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[00:00] Let's pray before we get started.
[00:03] Oh Father, we just are so thankful.
[00:07] You are the author of life and when we see new life we are overjoyed and in this case
[00:14] it's my granddaughter so even more so.
[00:17] We thank you for the birth of sailor.
[00:19] We thank you for keeping Everett safe and the baby healthy.
[00:23] We just pray for them now as they recover and as the nights and some of the days will
[00:29] be long over the next few weeks and months a father just give them strength and patience
[00:36] as they bring this new baby home.
[00:39] Father, we just love you and thank you for the gift of sailor.
[00:44] Father, we thank you for our church family and their excitement when somebody has good
[00:51] news, just does something to me to see a church family just overjoyed at somebody else's good
[01:01] news and so we just thank you for that Lord.
[01:04] Father, I ask that you help me today.
[01:07] My thoughts are scattered.
[01:08] I can't seem to focus and Lord I just I want to give your word the respect and honor it
[01:17] deserves.
[01:18] Just help me bring in to focus what you would have me to say today.
[01:24] Lord, we love you when we pray these things in your son's precious name.
[01:29] Amen.
[01:30] All right.
[01:31] Well, we are back in James chapter one and as you know, we're talking about this these
[01:37] first, you know, few verses all when I say few, probably all the way, you know, down
[01:44] to verse 16, 18, I mean, are on trials and some variation and I'm not going to really
[01:53] get into the I'm not going to really kind of do a what's the word?
[01:58] I can't even say the word recap.
[02:01] Thank you.
[02:02] That's going to be the today.
[02:03] I'm going to be driving today.
[02:04] That's how I feel I'm not going to do a recap because Jacob is wonderfully putting these
[02:09] messages online.
[02:10] And if you want to hear them, you can go hear them or read the transcript and you know,
[02:16] just take notes or whatever.
[02:18] So, but I do want to say, you know, it's about trials and tribulations and I was going to,
[02:23] you know, I joke for Beth this morning.
[02:24] I was going to have a testimony time of trials that you've had and I said, Beth and Jack
[02:29] you go first because, you know, this morning they go to go to church, their car is, you
[02:33] know, dead and they did a child, I think, right?
[02:37] It was a toy dog.
[02:38] I don't know which one.
[02:39] A dog.
[02:40] Okay.
[02:41] You know, urinate, right?
[02:42] That one?
[02:43] Oh, I do.
[02:44] Oh, wasn't your dog.
[02:45] Wasn't even your dog.
[02:47] Okay.
[02:48] The cleaned up urine from a dog this morning, I go, man, that's a trial.
[02:53] I get in the church.
[02:54] That's a small trial.
[02:55] But it's a trial, right?
[02:56] I go, when things go out of like, when things kind of go out of like schedule for me and
[03:00] I'm kind of in a rush and I get to get moving and all this on something bad, I'm like,
[03:06] so, and then, you know, it causes other stress in our lives, whether it be our marriage
[03:11] because, you know, I'm angry or whatever.
[03:13] But anyway, all that to say, we're not going to actually make you talk about your trials
[03:17] or anything today.
[03:18] But, you know, when James starts off, first of all, who's talking to you, but then, and
[03:23] I just want to point this out, that he says, count it all joy, all right, count it all
[03:29] joy.
[03:30] And we sing this song.
[03:31] You are worthy, right?
[03:32] Or what's the name of the song?
[03:33] I don't know.
[03:34] But the song we're just saying, it was worth it all, right?
[03:36] And it's like, no matter what, you are worth it all.
[03:39] And I'm like, that's a tough words to sing.
[03:42] They come out easy when you're saying because, you know, the song is not as you're like,
[03:45] man, but that's what I'm thinking about, like, no matter what, you know, you could take
[03:48] everything I have, but you're still worth it.
[03:50] And we're going to, that's what we're kind of talking about today.
[03:52] No, and we wonder, is he worth it in that case?
[03:58] Would he be?
[03:59] You know, when I, and I think I've said this before, when I was a kid, I used to have to
[04:05] oral book reports.
[04:06] Anybody have to do oral book reports when they were kids?
[04:08] I don't know if they still do those nowadays, but, so, you know, read a book, you had a gap
[04:11] in front of your class, tell what the book was about.
[04:14] Yeah.
[04:15] Yeah.
[04:16] You know, you know, fifth and sixth graders aren't known for their public speaking, for
[04:19] the most part, you know, so, I didn't like it.
[04:22] I was, I know it's probably hard for you to believe I was extremely introverted as a child,
[04:27] extremely, like always next to my dad didn't want to, you know, you talk to, he'd introduce
[04:32] me to somebody and I'd do that one thing where you turn away, you know, you know, my
[04:35] kids did it.
[04:36] I'd be like, what's your problem?
[04:37] You know, but I did it and my dad didn't care, I guess, whatever.
[04:40] But anyway, I was extreme.
[04:41] So getting up front of people was like a nightmare for me at that point.
[04:44] And I remember always sitting there going, you know, and you're, you go alphabetically
[04:47] so you know, you're thinking, and you're like sweating, you know, you're thinking, oh,
[04:50] man.
[04:51] But they don't get through that day and you can make it to the next day maybe and something
[04:54] happens then and, you know, whatever.
[04:56] But I always was hoping like at that time that people would bomb out on their report
[05:02] because I get up and then I'm not, I'm going to be terrible.
[05:05] I know that, but maybe I won't be as bad as that because they just bombed out, right?
[05:08] And it was always the worst when they just nailed it, right?
[05:12] All right, I got to get up now.
[05:14] I look like idiot even more so because this guy or this girl is amazing, you know?
[05:18] And I say that because then I don't really feel that anymore, how that works.
