 mistrust God's perspective is because it never, ever will 512 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:20,760 sound natural or normal. Jesus said love your enemies and 513 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:22,680 do good to those who persecute you. 514 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:27,640 In what world would that make sense? 515 00:27:36,370 --> 00:27:39,010 God's perspective, His viewpoint, will always go 516 00:27:39,010 --> 00:27:43,250 against the natural inclinations of our flesh. 517 00:27:44,050 --> 00:27:48,360 Always will always go against the wisdom of this world. 518 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:54,000 It will always be like something. 519 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,040 It will all hearing God's perspective and hearing his 520 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:01,400 viewpoint will always feel like I'm going to look like a fool if 521 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:05,400 I do that. People will think I'm crazy if I 522 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:12,920 do that, which is why we discount it is why we take it 523 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,400 off the table and we say, do you have anything else? 524 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:19,920 God? Listen to what Isaiah says, 525 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,160 Isaiah 55 verses 8:00 and 9:00. It says for my thoughts are not 526 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,920 your thoughts, neither are my your ways. 527 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,080 My ways declares the Lord as the heavens are higher than the 528 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,960 earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts 529 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,600 than your thoughts. Now think about this for a 530 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:37,880 second. Those ways that are so much 531 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:39,920 higher than ours. Those thoughts that are so much 532 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,680 higher than ours. James One says he offers them to 533 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,800 us. Do you think they're going to be 534 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,480 not exactly aligned with how the world thinks and how you would 535 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,680 tend to think in your flesh? Of course. 536 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,320 You see, it makes sense that we are prone to mistrust God's 537 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:03,480 advice because it often times doesn't make sense. 538 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,680 Everything about our world's value system will pull you away 539 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,160 from the direction that God would have you move and God 540 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:20,880 would have you proceed. Sometimes, sometimes very few 541 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:25,040 people, only the most godly, biblically grounded and devoted 542 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:28,960 believers will affirm what you think is God's perspective. 543 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,600 You're nominal Christians, people who are kind of on the 544 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,440 fence around Christianity. You're non believing friends. 545 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:44,120 They will think you're crazy. Even your believing friends who 546 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:50,800 treat Jesus as one of the boxes of their lives will think you're 547 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:55,440 crazy. If you go all in on following 548 00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:03,320 God's advice, you will find yourself alone with very few 549 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:09,240 allies, only the most grounded, only the most deeply trusting. 550 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:14,240 Christ's followers around you will say yes, I know this feels 551 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:18,360 crazy, but I affirm with you as well that this is what God is 552 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:24,800 leading you to do. So we all, myself included, make 553 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,120 the choice often to doubt God's perspective. 554 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:34,080 Because in those moments, my pride takes over and I decide to 555 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:36,960 live my life as if God does not exist. 556 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,800 Now, if you ask me, Stephen, do you believe God exists? 557 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:42,280 Oh, yeah, yeah, I believe God's real. 558 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:47,120 But I'm choosing to live these choices as if he's not real. 559 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,920 Now, James is going to say in verse 6 that when you and I 560 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,640 trust, I mean you and I doubt God's perspective, bad things 561 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,440 happen. Look at verse 6 again. 562 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,520 He says, But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. 563 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,760 And remember, that's not doubting the perspective that 564 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,720 you're going to get. Don't doubt his advice because 565 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:13,560 the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed 566 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:20,200 by the wind. Friend, when you go to God and 567 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,520 you say God, I need some advice. I need your perspective and he 568 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:24,440 offers it to you and you file 13 it. 569 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,080 What James is simply saying is when you don't do things God's 570 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:31,920 ways, your life becomes a mess. Do you need a whole sermon on 571 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:36,040 that or can just like looking around prove that to you? 572 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,960 Maybe your own past experience will be like, yeah, let me tell 573 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,080 some stories. So #1 when you when, when you 574 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:47,200 doubt God's perspective, bad things happen. 575 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,640 But when you align your life with God's perspective, this is 576 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,440 the language when you align your life with God's perspective, 577 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:56,360 When you align your life with God's viewpoint, when you say, 578 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,280 OK, I don't really understand how this is going to work. 579 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,160 This feels confusing and it doesn't match up with world's 580 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,760 values, but I'm going to align my life with God's perspective. 581 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:07,920 When you align your life, God's perspective, the opposite 582 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,640 happens. Listen to verse 8. 583 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:16,320 It says such a person, a person who doubts is double minded and 584 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,800 unstable in all they do. All right, So what James is 585 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:25,080 saying is if I doubt God's perspective, I am double minded 586 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,280 and unstable in all that I do. I love to do this when I'm 587 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,640 reading the Bible, I like to flip a verse over. 588 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,280 I like to look at it in the inverse. 589 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,760 So what I mean is this, if a if a person who doubts God's 590 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,920 perspective is double minded and unstable in all they do, then a 591 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,480 person who trusts God's perspective and aligns their 592 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,600 life with God's perspective is what single minded and what 593 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,480 stable in all they do. You see how we just flip that. 594 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,520 And so if you trust God's perspective, if you trust God's 595 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:02,040 ways of doing thing, then you have direction, you have 596 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,600 purpose. Listen, listen. 