Faith That is Tested is Faith That Endures

1 (0s): this morning. How good is it to be in the new worship center? Woo. It's good to be in his house this morning. It's good to meditate on his word. It's good to be together to praise his name. Thank you, Jesus. That you are here. 0 (19s): God, we worship the God who Wiz. We worship the God who ever more be. He opened the freezer. He haughty the raging sea Baca holds the big . 0 (1m 29s): We seem to the God who said we seem to to God always. Cause he hung up on that cross and he rose up from that gray good. 0 (2m 20s): Now we now running free. We offer care except by his grace that the house and we won't be quiet. 0 (3m 11s): We shut out joy in the house. We won't be quiet, please. Shout out. 0 (3m 24s): 2 (4m 16s): Hey everybody. Hey, welcome. Wow, everybody's looking beautiful. Looking amazing. We've got like a gap over here. If you're looking for a spot anyway. Great to have you all here today. Turn and give your neighbor a high five. Yeah, both. Both of them. All right. Well we are, we are in the new worship center. I don't know if you realize that when you came in, but here we are. 2 (4m 56s): If you're unfamiliar with this building, we've got restrooms here in the back, right behind me. We've got more restrooms up the stairs, handicapped restrooms downstairs, and then more restrooms up the stairs in the back. We've got water as well. There's water drinking fountains right behind me here and then coffee out the patio right there. So check that out. We've also got some parking available. I don't know if you have found a spot, but check out the, the Klondex parking lot is available. It is paid parking, but we can validate your tickets at the info center. So don't be shy about that. And then all the other spots around the village are also welcomed. 2 (5m 39s): So, so glad you made it here. It's such an exciting day to be here such a long time coming. We've been working on this space for a year and it's just amazing to see it. So we're going to pray also. Oh, sorry. If you've got fifth grade and up kids, they're going to meet up the, in the back here, meet the teacher after a worship and they'll walk them over to, to their classes. So without let's pray and we'll jump back into worship. Jesus, we love you so much. This whole space, this new building. We just want to worship you Jesus, because that's what this is all about. It's all about making room for more people to experience you more people to come into a relationship with you and Jesus. 2 (6m 25s): We just want to do that. We just open ourselves up to you right now and we just pray that you administer that you'd be with us and God just be worshiped in this place today in Jesus name. Amen. 0 (6m 45s): to perhaps we will see I don't know. 0 (12m 16s): big songs of praise to shake. the truth. 0 (12m 58s): Mitch please. 0 (14m 47s): 3 (15m 32s): Yeah, 4 (15m 33s): God, you are faithful. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your faithfulness, Lord God. Thank you for your power Lord. We are so honored to be in your presence today, Lord, we bless you. We thank you for meeting us here that we're two or three are gathered together in your name that you are there in their midst. Lord God that we celebrate you. We're thankful for you. We lift up your name, Jesus, and we celebrate and we worship you today. Lord. So thank you for this first Sunday in this new worship center. God hallelujah. We thank you, Lord. We bless you, Lord God. You've been faithful all through the process and Lord, we know that you will be faithful moving forward. 4 (16m 18s): So we, we bless you, Lord, we thank you for blessing us Lord and we just, God just wants to give you praise and say, thank you, Lord, God, Lord use this place for your kingdom. Work in this community. Lord God that we might be salt and light Lord to more and more people that we might see people saved and delivered, filled with the holy spirit transformed in Jesus name. Lord, give a new life, a new purpose in Jesus' name. So Lord God do something so wonderful and supernatural something beyond our expectations. We pray. We invite you Lord. We say yes, Lord Lord. 4 (16m 59s): We're committed to saying yes to you. Yes. To your plans and yes, to your purposes, we bless you, Lord. We love you. We're all in. We're so grateful that you indeed are all in with us. We love you because you first loved us. So we bless you, Lord. Thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Turn to greet your neighbor. We'll come right back. 4 (19m 18s): Well, I tell ya, I feel like a little kid on the first day of school. I, I didn't quite give myself permission for service to like be too excited because there's just like so many things that are happening all at once. And so as I'm worshiping, I'm like, oh, I feel like it almost feels like the first day that we planted our church and back in 2003 where you're like, is anybody going to show up? Is everything going to go? Well, like what's going to happen? You know? And cause it's been a long, long time. April 9th, 2021 is when I first took a picture of the, for lease sign that was on the outside of this building. And going back 10 years ago, we tried to get this space 10 years ago and the timing was just not right. 4 (19m 60s): And so when I called John Hayashi, who owns the building on April 9th, 2021, I said, Hey, John, we're interested in your space. He said, I'll meet you down there like 15 minutes. And we met down here and on a handshake, it was hours. And we did, you know, the whole, you know, agreements and rental agreements and lease agreements and that sort of thing. But it was just so cool. So roughly like 59 weeks later, here we are. So it's been a lot, a lot of work. And so what I'd like to do is just kind of take you through some slides to show you I'll stand over here and just show you, this is kind of, hopefully I'm not blocking. You're fine. Okay, good. So how's that better? 4 (20m 40s): Okay, good. So this is when the building, before we got it, it was a, a antique store. And before that it was a clothing store called the wardrobe and many of us remember that. And so they had these pole posts were all built out with these, these boxes for, you know, putting shirts and clothes and that sort of thing for merchandising things. And so we got to get rid of all of those things. Let's go to the next slide there. And then we got to get rid of the drop ceiling. So the drop ceiling was a huge project because at first sight it looked like, oh, it's just some panels and some, you know, T-bar but there were like three panels deep of, you know, just the, the, the ceiling tiles. And so we took out truckloads and truckloads there's piles of insulation on top of the, the, the ceiling tiles and the T bar. 4 (21m 23s): And so it was a huge, huge undertaking and a there's de Bedford, the rockstar of the show. I'll talk more about Dave in just a moment, but he was here all the time. And then this picture represents the prayer nights that we had here in this space where we just decided to pray and give this space to the Lord and just really honor him and say, you can see on the back in the back there, there's pictures of people's names that are on that sound booth wall there. So over the course of the year, we just re recorded people's names that we're praying for. We want this person to get saved, this person getting healed, whatever it was. And then throughout the space, we wrote Bible verses on the concrete floor before the floors went in on the framing and all, all around. 