[05:22] But man, Raymond and Chris have just brought two great messages back to back.
[05:26] And I'm like, man, I'm glad you did.
[05:31] I wasn't rooting for your PFA.
[05:32] I was rooting for your success and praying for your success and praying that you would
[05:36] really, you know, preach the word the way it's meant to be.
[05:39] And in both of you, I'm just, man, Abe just been so great.
[05:43] And so I was thinking last night, I was like, oh, man, I'm back to, I'm back to you.
[05:48] And I'm going to be in the sixth grade again.
[05:50] Yeah, it is, right, that's good, right?
[05:54] So but we're talking about trials and so listen, I want to read the scripture and because we
[06:01] have some other stuff to discuss at the end, I don't want to take a lot of time.
[06:04] And I don't think it requires a lot of time, and here's why, right?
[06:07] Because, and you guys, yeah, we've heard you say that and then go out for 45 minutes.
[06:11] Oh, really?
[06:12] You got to tell me that if I start going a lot, but it sounds confusing as you read
[06:18] it, the passage, right?
[06:20] But once you get into it and you study it, you're like, oh, okay, that's pretty, you
[06:25] know, pretty basic, pretty simple.
[06:27] And if we, if we read Jesus and we know Jesus words, we're like, oh, okay, you know, Jesus
[06:32] has kind of said the same stuff.
[06:34] Matter of fact, a lot of people would say that James is in certain areas, especially
[06:38] next week, I think, is quoting Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount.
[06:43] All right.
[06:44] There's a lot of similarities between what James says and the Sermon on the Mount.
[06:46] And so, you know, these are all things that we've heard, but James puts it in a way that,
[06:51] you know, with which that he does a lot in the book of James, he is, you know, bringing
[06:58] it into focus, like, like right in your face, you know, like, do this because this is what
[07:05] happens when you don't, you know.
[07:07] So let's read it and then we'll talk about it and we're all we're starting on verse nine
[07:13] today, nine to 11.
[07:14] You know, it's interesting because this is all one subject, really, and Chris talked
[07:19] about this last week.
[07:20] You know, it's all one topic.
[07:21] It's all about trials starts off with trials today, you know, yet law with, you know, wisdom
[07:25] in trials, Chris spoke about, and then today about money, I call it rich man, poor man
[07:30] or poor man, rich man, whatever.
[07:33] And that's, it's about it.
[07:34] It's about trials.
[07:35] It's still continuing on about trials.
[07:37] And so, you know, when we break it down like this, I just want to make sure you understand
[07:40] like, yeah, we're breaking down because there's so much in here and there's so much information
[07:45] and so many good, you know, nuggets of gold in this scripture that we don't want to just
[07:50] pass.
[07:51] And if you do, if we did all 18 versus a one shot, I mean, you just can't, you just can't
[07:55] hit that kind of stuff.
[07:56] So anyway, let's read verse nine.
[07:58] And I'm reading from the ESV, although I did read this week from the couple of different
[08:04] versions, but I, I thought about doing the NIV because I liked their version also, but
[08:09] I just figured, well, I'm always in the ESV.
[08:11] I'll just keep it that way.
[08:12] Like crispy, that NIV guy.
[08:13] But I do like that, so anyway, it says this in verse nine, let the lowly brother boast
[08:21] in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation because like a flower of the grass, he will
[08:28] pass away for the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, the flower falls
[08:36] and its beauty perishes.
[08:38] So also with a rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits, all right, you read that
[08:47] just interesting, right?
[08:48] Because it's like a paradox going on there, right?
[08:51] Let the lowly brother boast.
[08:53] Now when they say boast, I just want to say, it's really, it's more of a joy and happiness
[08:58] kind of thing, right?
[08:59] It's not necessarily like this actual, like we think of bragging about, you know, my exaltation,
[09:04] it's more of this joy that you have, right?
[09:07] And so it's just let the lowly brother boast or let the lowly brother or sister, right,
[09:12] have joy in their exaltation and the rich in its humiliation.
[09:16] You need to think about that, you all right, really?
[09:19] So he's right off the bat, he's saying, he's saying poor people are good and rich people
[09:24] are bad?
[09:25] No, not at all, okay.
[09:27] So, you know, I grew up very poor, but he had seven kids.
[09:33] My mom was, you know, obviously stayed home with the kids.
[09:36] My dad went to work and he worked hard.
[09:38] It wasn't that he wasn't hard work.
[09:39] He worked very hard.
[09:40] He just didn't make a lot of money.
[09:42] And so, you know, we lived in a very small house with one bathroom and five sisters.
[09:47] And you can, you know, you didn't get a lot of bathroom time to say that.
[09:50] It's probably why now I just, I stay in the bathroom for hours because I think I was scarred
[09:55] as a kid.
[09:56] And I'm like, man, I got like two seconds.
[09:59] But I was just grew up very poor.
[10:01] And I definitely didn't understand, I didn't even know this verse when I was growing up.
[10:05] And then even when I got older and I got married and my wife and I, I was in the military
[10:11] for a while.
[10:12] And, you know, we had a pretty good life.
[10:13] She worked and I worked.
[10:14] And, you know, we pretty much spent every time we had fun, we had a lot of fun.
[10:19] But then I got out.
[10:20] My dad has started the business and he really wanted me to join him in it, even though I
[10:23] was hesitant, but I was like, well, my dad's, well, I'll jump in with him.
[10:28] And unbeknownst to me at the time, my dad and myself weren't really salesman at all.
[10:34] So, that makes for a struggling business.
[10:37] You know how many salesmen your business is probably not going to be great, all right?
[10:42] And so I had, you know, Raymond and Mike, at the time I was doing this, they were babies.
[10:48] And man, life was rough, right?
