Beacon Sunday Service: March 3rd, 2024

All right, and as we just make our way back to our seats, we will begin this morning by reading together Isaiah forty-four twenty-three. And we're just going to proclaim that the Lord has redeemed his people. It's not anything that we have done in and of our own efforts or of our own accord, but really it is the Lord. It is Yahweh who has redeemed us and saved us. And so may we confess that today as we begin this morning, our time of worship this morning.

It says, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble. And together, sing O Heavens, for the Lord has done it. Shout, O depths of the earth, break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it, for the Lord has redeemed his people. Amen. What a great truth that we proclaim this morning that God has redeemed us.

May we sing together this morning.

So my God you there is no other.

Faithfulness my refuge in Lord my rock my rock and my team gracious my ruin, my guilt, my guilt, and cross laid on your shoulder in my place, you suffer bled and die you rose, you rose the grave and death conquered Amen, you broke my bonds of sin and shame you rose, you brought the grief and death conquer, you broke my bonds with sin and shame Oh Lord I rock and my days bring glory to your name all the way my savior leads me and all the way my savior leads me and who have I to ask beside how could I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide and all the way my Savior leads me and cheers each winding path I tread gives me grace for every feeds me with the living breath you leave and keep me from falling you kill me close to your heart and show your goodness and mercy will the way my Savior leads me on the fullness of his love of his promise in the triumph of his blood when my spirit clothing wings its flights to realms of my song through endless Jesus Jesus led me all the way, Jesus led me, Jesus lend me all the way, you leave me and keep me from falling, you can be close to your heart and show me.

Your goodness and mercy will meet me and keep me from falling. You ghost to your heart and show your goodness and mercy will mean all the way my Savior leads me. All the way my Savior leads me.

And all the way my Savior leads me. And all the way my savior my Savior leads me. This morning we will confess our faith using the Heidelberg Catechism. In this question and answer we will confess our belief in God our Father. And here's the question what do you believe when you say I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. And together that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence is my God and Father because of Christ his Son. I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world.

He is able to do this because he is Almighty God. He desires to do this because he is a faithful Father. Amen what a sovereign God who just cares and looks after his sons and daughters may we continue to worship our great God once in the world of our sin we wander lost dead with our into our design grace came to restore and bring us home let the redeemed of God rise up and sing we give thanks oh God for your sin fast love we give thanks oh God for you are good Lord you are good we give things every pain through every pain and trial you provide light in the dark of our distress, lifting us from high when we cry, turning our grief to graceful men, let the redeemed of God rise up and sing.

We give thanks, we give thanks, oh God, for your sin. Fast love, we give thanks. Oh God, for you are good, Lord, you are good, we give thanks. Oh God, for your sins. We give thanks. Oh God, for you are good. Lord, you are good. We give we give. You take darkness, you take the darkness, and make it as light.

You raised to lie, and take a bear and place. Make it a spring. Let the redeemed of God. Rise up and sing. Let the redeem. Let the redeemed of God. Rise up and see.

Oh God, for your sin. That's love. We give thanks. Oh God, for you are good, Lord. You are good. We give faith. Oh God, for your sin. That's love. We give thanks. Oh God, for you are good. Lord, you are good. We give. We give us. Good morning, everyone. Today's confession of sin is a reminder of how God is a righteous God that loves his people and keeps their covenants with Him. So let us confess our sin together, and afterwards we'll have an individual time of confession. So together, O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love and trust Him.

We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly, turning aside from the light of your word. To you, O Lord, belong mercy and forgiveness. For we have rebelled against you, for we do not present our please before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy, O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive. Amen. Please be seated. Let us not take in a personal time of confession to our Lord.

Here's your assurance of pardon. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. Jesus has removed our transgressions from us. Amen. Today's prayer request is one for the leaders of this church. This week we are going to Shepherd's Conference. And it is very timely indeed. Truthfully, the leaders have been going through a season of a lot of just planning and prayer and in the midst of our pastoral search hasn't been the easiest for us. But truth be told, we are all excited to go and to learn and to be fed by the speakers and great leaders of the church as it is today. So if you could pray for us that we would receive and be refreshed, and that we that God would give us great wisdom and insight as we go through the seminars and listen to sermons and truly kind of gather what it is that we can maybe learn and share with you all.

And as this year kind of goes on in the midst of our past pastoral search, and as your leaders do their best to lead you and to guide you as shepherds, that what we learn would translate well to this upcoming year. And a second part of that is also if you could pray for our wives. We know that it's not easy for us to be gone the whole day and to leave our wives with the kids, that the kids would be gracious to our ma uh you know their mothers, and and just that things at home would also be in order for them and and just that God would watch over the our families, Lord, or as as we're uh gone through the midst of the day. Uh so please pray for us.

Lord, we lift up the shepherds conference up to you, and um, as us, the leaders go this week, we ask for blessing and and um just vision, Father, as we walk through um the seminars and listen to all the sermons and have fruitful discussions with brothers around us. Lord, we pray, Father, for uh you to reveal things to our leaders, and just um just knowing what it is that we are to do as shepherds, to be refreshed, to be joyful in the way that we serve, um, and even opening up doors of opportunity to network and to meet other pastors uh and in light of us in our pastoral search, that we might be able to find somebody to come and be the pastor of this church uh for full-time capacity, Lord. So we ask, Father, for things that we we won't know, um, but Lord, you know, um, and you know what uh is in store for us this week, and we just pray for blessing upon that.