4 (22m 8s): So Bible verses and promises of God. So this is kind of what it looks like before as the, as the place is kind of beginning to take shape. And so was just, as you can see, it was just a ton of fun. So keep going there. And so this is the nursery. So in the nursery required quite a bit of work. And so this is the kids' space in the back. So if you haven't seen that yet, go check it out. It's really been transformed. Here's the, the courtyard. And so beginning next week, let's leave that up for a minute beginning next week, we're going to have it like an 80 inch TV out on the courtyard. So if you're drinking coffee, sitting out on the tables, benches out there, you can enjoy it out there. But that, you know, we had to completely renovate this whole space, Stripe stock, a reset, go clean, just everything up. 4 (22m 50s): And so that was a labor of love to say the least next, Hey, there's my son and my wife, they're planting trees. You know, putting those trees out front just to soften the front next, Hey, there's our friend. Jim, Jim helped Aaron with polling on thousands of feet of cable to make all of this work. You know, so Jim was here, he built, built out the tech room in the back with desks and all that sort of stuff. Jim, Jim was here with Stephanie, like every Friday, Saturday for months and months and months volunteering their time to get so much of the infrastructure, the electrical infrastructure, and just donated hundreds and hundreds of hours to get this project done. 4 (23m 33s): Perry too, has been here nonstop and doing all kinds of electrical stuff as well. Just doing whatever we needed him to do. We call them up, Hey Perry, can you show up today? He's like, I can show up and he'd be here. And just taking care of stuff. Noah has been just constantly around here as well, doing all kinds of cleanup and there's been a ton of cleanup that is needed to happen. And so thanks Noah for that next slide there. Yeah. This is the floors going in. So obviously a lot of space here. So a lot of laminate flooring went in and so it's just beginning to take shape the paints in the floors, going down and starting to feel like a, a building, but we're still months away. Like we're still months away from being able to move in. So let's keep going. 4 (24m 13s): Is that the last seven? Okay, good. Good, good. So what I'd like to do, we could have shown you like a thousand pictures, but you kind of get the point, right? You kind of get the point. So what I'd like to do is just honor my name, those people who have donated their time and treasure and talent to get this thing done. And so I'm going to start with where it all begins with our elders. I'd like to honor Jim and Gary and Neil and Ron, because when we propose projects like this, it's a big project. We have to have the buy-in and the agreement with the elders. And I just want to honor our elders today. The guys that serve, they've been serving with me for a long time. 4 (24m 54s): They are men of faith, men of character, men of prayer, and they are so ready to do what God has called us to do. And they just go for it with Gusto because they believe in God's big plan for harvest church and for the gospel that he wants us to communicate. So I want to thank my elders. I want to thank John Hayashi. I texted John yesterday. He owns the building and I said, Hey, John, I've been giving him updates. You know, I said, Hey, John, tomorrow, we're having our first service in the new space. I just want to say, thank you so much for taking a chance on us and with us, his brother Howard is my doctor. One of my doctors and I had been to see Howard recently. 4 (25m 35s): And so I just said, Hey, John, your family that the high ashy claim has been such a blessing to our community. And I just want to say, thank you. And so this big, long taxed, and John's such a man of few words, all he responded was congratulations. So like I'll text him all this stuff and you'll say thanks or great. And, but John's been awesome. I want to thank the Pacific justice Institute. Initially, when we wanted to make this building a church, the city said, no, I don't think we want a church in the village. Downtown core. I said, is that, is that legal? And Patrick said, I think so. I said, I said, I've got a letter from the Pacific justice Institute saying that it's actually not legal to keep us out of the village downtown core. 4 (26m 18s): He said, really? He said, send it over to me and I'll run it by our city attorney and just see what he says well, within a day or so he emails me back and says, Hey, congratulations, let's move forward. We can't keep you out. And we want to bless you as you move forward. So it was like, the Lord just changed their hearts as I mean, because we never wanted to be like hard charging. We just want to do what we do with grace and with tenderness and with just faith that God's opening doors and we never want to kick a door down. So I just want to thank the Pacific justice Institute for what they did. And you saw the picture of Dave Bedford. Dave has been a part for 19 years of projects around here. We've been, we started at Lopez high school on the Mesa. We were there for a couple of years and we've been in this space next door for 17 years buying space and renovating space all along. 4 (27m 0s): And so when I talked to Dave about this space, he's like, I'm in, you know, I'm your guy. And so he's been here tirelessly to get the job done. And so I'm so thankful for Dave Bedford, Steven, Julie Schumann from SoCo data and they print, they print up all of our principals, everything that's in print is printed by those guys free of charge. They don't charge us a thing. So God bless Steve and Julie shoe Schuman of slow code data. Aaron looters, who's been a part of every project. I think for the last like 17 years has been just a blessing to us installing all of the, all of the sound, audio, video stuff. He's, he's one that's been behind all of that. Rich brown. One of our plumbers, we've had a few plumbers in here, but rich has done so much of the finished stuff. 4 (27m 44s): And so much of the infrastructure stuff regarding plumbing, my brother, Larry and another guy, Alex, both in charge of painting. So everything has been painted. Those guys did that painting. And so we're blessed to have people like that at our disposal, Sammy, Quavis the dry wall guy. We didn't originally plan to take out all the drywall, but the drywall was in such bad shape that Sammy said, Hey, let's just pull it all off because I could float it all. But it's going to take me twice as much time and let's just tear it off and start over. So that's what he did. And so Pete Kurzy, he did all the stucco repair around the building. See Mondello did all of the heating and air conditioning. It takes so many people to get a project like this across the finish line. 4 (28m 25s): So see, Mondello been a friend of mine since high school. He's done all of our HVAC stuff throughout all of the buildings. And he just did a wonderful job. Doug Wilson did the check valve and the trenching for all the, to get water to the building so that we could power these fire sprinklers. And so Dave's been, or Doug's been busy with that paradise plumbing. Travis white was also involved in the process. We had a bad sewer line here that he discovered because before we got here, he said, I was always here because they always