[10:50] I mean, we were talking like dirt poor, all right?
[10:53] I was living, we were living rent free and my parent and my in-laws apartment, which
[10:57] is embarrassing enough because I couldn't be rent.
[11:00] We were making like 12,000 a year, you know, so I mean, which is bad, right?
[11:04] And I still didn't get this, right?
[11:06] Like I still didn't, you know, I was going to church and all that stuff, but I never really
[11:09] got it.
[11:10] And, you know, what, because in that time, right, as I'm going through this, there was
[11:16] many trials.
[11:17] When you're making 12,000 a year and a family of four, there's lots of trials, okay?
[11:22] But just the whole job scene was a trial and, you know, a lot of my dad relation with my
[11:26] dad during all that was a trial, you know, all that stuff.
[11:29] And I can tell you that never once did I, as James said, boast in my exaltation, all
[11:36] right?
[11:37] I was pretty much like, man, I'm a loser, right?
[11:40] There was no thoughts of exaltation and what he's talking about here we'll get into, but
[11:45] there was no thoughts of any kind of exaltation, not in this life, nor the next, okay?
[11:50] It was all my life sucks, right?
[11:54] Obviously, God has brought me along and, you know, as we all are and being sanctified,
[12:00] you know, through Christ, and so, you know, hopefully you're learning and you're growing.
[12:06] And in that time now, I start to understand what that means, right?
[12:12] What James is saying that we can boast the poor, and I want to make sure that we understand
[12:18] that too, right?
[12:19] When he says this, let the lowly brother, or when some say is poor, it means poor, right?
[12:25] Lowly means, because he's contrasting it with the rich, right?
[12:30] So he's saying poor, right?
[12:33] And maybe some of your versions say that, but mine says lowly, but lowly has this idea
[12:37] like, oh, you know, I'm just, you know, I'm just a lowly person, but he's really talking
[12:42] about like wealth and poverty here, okay?
[12:48] And so, you know, he and he wants to show that these are Christians, he says brother, right?
[12:54] You see that in verse 9.
[12:56] Let the lowly brother boast.
[12:57] Now, interesting enough is that some scholars believe that James is talking to the lowly
[13:03] brother and the rich, unsaved.
[13:05] There's a lot of people think that, right?
[13:08] Now, because he doesn't say if you look at it, it says let the lowly brother boast and
[13:11] let the rich in his humiliation, right?
[13:15] But if you understand who James audience is, right, then you understand that he's really
[13:20] speaking to those who have what they're faith in Christ, and it makes sense because it would
[13:25] be weird for James to go hit brother and then switch it without any kind of understanding
[13:31] of who he's talking to, right?
[13:32] So he's speaking to brothers and sisters in Christ, both those who have money member,
[13:37] because this is, remember what we talked about in the very beginning, it's the 12 tribes
[13:39] in the dispersion, right?
[13:46] These are Christians and Jews who have been dispersed because of what's the word I'm looking
[13:50] for?
[13:51] Persecution.
[13:52] I told you, man, I just got persecution, thank you so much, Chris.
[13:56] Chris, like, hey, I should just preach the message.
[14:03] Persecution.
[14:04] And so think about this, James is writing to these people and some of them have lost
[14:08] everything, right?
[14:11] They've lost family, friends, wealth, maybe they didn't have a lot of wealth, they lost
[14:15] a little bit of wealth that they had, and James is saying, count it all joy, right?
[14:21] And then he tells him, he gives him an example, let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,
[14:27] right?
[14:29] And so what in a simplistic form, what James is saying, right, is that they can boast in
[14:41] their exaltation because of Christ and their future, right?
[14:45] That's ultimately what he's saying.
[14:48] Because of what Christ has done in you and through you, and what you have waiting for
[14:52] you on the other side, right, through Christ, you can boast in your exaltation, you can
[14:57] be joyful, right?
[15:00] And be joyful in trials because you know who you are in Christ and what's coming.
[15:13] I think, right, when we think about trials, sometimes we think, you know, bad things happening
[15:18] in our lives.
[15:19] It might be we get, you know, we lose our job or, you know, we have sickness in our family.
[15:26] But you know, there's few trials, like lack of money trials, right?
[15:32] Yeah, it's interesting, right?
[15:35] I was looking at quotes just for fun, just to see like all these rich people, they got
[15:39] to the end of their lives and just to see what they would say.
[15:42] And almost all of them say, at some point, or at some point, it didn't do anything.
[15:49] Now, the poor person would be like, it did something because you could pay your bills
[15:53] and I can't pay my bills, right?
[15:55] So, you know, there might be that.
[15:57] But as far as any kind of significance and eternal significance definitely not, right?
[16:05] But for us, and Chris made a great point of this last week about saying that we are constantly
[16:11] bombarded by worldly wisdom and worldly thoughts, right?
[16:17] And so when we think of poverty and wealth, we think only most of the time, right, in terms
[16:24] of what the world thinks of poverty and wealth, right?
[16:28] And especially what Americans think of poverty and wealth.
[16:32] Because the world, much of the world will look at anybody in this room, and I don't know
[16:36] anybody's finances, who's the wealthiest, who's not, but I can tell you, most people
[16:41] in the world will look at each of us and go, wow, they're super wealthy, right?
[16:46] Super wealthy.
[16:47] They'll have their own houses, their cars, you know, all that stuff.
[16:50] They'll have jobs, you know, and, you know, so it's important for us to kind of, as we
[16:56] look at this, as James is talking about trials, what it's like, right, to, and maybe you've
[17:03] been there, to not have, right, the trial on the tribulation of not having, right, especially
[17:14] in this first part, but the brother boast in his exaltation, right?