597 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:08,640 You also are easier to be around. 598 00:33:14,230 --> 00:33:16,950 I like the I like the giggles and the throat clearing in the 599 00:33:16,950 --> 00:33:19,510 room. Like, yeah, that's true, bro. 600 00:33:21,110 --> 00:33:24,510 It's true about you, OK? It's true about me. 601 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:31,040 I'm the I'm the hardest person to live with when I'm misaligned 602 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:36,560 with God's perspective, in God's viewpoint I am and the easiest 603 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:40,120 person to live with when I am aligning my life with God's 604 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:42,320 viewpoint gospel. When I'm seeking it, I'm 605 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:48,840 aligning it to it. Now I know it's easy to hear a 606 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,360 sermon like this and say, OK, he's right. 607 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:52,880 I need to ask God for his perspective. 608 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:54,400 I need to get in the habit of doing this. 609 00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,000 And you won't do that until you find yourself in some big 610 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,440 crisis. Some big thing happens, 611 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,680 Financial crisis, health crisis. Oh God, give me your viewpoint. 612 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:08,320 Give me your perspective. The problem is, is you haven't 613 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:12,560 trained your heart and your head to align with his viewpoint and 614 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,480 perspective in that moment. So you most likely won't. 615 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:17,199 You'll just stay in the confusion. 616 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,159 It'll just be bad. You'll be unstable and double 617 00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:22,000 minded. You'll be tossed by the sea. 618 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,239 I've lived this, so I can just tell you this is true. 619 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:30,719 But if you'll take my advice and you'll begin to pray daily for 620 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:35,320 God's perspective on some small things that you're walking 621 00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:44,760 through, like how to love and lead your teenagers, how to love 622 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:49,400 and care for your spouse. So like this, we give you a way 623 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:55,199 how it can sound. Dear God, let me see Ava the way 624 00:34:55,199 --> 00:34:59,000 you see her. It's one of my children. 625 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:00,840 Let me love her the way you love her. 626 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,440 Let me speak to her the way you would speak to her. 627 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:06,320 Let me challenge her the way you would challenge her. 628 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:08,720 Let me serve her the way you would serve. 629 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:12,520 Give me your divine perspective of Ava today. 630 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:19,200 Amen. Or dear God, Bill at the office. 631 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:25,840 I want to choke him. Be honest in your prayers. 632 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:31,280 The Lord knows thy heart. Forgive me from wanting to choke 633 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:35,160 him first of all, but give me your divine perspective of Bill. 634 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:36,440 Let me see him the way you see him. 635 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:37,880 Let me love him the way you love him. 636 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,360 Let me speak to him the way you would speak to him if you were 637 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:41,920 in my shoes. In this office. 638 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,200 You see, in the daily habit of doing it, you will begin to 639 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,280 train your heart and your mind to listen for God's perspective. 640 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:51,920 And slowly over time, you will train your heart and mind to 641 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:55,320 align with God's perspective. And so that when the crisis 642 00:35:55,320 --> 00:36:02,760 comes, and certainly my friend, it will come, you will have the 643 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:07,160 habit of a heart that trusts God's perspective. 644 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:14,560 So here's my challenge for you. Choose someone, pray daily for 645 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:18,080 God's perspective of them for two weeks to get in the habit. 646 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:22,720 It could be your spouse, it could be one of your children, 647 00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:23,760 it could be all of your children. 648 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:28,080 It could be yourself. Some of the greatest answers to 649 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,400 this prayer in my life have been dear God, let me see me the way 650 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,240 you see me. Let me understand me the way you 651 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:35,640 understand me. Let me speak to myself the way 652 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:42,720 you speak to me. I lack wisdom, friend about me. 653 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,680 I'm not nearly as self aware as I think I am. 654 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:53,840 Neither are you, but choose somebody. 655 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:59,320 Choose someone. And for two weeks, dear God, let 656 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,920 me see, let me have your perspective, this person from 657 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,320 your perspective. And then after two weeks, and 658 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,080 some of you will do this and some of you won't, I hope you 659 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:09,280 all will. After two weeks, I want you to 660 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,240 just come up and grab me on a Sunday in the lobby or send me 661 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:15,440 an e-mail. Tell me what's been happening. 662 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,880 I just recently gave this advice to my brother Brian. 663 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:23,760 If you're watching, I love you. My younger brother called me 664 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:28,800 some challenges with some stuff he's facing. 665 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,640 I don't want to put his stuff in the street. 666 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,640 And I said, hey, man, try this. Pray for God's perspective of 667 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:41,480 this person. And about about a week ago, I 668 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:44,560 gave him that advice. He called me yesterday, the day 669 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:50,200 before yesterday, Friday to tell me, man, I just he goes, I think 670 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,320 we should start a podcast. I said, what do you mean? 671 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,920 Because I think we should start a podcast where you just give me 672 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,120 biblical advice to the problems I have and we just video it and 673 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,040 record it and we just put it out there for people to listen 674 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:03,280 because this is like radically changed. 675 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,400 This has radically changed the circumstance for me. 676 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,400 So I'd love to hear your story. Try it for two weeks and come 677 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,800 and tell me. I'd love to hear that. 678 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:21,560 If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe so you 679 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:25,280 hear a new episode every week. You can also worship with us in 680 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:29,400 person in Savannah, GA or watch our live stream on Facebook and 681 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,960 YouTube every Sunday at 9:15. Have a great week.