had backup toilets. So we said, let me scope the line to tell you if the line's in good shape. So he scopes the line and the, the sewer line was completely gone. I mean, the, the bottom of it was complete. So all that sewer was running in. 4 (29m 5s): So we had to cut an 80 foot trench replaced the sewer line. And so Travis was all part of that. We had electrical engineers, we had architects, obviously. I'd like to think my friend, pastor Mike Sparrow, because Mike's been a friend of mine for decades, but we were at a crossroads in need of an architect. And Mike just happened to be walking through the community of the, our pro our property recently back going back about a year. And he had an architect with him and I said, we actually need an architect. And, and so we've, we're blessed with that introduction that Wayne's Stewart worked with MW Mike peachy and Wayne Stewart, who own MW architecture gave us a tremendous discounts on the work that was done here. 4 (29m 53s): And our project manager, Derek Carter has been just priceless for us. He's been on the he's. I called, I texted him last time, Derek, we're going to have our first service. He's like I got COVID. I can't go so brave for Derek, but so many, so many amazing people. Chris outlined with the floors of wood herb, with Cal flooring to the carpet, the sign shop guys did all of the sign, the printed signs that are in here, Ronnie and Janet . Janet told me this morning, she said, this is, this is the third building I've been in with you because she was in the beginning with us at Lopez high school, and then over here and now here. So running and Janet did the, the new fence and rod iron stuff out there. 4 (30m 36s): They've been so amazing chase with alpha, the whole team. We have so many electricians to thank because this project required so many electricians just to get it across the finish line. So alpha, they were great. They came in exactly when we needed them to come in to get us across the line. Corey sole Meyer, all the lights. He get consulted us with about all the lights and everything got her in here. So thank you, Corey, Larry and Carrie D I don't have my glasses on LD termites. Anyway, we had some termite issues. I should wear my glasses once in a while, but I just don't like those things. So anyway, the termites we had the windows tinted. Jim Schmidt was our tech assistant, built out the tech desk. 4 (31m 18s): Steve Henry built the wheelchair. He didn't build it, the lift, but he assembled the wheelchair lift. So you look at that thing, it looks pretty straight forward. It's not straightforward. It took weeks to get that thing assembled. And then we have the painter come in and paint, paint it. Cause it was all white. Like the back of it was anyway. Thank you, Stephen. An amazing, just he's an amazing man. So Luke and Aaron with Frank's lock and key, they have been so good. They've been such good friends to us over the years. They take such good care of us with this building and every building that we've ever had. Aaron and Luke have been amazing. I want to say, thanks to Patrick Holub, who is our planner or assistant planner on this project? 4 (31m 59s): He, he just did an amazing job, actually emailed the, the, the mayor, Karen Ray Ross, some says, I just want to say, thank you for your team, Karen. And I go back to high school. We've known each other for a long time. I said, man, your, your team just did a great job, including bill Robinson. And so they did a wonderful job walking us through the process process. I'd like to think our CBO and building inspector, Mark Myers, and his wife, Nancy and their team. They've been so good to us. The inspectors. I mean, they've done their job, but they've been so gracious and kind to us. And so now volunteers, again, Jim Owen, you saw Jim in the picture. Jim volunteered with Craig and Stephanie, his kids, countless hours of electrical work in this place mat lists, but they built the cabinet over the info center. 4 (32m 47s): Lynn Colette, who built the cross at the chapel in our old space. He also built the cross here. And it's just interesting how the Lord brought him by just at the right time. It's actually at the entrance. When you come in now, since then they've moved. I think theirs have moved. Now they're gone. So God brought him just for a moment. So we can have him build the cross Perry Lupin and his friend, Chris, again, tons and tons of electrical work. Cory, Joseph, my brother and his girlfriend AC they did tons. They rescued us at a moment when we needed some expertise with our panel back there, they came in and replaced the panel and just did a amazing workforce. Would not charge us. 4 (33m 27s): Chris Lacey, again, more electrical work. Sean D bull and Noah Clark did tons and tons of cleanups. Seth McMillan did the courtyard design and the install Maggie Sutherland was in charge of the design elements throughout, upstairs and downstairs just did an incredible job. Mark towns in a professional camera operator, worked with us to get cameras set up and ready to go. Jerry Shaw design drawings, Dan Hennessy, graphic design, Mike Ferris. He's been working tirelessly to get these windows cleaned up. And so Mike's a teacher, but he used to have a window cleaning business. Well, we couldn't get anybody to come out and clean windows we call and people wouldn't return the call. 4 (34m 9s): So I said, call Mike Ferris. So Mike came out on his own time and diamond and got our windows cleaned and did a great job. Steve rice, what can I say about Steve rice? He is always here. He's always, always here working behind the scenes. He's in the booth right now, working behind the scenes to make sure everything is working. And so I love that guy. Shannon Kessler with century 21, God has connected with Jack Hardy who gave us permission to use the century 21 parking lot over there. As Curtis mentioned, you can park over there. We'll validate your parking. So when you leave, you don't have to pay. That is a gift to us from century 21. And now the new owner of century 21 has agreed to the terms and is happy to help us. And so God bless those guys. 4 (34m 50s): Thank you, Shannon Kessler, for all of your hard work, making that happen. Anderson Burton, the construction company behind us, same deal. They gave us a parking agreement and they've been so, so gracious with us. And we're so thankful. Workday volunteers we've had many work days. There's too many volunteers dimension. I would miss people. And so I'll just say thank you to everyone who came out on workdays to get this place squared away and cleaned up and ready to go. Thank you to the people who prayed. We showed pictures of prayer meetings that happened in here. People prayed and people believed God for what he might want to do in this space. And it was the prayers of God's people and the grace of God that got us across the finish line so that we could sit here today and have shirts. 