[17:20] Because James has a minus privilege of suffering, disgrace for the name of Jesus, right?
[17:27] And if you go in, you say, well, is that true?
[17:30] And I said, well, I think it's true, because if you go to Acts, chapter 5, verse 41, and
[17:33] I'm going to turn there, if you want to, you can, if not, it'll be on the recording and
[17:39] you can go look at it.
[17:40] Verse 41 says this, and you guys know the story, you know, let's go one before that, you know,
[17:51] when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in
[17:54] the name of Jesus and let them go, then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that
[17:58] they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
[18:03] So James has this in mind that it is the privilege to suffer for the disgrace, suffering disgrace
[18:11] for the name of Jesus, right?
[18:16] And so when you think about this idea that James taught me, this lowly brother, boast
[18:21] in his exaltation, exaltation, I have, and especially if you take into account who he's
[18:26] talking to, these are people who have lost.
[18:31] And so James is saying really two things, one, yes, you're suffering a disgrace in the sense
[18:37] of your, you know, you have no money, maybe you have no home, maybe you have no family
[18:43] at this point, but you have Jesus, you have Jesus.
[18:49] And not only do you have Jesus, you have what's even beyond, right?
[18:53] At the end of your life, and when you enter into heaven, right, God has something waiting
[18:59] for the saints.
[19:03] And so he said, he says, you can exalt, you can boast in your exaltation, right?
[19:10] When we endure trials and persecution for Christ, right, and we say steadfast, right,
[19:18] it lists believers to a position of honor, right, that should really offset the poverty.
[19:29] And if you think about worldly was, and that's not the case, all right, well, if you don't
[19:33] have the best job and they're making the most money in the nicest house and nicest
[19:37] cards, right, you're kind of down here, and those people who have those things are up
[19:42] here.
[19:43] When we endure persecution and trials, well, for Christ, right, it puts us in a position
[19:53] of honor that should offset poverty, should offset lack of money.
[20:05] I wonder, is that us, right?
[20:09] Do we look in the times, and I mean, I know I've been without work and struggling, I just
[20:14] told you about a job that I did have, which probably would better be without work and
[20:17] collecting more than I would have made out here, but what I say, what I have in Christ
[20:27] and what's coming, right, offsets, right, I can have joy, I can count it all joy because
[20:35] what is, what I have in Christ is it offsets all of this terrible list that I have going
[20:41] on.
[20:43] And obviously, then he contrasts that and the rich, let the lowly boast, brother boasts
[20:54] in his exaltation and the rich in his humiliation are the rich humiliated.
[21:00] Another interesting statement, right, again, if we look at the world's view, the opposite
[21:04] is true, rich and powerful, right, they get their own TV shows, they got all the followers,
[21:09] they get to do whatever they want, they got yachts, you know, how much is Jeff Bezos
[21:13] nowadays, I don't even know, right, Amazon owns the world, Amazon and Google.
[21:18] Yeah, right, are we, like, are they look like they're in any kind of humiliation, right,
[21:29] in the world?
[21:30] No, not in the world's eyes, but is that God's eyes?
[21:36] No, I don't know, I think when you, when James is talking here, because he's going to keep
[21:49] going, he doesn't stop just with that statement, right, he keeps, kind of gives an example
[21:56] of what he's talking about, right, because he says let the, let the rich in their humiliation
[22:02] is going to, because, oh, okay, now he's going to give us a reason.
[22:07] Like a flower of the grass, he will pass away for the sun rises with his scorching heat
[22:13] and withers the grass, the flowers falls at his beauty perishes, and then he goes again
[22:19] and so also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
[22:29] So what James is saying is not that it's bad to be rich, he's not saying, he's not, he's
[22:38] not in any way going, poor people are good, rich people are bad, that's not what he's
[22:42] saying.
[22:43] He's not saying, oh, if you have money, no, you're going to be fade away like everybody
[22:46] else and, you know, you're just this, you need to be humiliated.
[22:49] That's not what he's saying, right, first of all, if the rich don't praise and honor
[22:54] Christ, right, it's not because necessarily because they're rich, it's because they don't
[23:02] want to praise and honor Christ, right.
[23:08] It's important to understand that James is saying the reason why the rich should be, I
[23:15] want to make sure I get the wording right because I never want to get that wrong, the
[23:18] rich is boasting in its humiliation is that he can boast in the fact or be joyful in
[23:26] the fact, right, that God is gracious enough, right, to honor, hopefully, right, that he
[23:32] has understood that all his belongings are gone, right, are, are nothing, right, there's
[23:43] nothing, they're all going to wither, they're all going to die, and the only thing that
[23:48] he will have left will be Jesus at the end.
[23:52] And so he can boast in his humiliation and that, that, oh, I have riches, but they are
[23:58] nothing because really at the end of the day, they are alone from God and they can be taken
[24:03] away in a flash.
[24:05] And matter of fact, when I die, they will all be for nothing, they'll all be for not.
[24:11] And I stand before God, they won't be, oh, well, I was rich with God, right.
[24:27] I think it's, as we look at these two, I want all of us as a church to understand that there
[24:33] should be no difference in how we view people, poor or rich, right, and go through the Bible
[24:41] and I did.
[24:42] I was going to read you passage after passage about, you know, the poor, I'll take up, we
[24:49] can do that all day.
[24:51] What God has to say about the poor.
[24:56] And I love that James used brother because I think he's saying both of your brothers,
[25:01] both are rich and poor, and there is no degree of separation as far as how God sees you,
[25:06] your brothers.
[25:09] Like I already said, faithful Christians can be rich, faithful Christ followers can have
[25:14] lots of money, right.
[25:17] And if they don't give God the glory, if they don't praise and worship the Lord, their
[25:22] Savior, if they aren't giving, it's not because they had money, it's because they didn't want
[25:27] to.