4 (35m 33s): So thanks to you prayed to those who gave financial gifts to make this happen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Also, I don't want to forget my staff. We we've got such an amazing staff team. When I say staff, I mean paid staff, people who work here pretty much, all these people work full time. They are all like my elders, like the elders. I say mine because I just feel such ownership around them. But like the elders, th these guys and gals are so filled with faith and excitement about what God wants to do. They're willing to jump in and go. The extra mile to moderate was here until like 10 o'clock last night, just putting the finishing touches on everything. Working seven, eight hours on Saturday, the day is his day off. 4 (36m 14s): And so it's just to speak. Generally, the team has been working so hard. What's going on? You guys. So Tim, Tim mater, Curtis Henry, Jeremy Sutherland, Amanda Henry Jolene, Henry Carson, Lacey, Julie spill, or Leslie and Ron. So thank you guys for being the team that you are doing this 19 years. I'm so blessed to have the team that I have staff and elders and volunteers. You guys, we did this together. My God's grace. 4 (36m 54s): Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. All right. Let's get into James chapter one, but before we do, let's go and stand up. I just feel like it's time to pray again, Lord. It's good to pray. That's really good to pray. So we, we praise you Lord God. And we say, thank you, Lord. Thank you for every person. And for those that we may have missed, ah, we're so thankful. And Lord forgive me for missing somebody. If we did Lord, Lord, thank you for who you've brought together and how you've knit us together for common purpose and common goals. Lord God. And I pray that you would continue to do that. You would knit our hearts together, that you would keep us unified and strong in Jesus name, powerfully declaring and proclaiming the gospel that people might be saved and sanctified and filled with the holy spirit and live new lives in you being born again and set free in Jesus name. 4 (37m 46s): So do what you want to do through us and with us, Lord God, we are yours and we are in your hands and we are your conduit. So work through us and administer through us. We pray, Lord, thank you for your grace. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. We're going to be James chapter one verses one through 18. I'm pretty amped up there. So I'll start a slow down here. Hey, the title of the message. Faith that is tested is faith that endures. And so we're gonna be talking about testing the testing of our faith today. And I love that James, the half-brother of the Lord, Jesus Christ writes this epistle because he communicates something of power and something of clarity to a people who need power and clarity in their season of life. 4 (38m 34s): So James, the half-brother same mother, different father, Jesus had half siblings, same mom, obviously different father. So James writes this text for us as a believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ. We're going to unpack his story a little bit. As we talk about this person, James, who God used to pen these words in the book of James, it's encouraging for us to know his backstory a little bit because, and knowing his backstory, we realized that God worked wonderfully and supernaturally in his life to give him a kingdom gospel story. 4 (39m 14s): He took what was broken in James' life. What was faithless in James' life. And he did something wonderful and supernatural to bring about eternal kingdom fruit that no one could ever have expected. James one, one through 18 verse one. The first part of verse one says this letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. So James, the half-brother of Jesus could have said, James, the half-brother of Jesus James, it's the half brother of Jesus speaking, but he says, no, I'm going to do loss. We're talking about do loss. Last week, I do loss as a servant, a slave, a bond servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 4 (39m 57s): And I love a friend of mine pointed out earlier, or last week she said, she said, what's beauty beautiful about that term do loss. And that term servant or slave is that these people who are the bond servants that do loss of Lord Jesus Christ or serving at a free choice. So the backstory is that if a slave was released from his duties, but wanted to stay serving in the household of his master, he would be, he would get his ear pierced and you'd have a ring put in his ear. And it indicated that he was a bond servant by choice because his master was so, so good. And that's really our story, right? 4 (40m 37s): We, we are choosing by God's grace because our master is so, so good. We are choosing to be bond servants, slaves of the most high God. And so this is James. He is a bond servant, a slave of God, choosing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ because his master is so good. It's a half-brother they had the same mother, but different fathers. This is the same James that Jesus intentionally revealed himself to after his resurrection. So Jesus resurrects. And he goes after and finds his brother James to reveal himself so that he might know so that James might know that what has been said about his brother is true. 4 (41m 22s): Paul writes about it in first Corinthians 15 seven. It says then he, Jesus was seen by James and later by all the apostles. So after his resurrection, he was seen by and later by all of the apostles, many believe that it was in this moment, let James gave his life to the Lord and believed that Jesus indeed was the Messiah. Imagine growing up and your older brothers, you're being told that your older brother is the Messiah, right? Oh yeah. Your older brother, he's the Messiah. You're like not in this life. Like never, I can't believe it. I've watched this guy grow up, you know? And, and so James is having a hard time coming to grips with the reality as brothers, indeed the Messiah, until, until the resurrection, he watches his brother, be crucified and then buried and then resurrected from the dead. 4 (42m 13s): So many believe that it's at this moment that James became a believer until this resurrection, Jesus brothers did not believe he was the Messiah. I love that. Jesus seeks out his brother because I feel like he seeks everyone out individually. He goes after us, out of his great love for us in a great commitment to us. He seeks us out, revealing himself in wonderful and powerful ways so that we might believe he did the same thing then, and he's doing it now. He seeks us out by his grace and because of his abundant love is unconditional love. He seeks us out in our brokenness so that we might know his grace, his kindness, his love and his compassion. 4 (42m 56s): So again, even Jesus' brothers struggled with believing in John seven five in the new living translation. It says even Jesus brothers did not believe in him. And in mark chapter three, Jesus families didn't know Jesus family didn't know what to think about him in mark three 12, the second part there says he's out of his mind. They said, he's out of his mind. Maybe somebody has said that about you. And, and you're going to identify right now. So Jesus' family didn't believe him for the most part. They thought he was just a bit off and a little bit out of his mind. So James, the half-brother of Jesus, one who maybe like a lot of us struggled to believe that Jesus is who he claims to be one who after experiencing the resurrected Christ he chose to believe. 4 (43m 51s): And we all have that opportunity before us, will we choose to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the savior of the world, will we choose by God's grace to be followers and disciples of the Lord? Jesus Christ, James one who after experiencing the resurrected Christ chose to believe he James chose to believe what, what I believe the holy spirit of God was trying to convince him of all along. Maybe you're on a journey of your life, where you feel like God's been trying to get your attention. Like the spirit of God has been trying to reveal the power of God and the grace of God to you. But you've been struggling to believe it into receive. 4 (44m 32s): It's the holy Spirit's always working in our hearts and lives to draw us to the savior and to draw us into a deeper respect and admiration and adoration of the Lord that we might know him and follow him. So I'm convinced that the holy spirit of God was working in James to bring him to a place of brokenness and repentance, acknowledging that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. James became a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, James, along with the rest of his brothers, the brothers of Jesus were with the apostles at Pentecost, according to acts chapter one. 4 (45m 12s): So they're present and they believe in are they're beginning to follow Jesus. According to acts chapter 15, James became a major leader in the church and the church of Jerusalem. So we see James who goes from a doubter, this place of doubting unbelief, questioning wondering about this, Jesus is he the Messiah. He goes from this place of doubting into a place of believing into a place of influence into a place of kingdom fruitfulness that is eternal. That's the beauty of what God will do in our lives. If we just say yes to him and submit to him and allow him to work through us and use us, he will do something radically to transform our lives. 4 (45m 60s): Often we, or sometimes we can minimize our effectiveness as Christians because of our past. But if we look throughout the scripture, everyone, that God got ahold of how to pass. And then everyone that God got ahold of had the opportunity to be used powerfully by God and was used powerfully as, as the Lord director. So if you've got a pass today, I've got to pass today. Anybody else got a past, thank God for our past, because we can learn from it, but let's never let our past hold us back. But let's say thank you Lord, for our past. Thank you. That you've cleansed me, forgiven me. That you've set me free and you've set me on a brand new path in Jesus name so that I can believe be all in and be a kingdom, a soul-winner for you, Lord Jesus. 4 (46m 43s): So James goes from a doubter to just a great man of prayer. It said that James prayed so much that they called him camel knees, camel knees, because his knees were worn out from prayer because he prayed so much. One of his nicknames was James. The, just according to anybody who knew him, he was the most righteous man who ever lived. He was a man of integrity, a man of intense discipline. He loved Jesus, loved the gospel, loved what God had done in his life and was all in camel knees. James, the just again, as far as people were concerned, no one was as righteous as James. 4 (47m 29s): And so we see his backstory and I love that these men and women of God have a backstory because as we sit here today, again, we all have a backstory, but God is able to, in spite of our backstory and because of our backstory use us and work through us wonderfully and supernaturally. So James, according to historians was martyred in the year 80, 62, he was taken to the temple Mount the top of the temple Mount at the pinnacle of the temple Mount. There are the pinnacle of the temple, which is about a three-story building. And the Pharisees were so angry with his message and his conviction and his commitment to Jesus that they said, we will throw you off this. 4 (48m 11s): Three-story building. If you don't recant your faith, if you do not deny Jesus, we will throw you off from the pinnacle of the temple. This is the same place. By the way that the devil took Jesus to tempt him, took him to the same place. And so it's the same place that James has an opportunity to stand firm and Jesus come life or death. He was going to stand firm. So they throw off, they throw them off, but it didn't kill him. Listen, God's not gonna allow you to expire until he's done with you. So he gets down, it gets up, he's begins to begin to intercede and pray for his is the people that had thrown him off. 4 (48m 53s): Those people who were persecuting him, begins to pray. And they're so distraught. They go down there and they finished them off by stoning him to death. But all the while James is faithful, he is faithful. He was at first one tells us a slave of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ. What else does James? One, one tell us, it says, I'm writing to the 12 tribes, Jewish believers, scattered abroad, greetings. He's writing to the church. It's not just to Jewish believers, but he's writing to Gentile believers as well. 4 (49m 37s): He is speaking to the family of God, but just because you're born Jewish, doesn't actually make you Jewish spiritually. We'll see that in the scripture, you can be born a Gentile, but then be grafted into the family of God because of his grace and because of his mercy. And so if you're a Gentile, a believing Gentile today, meaning you're not a Jew, but you believe in the finished work of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that Jesus is your savior. You have been both adopted into the family of God and then grafted into the family of God. Let's take a look at some verses here in Romans 11, 17. It says this, but some of these branches from Abraham's tree, some of the people of Israel had been broken off. 4 (50m 17s): Why? Because they're N believing they've been broken off. And you Gentiles who were the branches from a wild olive tree had been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing. God has promised Abraham and his children sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God's special, all of tree. Isn't that neat? So at one point we are outside of the family of God. When we chose to believe and receive the grace and mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ, he's adopted a sin and he's crafted a sin. I don't know if you've ever tried to graph two fruit trees together where you're trying to get multiple fruits off the same tree. You can successfully cut off one branch in and grafted into the next one. 4 (51m 1s): So you begin to grow fruit, a different of a different kind in that tree. This is essentially what God has done. He's grafted us into his family tree, Romans 2 28 and 29 says this for you are not a true Jew, just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. So this is, this is what God is examining in our lives. He's examining our hearts. You say, well, my parents are Christians. And so I'm a Christian or my grandparents are Christian. So I'm a Christian it's in my heritage. So of course I'm a Christian. 