[25:28] That money might have helped them get to that point, but it's not because of the money in
[25:32] and of itself.
[25:35] Both of these people should be rejoicing in their sufferings, should have joy in their
[25:41] sufferings because they both should know that they will be exalted in the sense, right.
[25:50] Because they are Christ followers that Jesus has paid the price, Jesus has made them righteous.
[25:55] So when they stand before God, they are counted as righteous.
[26:08] The rich can also rejoice in humbling, humbling events, let me say, circumstances, right.
[26:22] Because that will produce lowly and humble mind and heart, right.
[26:30] When something bad happens to the rich, oftentimes it brings more humility because they may not
[26:43] have even realized that they're counting on their riches, that they're using their riches
[26:48] as a status.
[26:49] They may not even realize they're going through life thinking, "I love the Lord.
[26:54] I got lots of money," but somewhere in their heart, right, they view it as a status.
[27:00] What I drive, what I drive, what I live in, how much money in my bank account or my stocks
[27:05] look like, and so when trials come, maybe it's taken away, maybe it's not, maybe it's
[27:13] another area of life, but money can't have any impact, it can't change the trial.
[27:19] No matter how much, well, that brings a certain humiliation to those who have relied on that
[27:24] and think that that is their status and that is what is important.
[27:28] And then all of a sudden, they face a trial where money doesn't matter or they lose their
[27:31] money.
[27:32] And so in that, they can have rejoice in their humbling circumstance, which produces a humble
[27:40] state of mind, right.
[27:43] And a humble state of mind is extremely valuable, is extremely loved by the Lord, Jesus.
[27:52] You think Jesus, right, he humbled himself even to death.
[27:57] And so when we humble ourselves, when we are humbled, and we accept that humiliation,
[28:01] well, you know, I said most of us in this room would be considered pretty wealthy, right.
[28:06] And when bad things happen and we are humiliated because of it in some way, and our mind starts
[28:13] to think, oh, maybe I'm not all that, or maybe all the stuff that I have doesn't count for
[28:17] anything.
[28:18] And we start to understand who Jesus is and what he's done more so, well, I still have
[28:21] Jesus.
[28:22] And our mind starts to get more focused on who he is, right.
[28:27] It creates humility in our mind and our heart, which is loved by the Lord.
[28:33] And to remember that if we are dishonored again, if we are in any way dishonored, because
[28:39] maybe in a trial, maybe it's somebody who has dishonored us in some way, you know, we're
[28:45] trying to live our lives for God, and maybe somebody says something, maybe it's because
[28:47] our money and it's taken away, whatever the case, right.
[28:51] If you are, it's to remember that it is an honor to be dishonored for God.
[28:57] Now, I say that, I think sometimes we're dishonored because we're just not nice people
[29:02] or we do something stupid, right, and we don't, we want to make sure I've done plenty of that,
[29:06] right.
[29:07] Because I said something stupid and now I have to, you know, eat my words or whatever.
[29:12] Well, that, that's not honor, right.
[29:16] But we're living for Christ, right, in our, whether we're poor, whether we're rich, whether
[29:23] the trials come and we're remaining steadfast.
[29:26] We remember when bad things happen that it is, and we have done our part.
[29:30] Maybe we're witnessing.
[29:31] You know, I mean, you have a friend and you tell your friend, you're telling your friend
[29:35] about Jesus and how you impact your life and your friend is like, man, you are the worst.
[29:40] You're a moron to believe the pie in the sky, invisible stuff, you know, blah, blah, blah,
[29:45] blah.
[29:46] I don't know what to tell you.
[29:47] Like I believe it like I'm here today, like I'm breathing, right.
[29:50] And they still are like, you're an idiot.
[29:52] And I think you kind of, you and I kind of talked about that on Friday about how some
[29:54] people are just like, so it gets some of them to say the craziest thing.
[29:59] But if you're dishonored in that way, remember that there is honor in the dishonor, right.
[30:04] So we are, well, we are supposed to suffer.
[30:07] It is given to us to suffer Philippians 1 29, Philippians 1 29 that is given to you to
[30:16] suffer.
[30:17] You ever, do you ever have something bad happen or maybe you heard something bad happen to
[30:23] somebody that goes and you're like, I don't understand why I'm going through this, right.
[30:32] God is working you, working through things.
[30:34] Now, some things are consequences of our sin and it's important to understand.
[30:37] So that's really a trial because, you know, you do something stupid and now you have to
[30:43] like, I hope it's okay Brooks if I talk about it, but Camden, you know, he's a kid and he,
[30:48] he this morning was on Xbox and yeah, and, you know, Brooks was like, you got to get
[30:54] up to Xbox and Camden was like, you know, upset, he had to get up to Xbox and all that
[30:57] stuff, you know, normal stuff.
[30:59] And he's like, and then he's so mad that he says, you know, well, you could take the
[31:02] Xbox from thinking that his dad wouldn't and his dad's okay, he's gone.
[31:07] Right.
[31:08] And I was just, you know, just get like, no, no, no, of course and then get back personally,
[31:13] huh?
[31:14] Words have meaning.
[31:15] All right.
[31:16] So, I'm sorry, I hope that's okay too late now, but right, but we do it as adults sometimes.
[31:23] We do that in different, in different ways.
[31:25] Well, that, that's, that's not a trial, right, that this, you've said some things are done
[31:29] some things and now the consequences are coming back on you.
[31:32] And, you know, that, it's important to understand that because sometimes I've got myself in
[31:37] trouble because of things I've said or, and then go, oh, I can't believe this person hates
[31:42] me.
[31:43] And I'm like, my wife is usually the great, you know, help me navigate through that.
[31:48] Well, you know, you did tell them this.
[31:51] I was like, you know, and I was like, really?
[31:53] I was like, oh, well, anything was that bad?
[31:55] Well, you know, maybe you should think about who you're saying it to because maybe it's
[31:58] not bad for you, but that would be bad for them.
[32:00] Oh, that is bad, right, and realize, yeah, that person's upset, right?
[32:05] And I don't want anything to do with me because I have a big mouth and I said something stupid.
[32:08] And so that's a consequence of my own sin, that's not a trial, right?
[32:11] And so it's kind of important to understand that, all right.
[32:18] So, so James goes on to say, right, like the flower of the grass he would pass away, right,
[32:25] for the, so the sun rises with a scorching heat and withers the grass, it's flowers falls
[32:29] in beauty paragens.
[32:30] So also, will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits?
[32:33] And all he's saying is that he's giving a reminder, all the things that you have are
[32:43] fleeting.
[32:44] All the possessions that you have are fleeting.
[32:48] You think, God, I got all this stuff.
[32:50] Riches are too uncertain.
[32:52] They're fleeting.
[32:53] And when you die, they can't take it with you, but even before you die, they're all known
[32:57] from God.
[32:58] Because their mind and takes them all back, what then?
[33:04] What then?
[33:06] And so riches are just too uncertain, all right, to make kind of like this idea that
[33:13] I'm going to put all my hope into riches, into possessions, into wealth, right?
[33:20] I'm going to stop honoring God and because I have all this wealth or I have all these
[33:26] things.
[33:27] And sometimes, you know, it's not just material goods, right?
[33:34] It could be anything.
[33:35] It could be family, right?
[33:37] I have the perfect family.
[33:38] I don't have time for God, right?
[33:40] You know, my kids are my life and that's all that matters.
[33:44] And the one who gave me my kids has no bearing on my life right now, right?
[33:54] So as a flower fades, right, before the heat and the scorching sun, and I did look this
[33:59] up because I was just wondering, like, you know, North Carolina, taught and so I said,
[34:03] well, I see flowers like, you know, still blooming in the middle of summer here.
[34:07] I'm like, so, you know, but this isn't, he's not, he's not writing to people in North Carolina
[34:11] per se.
[34:12] He's used that example of the Middle East, you know, and I don't know, it does happen,
[34:15] right?
[34:16] They have a scorching wind that comes across in the morning, sometimes it rises and everything
[34:20] that is around, it will just, it'll die instantly, oh, yeah, I didn't know that, all right?
[34:25] I don't want to live there, that's not the heat here, I'm dying, you know?
[34:32] But he says, look what he says at the end, right, will fade away in the midst of his
[34:36] pursuits.
[34:37] And I love that he puts that in there, because again, he's not saying, rich is bad.
[34:42] He's saying, what are you pursuing?
[34:46] And for us, right?
[34:48] They are a man or a woman, they're life's projects, they're wanting to get ahead, they're wanting
[34:55] people, you know, they're maybe the perfect family, right, their desires, their work, their
[35:00] desires for the things of this world, all right, are all going to fade.
[35:06] I mean, it's kind of a warning, right?
[35:11] So also, if you are a person that is all about the riches, he's given a warning for the sunrise
[35:21] with a scorching heat and withers the grass, it's flowers fall, then it's beauty parages.
[35:27] So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits, all pursuits, all these
[35:37] things that bring well, are fading away.
[35:41] And if it even, it might be the trial, God might say, okay, right, take that away from
[35:49] you.
[35:50] That's a trial.
[35:51] That's a big trial, whether it be for a job or whether it be through other circumstances.
[35:59] But what he's trying to help people understand is this command to count it all joy.
[36:09] That's what he continues to do.
[36:11] Count it all joy.
[36:12] And when you read these passages, you should start these fasts off with count it all joy
[36:15] and then read the passage, count it all joy and then read the passage.
[36:18] Oh, I'm poor, count it all joy, all right.
[36:23] God has given me some things, but they're not mine, they're on loan.
[36:26] So I'm going to give it away to build this kingdom, count it all joy, all right.
[36:34] And I think it's important that rich people, all of us, to some degree, are that we don't
[36:43] necessarily rejoice, we can, but we don't necessarily rejoice in the goodness of God
[36:48] that made us rich.
[36:49] I know that sounds kind of like, well, all right, we don't necessarily rejoice in the
[36:54] goodness of God and the grace of God that made us rich, all right.
[36:58] But rather, the grace of God that gives us trials and tribulations that teach us to
[37:02] seek joy through him.
[37:04] Did you get that?
[37:05] That's a tough one, all right.
[37:10] It's not so much like going, wow, let me think, you know, let me think of just as goodness
[37:16] for all the things that I have, okay, which we should, right, but it's not just that and
[37:21] so much.
[37:22] It's more about praising God, the grace of God, and this is tough that gives us trials
[37:30] and tribulations that teach us to seek his joy, true joy and happiness in and from God
[37:40] and not from these things that will perish, right.
[37:43] That's a tough one, because man, we want stuff.
[37:50] It's fun, right, and again, it's not bad to be rich.
[37:56] It's remember that it all withers, it all dies, where is your focus, right.
[38:06] Think about it without faith.
[38:07] If we had no faith, we could never boast in our position of Christ, right.
[38:14] Whether we would find things like riches and possessions.
[38:23] But because we have faith in Christ, we can boast, we can have joy in Christ, whether
[38:31] we are suffering tremendously as a rich man or a poor man.
[38:42] And I think I want to come back to what Chris said last week, I want to end it on this.
[38:48] Chris said, one of the things he said, right, basing it off scripture, is to pray for wisdom
[38:54] in your trials, to know how to respond, to know how to handle, to know what to say, right.