4 (51m 42s): I was talking to one of my doctors recently. It's an, a guy that I just met. And at the end of the consultation, I just felt compelled. I said, Hey, do you know Jesus? Are you, are you a believer? And he laughs. He's like, of course I know Jesus. He's laughing at me, you know? And he said, well, that's kind of a convoluted story. I've got a, you know, Catholic background and blah, blah, blah. So there was more, there's more to this story. And I said, ha, I dunno why I just felt compelled to ask you that question. He said, that's your job. He knew I was a pastor apparently. And he's like, I get to ask you if you're a smoker, you get to ask me if you know, Jesus, I'm like, Hey, good. I've got permission now. 4 (52m 22s): I'm moving forward with that. So anyway, so we have to decide on our own. It doesn't matter what our background is. If we haven't made a personal decision for Jesus, then we're not in his family. And so you and me, our kids and our grandkids in our nieces and our nephews need to know Jesus. And so take the opportunity. It's apparently your job, right? You're a Christian. So you're supposed to be telling people about Jesus and then leading people into a place of salvation. No, true jewelers, 29 says is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law. 4 (53m 4s): Rather. It's a change of heart produced by the spirit and a person with a change chart, seeks praise or receives praise from God and not from people. So there's a heart transformation that God wants to accomplish in our lives. And I've seen firsthand and too many people, heart transformations for God just works powerfully and wonderfully and supernaturally. So when people are yielded, when people are yielded, God just works in and through their lives. In spite of their past, in spite of their mistakes, God is faithful. All right, let's continue James one, verse two. Do your brothers and sisters, when trouble of any kind comes your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 4 (53m 48s): Is that your first response when trouble comes? Woo. Thank you, Lord. Right? That's the first thing that's just naturally flows out of our mouth. It's not actually what naturally flows out of our mouth, right? And Romans five, three, Paul says we can rejoice too. When we run into problems and trials, why for, we know that they help us develop in Durance faith. That is trusted is faith. That endures number one, in your notes, your faith must be tested if your faith is to endure. So the testing of your faith is actually part of the process that builds within us. The endurance that we need to face life, to face the next test to build us up. 4 (54m 31s): And our most holy faith. I like saying it's like building rebar into the foundation of our faith, that tests that we endure and go through, build us up, cause us to be strong in Jesus. So we might endure what God has asked us to endure on Wednesday morning, this past week, my son Curtis, and my son-in-law Logan, we all went on this backpacking trip, the three of us, and it's about seven miles in and we've been on this backpacking trip before. So we knew we could do it, but it was so hot that day. We'd never hiked that trail when it's been like the mid eighties. And so, you know, it's super hot, dry wind. And so you're just, you're just winded the whole time, first mile. 4 (55m 11s): We're like, oh, that was easy. You know? And then you get into the second mile where you're really beginning to climb and you're feeling the heat. And man, it was a test of endurance. Would we really make it like many of us have been through spiritual tests before and we know we can make it, but it seems like with every test with every new test, there's just a slightly different elements like that throws a curve ball into the scenario. Like I've been through this before kind of, but not exactly like this. So it causes us to dig deeper by God's grace to find the strength and the wisdom and the energy to do and to succeed in this test to get passed the test. 4 (55m 52s): So anyway, we, we were really, really struggling. I, I was, you know, I'm the old guy out there, so I'm struggling more than anybody. And, but I knew that I wasn't going to be the guy to throw in the towel because it was like, you know, there's like six or seven campsites before we get to the narrows where we were headed seven miles in. So we get to stop at a mile or two or three or four, but there was no way that we were stopping. And I think that's the beauty of the fellowship of the church. We spur each other on like, I'm not quitting because I know others are counting on me. Please don't quit because there's people around you who are counting on you. Don't be the person who throws in the towel because God will give you the grace to accomplish what you need to accomplish, to get through to the place that you need to get through to. 4 (56m 40s): So we're on this trail and seriously, we're sucking down so much water. We got to stop like every five minutes just to take a breath and get our legs back under us. Cause it's just a climb all the way. It's a climb. It's actually uphill both ways. It's kind of a weird deal, but it's not really, it makes the story better anyway. So it's not, it's not, but on the way to the trail and on the way to the, into the campsite, it's so, so much work. And so we just had to decide that we weren't going to give up there. You know, there's so many parallels in life in, you know, the work that we do, the hobbies that we have, the relationships that we have, there are so many parallels that can help us to understand spiritual truth. 4 (57m 24s): If we'll just listen and pay attention. And so there's, so somebody parallels, you know, you're hiking, you got 35 pounds on your back and you, you know, you can hike so much easier without 35 pounds on your way. There's so many things, the backpack and represent sand or you know, different things. We just need to be aware that in the test, whatever it is in life, God is building something of endurance in our lives. So that the next test we'll have endurance for this, for that, for the next test. So our faith wasn't tested in this scenario, but our stamina certainly was, everybody gets tested in many ways, but people who put their faith in Jesus will certainly certainly experience victory. 4 (58m 9s): So my challenge to us, when we're facing tests, let's get our eyes on Jesus. Often we're focused on the task, the test, the difficulty. But if we'll just shift and say, God, I know that you're going to get me through this by your grace. I'm going to develop something even Durance endurance that I've never had before in preparation for the next test or for the next thing that you asked me to do. So Lord build within me, whatever is needed so that I might have endurance James. One, three tells us for you know, that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow back to James. 4 (58m 49s): She had his faith tested when he was told to recant or die. His faith was a life and death decision for him. I am convinced that along the way, in preparation for that faith test, there were many faith tests that built his endurance so that when it was a life and death scenario, he could say by God's grace and in his strength, I'm going to stand for him. And I will never recant my faith in Jesus Christ. So there was something, a preparation. We don't know what the future holds, but we know that there's preparation in our lives, building endurance in our lives so that we might stand firm until death in Jesus name, verse four, James one. 4 (59m 36s): So let it grow. Endorse. Let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete needing nothing. Isn't that the goal perfect, complete needing nothing. Jesus told us that is the goal. Matthew 5 48, but you are to be perfect. Jesus said, even as your father in heaven is perfect. So this is what God is trying to develop within our lives. Perfection. That word means mature. It means to be finished. It means to be complete. God is working in our lives so that we might experience perfection in Christ, as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that we might be mature and finished and complete. 