[38:59] Those things, pray for wisdom.
[39:03] That continues in this, right, because whatever our economic situation, it is vital because
[39:11] there's going to be times, again, we, I said this already, that we don't know sometimes
[39:15] that we are being held captive by possessions, right.
[39:21] And so it becomes vital that we go to Lord and seek wisdom, right.
[39:28] And find out where our boasting lies, right, where does it, where are we boasting from?
[39:33] Are we boasting from what we have to something really like, obviously nobody's going around
[39:38] because I haven't heard one person going, hey, is he in my house, is he in my car?
[39:42] No.
[39:43] I don't see nobody.
[39:44] Nobody's doing that, right.
[39:46] But it's a, we know, right, I feel like I don't have to really explain it.
[39:51] We kind of get that when we are secure financially, when we're bringing money in, we're like,
[39:58] I'm doing pretty good, right.
[40:01] That's boasting in your, you know, to yourself and to God, boasting in your externals.
[40:09] And so it is vital, right, that we pray and ask for wisdom and say, God, I don't want
[40:15] to boast in the wrong things, right.
[40:19] But not only that, because I believe when we ask for wisdom, you know, God gives and
[40:26] He will show you where you're boasting lies.
[40:30] And so how do we then what, right, and then it's begin to align and give of your resources
[40:39] in a manner that reflects your boasting of who you are Christ, right.
[40:48] We find out where our boasting and maybe you already know and you need to go ask for forgiveness,
[40:53] right.
[40:54] You need to repent and then start to align, right, and give of your resources in a manner
[41:00] that reflects what we're boasting about.
[41:03] Is it about Christ?
[41:05] Is it about kingdom building?
[41:08] Then our finances and things possession should reflect that.
[41:16] Because if you really care, right, if you really say, let's Lord, I want to only boast
[41:23] in who you are, what you've done, who I am in Christ, my new identity, the fact that
[41:28] I'm righteous before God, the fact that I've been made, that I'm justified forever, that
[41:33] I'm forgiven, that I'm free, that you're full of grace, that you've given me grace and mercy
[41:38] every day.
[41:40] You brag on those things, right, that everything else should align and you should start to
[41:45] align.
[41:46] Maybe it hasn't yet, but it needs to, all right, align and give of your resources in a manner
[41:53] that reflects that, boasting in Christ.
[42:01] One of the things I love about our church is that some of it has to happen, some of that
[42:07] has to happen, right, because we have three and a half host homes, right.
[42:14] And it's not easy to be a host home.
[42:16] I know because I did, I've done it.
[42:20] And everybody does it with such a great spirit.
[42:23] And I know it's hard because you've got to get on Sunday morning, you've got to get
[42:26] things ready, you've got to be like, you know, I've done it, I know what it's like.
[42:30] And it's not at the end of the world, but it's not the easiest thing, right.
[42:35] That is aligning with what is important, right.
[42:38] You're hosting a church in your home, right.
[42:44] And today we have a smaller group, not only like this, but we got a lot of people, right.
[42:50] We got a lot of people, but I love that, you know, because it helps us to align things
[42:57] properly.
[42:58] Now, where as you can host and I haven't seen this at all in any way, I've seen the opposite,
[43:02] but you could technically host and have the worst attitude in the world about it, right.
[43:05] I hate it, this is stupid, I don't know why we do it, then we have a problem and maybe
[43:09] we should stop hosting, but you said, oh, I know that's not true, you guys came to me,
[43:17] right.
[43:20] I just want to encourage, right, because trials are coming, we know that, we're supposed
[43:27] to count it as joy.
[43:29] And so some of us here will lose our job in our lifetime, will you count it as joy.
[43:35] Some of you are rich and you haven't, you count it as joy, your money as joy, your possession
[43:42] says joy, does God have to, and I'm not trying to say, oh, God is gonna, I'm just saying,
[43:49] would God have to teach a lesson by taking it away, or can you already be there?
[43:54] Can you say, yes, Lord, you are all that I need.
[43:57] And it shows because it shows how you align your resources, or shows how you give out
[44:03] your resources, how you align with that idea that Christ is all you need.
[44:06] Like we're saying, he's more than enough.
[44:09] Is he?
[44:10] Yeah, and it's, it's, some of it's simple, right.
[44:20] Give money to people in need, right.
[44:22] Give your money away.
[44:23] Some of it's more, you know, a little bit tougher, right.
[44:26] And I'm not giving suggestions in the sense that these are things you have to do.
[44:29] I'm just like, in my mind, I'm thinking, oh, some of it's easy for me.
[44:31] I, you know, giving money to people that need, that's relatively easy for me, you know.
[44:39] Letting people borrow my vehicles.
[44:40] I mean, I've never had nice vehicles, I just never cared, so I don't, so it's not really
[44:44] hard for me.
[44:45] But if I had a nice vehicle, probably would be hard for me, because I'd be like, well,
[44:47] if they do something, I gave Everett five minutes in my car one time, and she put a big dent
[44:51] in front.
[44:52] Not even a nice car, but go tell her, oh, hopefully she won't listen, sorry, Everett.
[45:01] But it's letting people use the things that God has lent you, right.
[45:08] A member, Alison's family has her grandparents have a cabin up in Boone in the mountains.
[45:16] And when I was at Quest, you know, our, our, the past oral staff and stuff, well, we're
[45:23] going up there to help out at, what's the place there, what's up, please?
[45:26] This man is in purse.
[45:27] And we were in the warehouse pack of boxes and stuff like that.
[45:30] And her family always like, use it, use the cabin, you know.
[45:34] And so then, okay, that was nice.
[45:35] I was great.