4 (1h 0m 16s): We'll never be perfect in our own works or own righteousness. That's why Jesus went to the cross, but there is a standard. And I think it's important for us to understand that there is a standard in Jesus. Sometimes we get a little loose with the grace of God and the unconditional love of God. And we kind of get loose with our living, but this is the standard James tells us, and Jesus tells us, but you are to be perfect. Even as your father in heaven is perfect. Perfect, mature, finished, complete in Jesus name. So verse four describes the results of the testing, that, that we would be perfect and complete needing nothing. So this is the result of what will happen when we allow endurance to grow in our lives. 4 (1h 0m 60s): And we decide to stand firm and decide to follow Jesus. First five gives us the steps to get through the testing so that we may become perfect and complete needing nothing. So verse five helps us to understand how do we accomplish this faith that is tested is faith. That endures, number one, your faith must be tested. If your faith is to endure and number two, your faith will be tested, but God will give you what you need. And we're encouraged in verse five, James one, if you need wisdom, if you need it and you will need it, I need it. We all need it every day with every test, with every circumstance and scenario, we need the wisdom of God. 4 (1h 1m 40s): So James tells us, I'm sure out of the function of the anointing of the holy spirit, but also just out of his own experience. If you need wisdom, ask our generous, God, I love that. He throws that in there that God is generous. Sometimes we see God as heavy handed and angry or whatever James is saying, ask your generous God, and he will give it to you. And he will not rebuke you for asking. He won't say, you'll keep asking for wisdom. Can't you just get it through your head. He's not going to say that. He's like, oh, you need wisdom. Let me help you with that. Right? He's just going to bless us with what is needed. He's a good, good father. But when you ask him, so you're asking for wisdom there's criteria here. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. 4 (1h 2m 23s): God is your plan. A and there is no plan B like Lord, I'm fully needing your wisdom and I'm not looking to the wisdom of the world or to the wisdom of my friends. I'm looking to the wisdom of your word through your spirit, that you would speak to me, guide lead and direct me. And that is my plan. And so Lord, if you don't speak, I'm not moving. I don't have a plan B. So you gotta just speak. We need to be completely devoted to him. And when you ask, be sure that your faith is in God alone, do not waiver for a person with divided. Loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. So maybe you're feeling unsettled today. 4 (1h 3m 5s): It may be because you're divided in your loyalty. And so we always need to be checking in with ourselves and my fully committed to you, Jesus. Or am I committed to you in this area, but not to you in this other area. I'm counting on your wisdom for this, but I got it figured out over here. Listen, we come to Christ by faith because we need his wisdom. But way before that we need salvation. We need just grace. We need his kindness because we have botched our lives apart from him. And when we come to faith in him, come to him by faith, he, he rebuilds restores, heals, sanctifies, delivers, fills he's about doing wonderful and supernatural things in our lives. 4 (1h 3m 53s): But we have to be careful for a person with divided loyalty. It's like that person who was just lukewarm, like I not quite all in kind of in, I'm not quite sure, lukewarm unsettled, divided, divided loyalties. That person is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. You know what happens when you're fully committed to Christ? You know what happens? Peace. You're settled in Jesus because you know that Jesus is the Lord of your life. And you're committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. No matter what test or temptation comes, you're settled. 4 (1h 4m 36s): And if there's a stumbling in the journey, you're quick to say, Lord, that's not my life. I do not want to do that. I'm repenting. And I'm getting right in alignment with you. There's just something of confidence. A holy spirit given breeds confidence, not arrogance because God opposes the proud, but it is a confidence is I'm a follower of Jesus. And so Jesus is the Lord of my life. In every arena. Every season, I'm going to trust him and follow him and believe him. There's just a peace and a confidence and a reassurance that comes when we make Jesus, the Lord of our lives. So don't waiver and quit wavering for a person with divided. Loyalties is as unsettled as the wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 4 (1h 5m 16s): Such people get this such. People should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Wow. Like he's like, it's challenging us. You really want my wisdom or you just want a quick fix. Do you really want what I have to say already? You just trying to find the easy way. Or do you have a plan B that you're going to be kind of comparing a, well, God judge this, but I've got to think this, or God says this, but you know, so-and-so says this, God says this, the world says this. What is your plan? Plan a God, no plan B no plan C nothing else. God is your priority. Those people should expect to receive whatever they need from the Lord. But people who are double double-minded first aid, their loyalty is divided between God and the world. 4 (1h 6m 3s): And they are unstable in everything. They do. You want stability in your life, stability like shakable stability in your life. Just make Jesus, the Lord of your life. Open up the word every day, allow the spirit of God to fill you the word of God to direct you be obedient. No plan B. My plan a Jesus is you. Everything else is submitted to that. I'm moving forward. You will find such stability in your life, such grace for your life, such peace in your life. Such joy such can temperament such God godliness. I mean, there's just so much joy and wonder that comes out of that. 4 (1h 6m 44s): Undivided loyalty to God. Faith that is tested is faith that endures your faith must be tested. If your faith is to endure, your faith will be tested, but God will give you what you need. Number three is we get ready to wrap up your faith tests will come in many forms, but God is the one who will reward your endurance. So beyond just the reward of peace and confidence in Jesus and, and assurance that God is with me and filling me and leading me and directing me in that. He's my Lord. He's my king. He's my everything. And in spite of it, in addition to all of those blessings, there's rewards coming for those who put their trust in the Lord. 4 (1h 7m 31s): First-time believers who are poor, have something to boast about for God has honored them. And that interesting for believers who are poor, have something to boast about for God has honored them. That's an interesting statement. The word poor is tapped by nos in the Greek. It's, it's a word that describes a person's state describes who the person is in their soul. It's it's also described a low li poor is described or defined as lowly in Matthew's gospel. Jesus uses that same word, tap by Nasir for himself. 