[45:36] All the church people, all the church, you know, pastors got to use it.
[45:39] But then they came and said to my family, like, go and use it.
[45:44] This was years ago.
[45:45] Alison was probably a nice rate of time, I don't know, 10th grade, right?
[45:48] Young.
[45:49] And just go use it.
[45:51] I'm like, and when I say cabin, it's a nice cabin.
[45:55] It's a, it's a, it's a, it's just a big old big house, not a big old big house, but cabin
[46:01] looking, you know, on a beautiful lot overlooking the mountains, you know, just beautiful.
[46:06] And just go do.
[46:07] And I've had other people like another pastor at a church in, at Quest, he had a beach house
[46:13] and he's like, go use it.
[46:15] Just go do it.
[46:16] We had members there that had friends of ours that have a beach house and they were like,
[46:24] take your family, go use our, go use it for a week.
[46:26] They rented it, you know, in a week.
[46:27] Go use it for a week.
[46:28] Don't worry about it.
[46:29] We want you to enjoy it.
[46:30] And I, I just say that stuff because we have lots of things.
[46:32] We're given lots of things by the Lord.
[46:35] That people use them.
[46:36] Right.
[46:37] And that's a different topic than really today, but I want to put that out there because
[46:40] it's vital that we understand we don't hold tight to the things that God gave us.
[46:45] Right.
[46:46] Loose fingers.
[46:47] Right.
[46:48] But strong vision and who we are, who we are worshiping.
[46:53] Right.
[46:56] I, I, you know, I have to have a, uh, Charles Spurgeon quote because I love Charles Spurgeon.
[47:01] He says this, moreover, our earthly conference would never give us to be held forever by
[47:07] a covenant of salt.
[47:09] They're always loans and never gifts.
[47:12] All that we possess here below is God's property.
[47:14] He has the only, he has only loaned it out to us and what he lends, he has the right to
[47:18] take back.
[47:19] Right.
[47:20] And I thought, yeah, he does.
[47:24] And if it's loan, if God is loaning it to us, should we not loan it to others?
[47:29] Right.
[47:30] And if you say, well, I'm already in poverty.
[47:32] Okay.
[47:33] Yeah.
[47:34] Do you remember, do you remember Jesus words?
[47:36] Do you remember Jesus looking at the widow who came into the temple and gave?
[47:42] Remember he, I just sat back and watched who was giving and it, and he saw all kinds
[47:46] of people give, but he only called out one and told his disciples, hmm, did you see this
[47:51] woman?
[47:52] Right.
[47:53] She gave from her poverty.
[47:54] She gave, she gave, she gave all that she had.
[47:57] Oh.
[47:58] And you said, what's that have to do with trials?
[48:01] What trials?
[48:02] What do they do?
[48:03] What do Chris and Ray say, right?
[48:06] They're, they're building us, right?
[48:08] They're taking out the impurities, right?
[48:13] And we'll have trials, even if we give away our stuff, because there's other impurities
[48:16] that we have, but should we not?
[48:18] That's an easy, that should be an easy one, because it's not ours.
[48:21] Our stuff is an ours.
[48:23] And so whether you're given to the church, whether you're given to your neighbor, whether
[48:28] you're given to whatever, it's not ours.
[48:33] And so as you read this, and I hope that you guys read this like during the week, I hope
[48:38] you read in chapter one, you're just, because it, there's so much.
[48:41] And if you keep reading, it just starts to make, you start to make sense.
[48:44] And if you get a little kind of good nuggets, like in the preaching, it starts to make sense
[48:48] of what, what James is saying, all one passage.
[48:52] You know, if you don't do that, and you're only coming on Sunday is getting these little
[48:55] pieces.
[48:56] It kind of is like broken up.
[48:57] And so I hope that you'll continue to read chapter one, just as a, one, even the whole
[49:02] book, because it literally will take like 18 minutes with, and that's reading, you know,
[49:07] not super fast.
[49:08] And so like, you just see what James is trying to say here, within the idea, especially in
[49:14] chapter one of trials, and why he says, right?
[49:21] But the lowly brother boasts in exaltation, because he's exalted in Christ, and the rich
[49:27] in his humiliation, because the riches are gone, you, they're not yours.
[49:32] They can be taken tomorrow, but they will definitely be taken when you die, right?
[49:38] And align what you have with who you're boasting on, right?
[49:42] If you're not boasting on Christ, man, all right, be asking God to help you take your
[49:49] focus off your wealth, off your riches, then align your possessions, all right, to that
[49:57] end goal, all right, let's pray, Father, it's an interesting passage, where you think
[50:08] about exaltation and humiliation, Lord, what do you just ask for wisdom?
[50:17] For each of us wisdom as a collective body of a church, Father, that we may see that
[50:24] all things are temporary on this earth, all our possessions, all our money that you
[50:33] remain forever.
[50:35] So Lord, we just ask that you would help us, help me, help those in this room, help those
[50:42] not here today, to focus, to boast, to have joy in Christ, and all that he provides.
[50:58] We would boast on his love for us, that we boast on his sanctifying work in our life.
[51:04] And the justification we have through him, boast in his grace, boast in his mercy, and
[51:14] that the more we do that, Lord, we're going to take our eyes off the earthly possessions.
[51:22] Give us wisdom, Lord, in these times, for those who have trials going on right now in
[51:28] their lives, they wonder, is this how long, Lord, how long will this last?
[51:35] Or they give them comfort knowing that they still have you, and you are worth it all.
[51:43] Father, we love you, we thank you for your word, we thank you for just giving us another
[51:50] day to live, to breathe, to speak your name, but once again, Lord, you are worthy.
[51:59] We pray these things in your son's precious name, Jesus.
[52:02] Amen.