4 (1h 8m 13s): He describes himself in this way in Matthew 1129 in the king James version, it says, Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for, I am meek and lowly. Tap by nasi. Jesus is describing himself as meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest on to your souls and Matthew 1129 in the new living translation. That same verse says, take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I'm a humble and gentle as heart. You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is lights. 4 (1h 8m 53s): So there's a blessing for those who are poor tap by nice type tap ins. There there's a poor in spirit that God blesses because it speaks of dependence on him. Appreciation of him, a love for him. And Jesus has come to me because I'm the same and I will lift your burdens. I will bless you in second Corinthians, seven, six. We see it again, says, nevertheless, God that comfort with those that are cast down comfort. If us by the coming of Titus tap a top. I know. So it uses that word, tap on ice there, comfort to minister, to the people of God. 4 (1h 9m 36s): And so we see that there's a blessing for those who are lowly, who are poor in spirit verse 10 says, and those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. It's so backwards, right? From our thinking. We think if you're poor in spirit report financially, that that you should be sad. And if you're rich, you should be happy, right? But the gospel turns the world's philosophy on its head. And he says those who are rich boast Shabbos, that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. So the temporal nature of our riches and our wealth will fade verse 11, says the hot sun rises and the grass Withers, the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away in the same way. 4 (1h 10m 19s): The rich will fade away with all of their achievements. And it's talking about worldly achievements, things that we've used our money to, to, to enrich our lives and to, to bless our lives instead of for the kingdom. So wealth can be a test and a temptation that test, this is the test around wealth. Will I trust God or will I trust my wealth? So that comes back to being double-minded person. Are you a single-minded that your trust is only in God doesn't matter how much wealth, much or little that I have is my trust in God, or as much my trust in my resource, the temptation while I serve God, or will I serve money? The Bible says you can't serve God and money. 4 (1h 11m 2s): So the temptation is what am I going to serve? What is going to be my priority? Am I going to protect my resource at all costs so that I have what I think I need for the future, or is God on throne of my life. And I will do whatever he asked me to do with my resource. You can't serve God and money. So a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways because there's a mix-up in that person's life about who is on the throne of his life. Sometimes God, sometimes money, sometimes relationships, sometimes whatever you fill in the blank, sometimes something else is on the throne of my life. And it's causing me to be unstable in all areas of my life and it's wreaking havoc in my life. And so we need to decide to be single-minded in our focus and our devotion, making Jesus, the Lord and the king of our lives in every arena and scenario with everything in our lives. 4 (1h 11m 54s): God Wes that verse 12, God blesses. Those who patiently endure testing and temptation afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. And remember when you are being tempted, do not say God is tempting me. God has never tempted to do wrong. And he never tempts anyone else. What does that temptation come from? Right? You're right. We're always tempted by something. This is where it comes from. Temptation comes. I love it. When the Bible answers our questions for us temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. So you can't say, well, the devil made me do it because the devil, the world, the flesh and the devil is using the raw material that is in your life to entice you in a drag you away. 4 (1h 12m 39s): So if you've got unresolved sin or unresolved issues or unresolved, whatever in your life, the enemy is going to use that raw material to entice you and drag you away. So we have to be constantly doing business with the Lord, allowing him to examine our hearts and take, and we need to take a personal spiritual inventory. Lord, what is going on? What keeps getting my attention? What keeps tempting me to look away or tempting me to go a different direction. It's coming from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. 4 (1h 13m 20s): That's the process, right? We have to take captive every thought into the obedience of Christ. We have to recognize what's going on, going on in our hearts. And we have to repent. Hold short accounts. God, I'm struggling in this area. I need to bring it out into the light, confess it, get somebody around me who can help me walk with integrity in this area. And then you're not giving the enemy any raw material to work with because these desires, if we are not careful, these desires will give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ. Jesus. Our Lord, I know is his grace and his mercy are sufficient. 4 (1h 14m 1s): So don't be misled. Verse 16 says my dear brothers and sisters, whatever's good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God, our father who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow his. So he's the same yesterday. And today and forever, his ways are the same yesterday, today and forever. We get out of the testing. We get through the testing and we get out of the temptation the same way by surrendering to him not being double-minded but saying, yes, Lord, I want purity. I want integrity. I want honesty in my life. As a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, verse 18. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. 4 (1h 14m 41s): And we out of all, creation became his prized possession, good stuff. Worship team come forward here, wrapping up faith that is tested his faith that endures your faith must be tested if your faith is to endure. So go through it. Allow God to strengthen you with endurance. Number two, your faith will be tested, but God will give you what you need. So just call it to the Lord. Number three, your faith test will come in many forms, but God is the one who will reward your endurance. And so with that, let's go and stand up and we're going to pray and we're going to worship some warm. So Lord, we stand up. We pray. And we thank you, Lord, for the message of truth. 4 (1h 15m 23s): Spoken to us out of James chapter one, we're grateful for what you will do as we unpack the rest of these five chapters, Lord, we, we, we commit to say yes and amen to whatever it is that you guide and direct us. And Lord do say yes and amen to your plans and purposes yet to say yes and amen to your Lordship and leadership in our lives. We want to be stable. Knots tossed to and fro but stable in Jesus name. So we trust you, Lord. We love you, Lord. Thank you for giving us insight into how to endure testing and temptation. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. 4 (1h 16m 2s): Amen. 0 (1h 16m 11s): his song is . 0 (1h 18m 3s): Yeah. 1 (1h 18m 30s): First. We're going to go out with a song of praise. If you feel comfortable, would you clap along? 0 (1h 18m 48s): Y . 1 (1h 21m 54s): Thank you, Jesus, for your presence. Thank you that we get to sing to you. We only want to sing. Thank you for this new worship center. Getting to be in your house this morning in your name, we pray. Amen.