We pray for our homes as well and provision for our families and watching over our wives. We just we're thankful for just godly wives that you've provided for us and you've given us in our lives, and just uh the children that we have, we just pray for a grace grace upon them and that they uh would be uh obedient and and calm and easy to just quick to listen and and just making it easier uh while we were we are out throughout the day uh and that we might be able to have enough time at the end of our evenings to just uh spend and and and spending time together. Well, with all that, Lord, we know that uh this is something that was planned by you, and so Lord, we trust and we we walk uh in faith, Father, this week, Lord, and just ask for your blessing upon us in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Uh children, your dismiss. Please follow Teacher Tiffany. Have a good Sunday school today. And as the children are being dismissed, we'll have a time of announcements.

The first announcement, and the only announcement is that well, as we share it, uh, your leaders are gonna be going um to uh a week of seminars and and meet and greets uh starting on Tuesday. Um we have an opportunity to kind of go to a dinner or go to a seminar um at Grace Baptist Church and then meet, have a meet and greet and have a dinner with leaders uh of the church. Um and with that, the actual conference starts Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So then it's gonna be a pack day. We're gonna be out all day from like eight to five. Uh and so if you could just keep us in your prayers during the during the week as well. Um our offering options are Zell, Venmo, Cash and Check up on the screen.

Uh, if you're visiting, please do not feel obligated to give. Um, but if you're a member, we ask uh that you give us the Lord has blessed you. Pastor Madison. It is to uh come back into uh just before I even get into the message. Let me somebody ask about Natalie and how she was doing this week, and she went back for another stem cell injection on Monday. Every six months she goes for those. They um draw some blood out and then spin it out and get the stem cells and then reinject it back in to our spine area, and then they use it in a as a nasal pass uh needle spray as well. Um, you know, there's a there's a membrane between your brain and your nasal passage that protects your brain from getting any sickness that you have.

The nasal spray that they inject in her allows it to penetrate into the brain for about 30 minutes, so that stem cells go directly up into our brain to repair damaged areas and up into her spine, and they kind of run together, and and so uh this week I was praying for a just a major breakthrough that God would uh really do something uh special there. They go to Phoenix and they're there for the week. Uh she gets the stem cell injections on Monday during the day, and then she has therapy Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And so this Friday, um, they took her out to kind of a desert park area um where the trails are nothing but dirt and stone. And and she was able to, with the doctor and his assistant, they walked out a hundred yards and then turned around and came back a hundred yards, and she wasn't assisted at all by holding anybody's hand.

So the the walkway is uneven and rocks and stuff like that. And and so she was able to do that, and that was the first time that she's been able to go that kind of distance to think that we could get get a chance to say, would you like to go for a walk? Uh, because it's giving her an opportunity to do that as well. And then her speech uh is starting to uh even be stronger. At first, you know, when you think of uh of your brain not having any oxygen for twelve to fifteen minutes, you lose your brain no longer tells your let's say your tongue and your lips and your vocal cords and your breathing. Every one of those things has to take place instantaneously so that you whisper, or you get loud and your your body tells your your breath to increase so that you can speak that way.

And so uh I just rejoice and pray and praise God for what uh occurred in in uh Natalie's life uh this past week. We've been starting to look at the book of James. We've gone there two weeks now, and last week we looked at uh why is this happening to me? And let me just have you uh stand for the reading of this passage. Um do you remember why? I took I told you, I think the first week I was here, uh reminded you, attempted to remind you. Why we even stand up for the reading of God's word? Um it's when Jesus read the word, it says, and they stood as was their custom. So they they did it out of uh their custom, but we stand uh you've heard of Billy Graham, and of course he's since passed away, but every time Ruth, his wife, would walk into the room, he would stand it when they're in the presence of other people out of honor.

Like, and and people do it like when the president walks in the room, what do they stand? What do they do? They stand, you know, here's the president. And so this is God's word. So I'm gonna ask you to stand as we read God's word. James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Now, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given him.

This is the word of the Lord. Oh, you may be seated. I think of uh the book of Revelation, and I almost said it this way before I said this is the word of the Lord. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. This is the word of the Lord. So let me uh go back to the cover that we had. Why is this happening to me? Because many times that's where people start out. They begin to think, uh, I can't believe what have I done? What have I done? What have I done wrong? Why is God allowing this? And what we know from Scripture is that God allows trials, suffering, testing to happen to everyone. And you see it in scripture. We looked at this the first couple of weeks.

Abraham, Moses, Israel, all of them had sufferings and difficulties. How about the Apostle Paul? He was almost stoned to death. So everybody has these difficult times, and but there is one other one that I really want to have you look and focus on for a moment, and that's Jesus. You know, if Abraham had difficulty, if Moses had difficulty, if all of Israel had difficulty, if the Apostle Paul had difficulty, huh? But why would Jesus need to have difficulty? I mean, think about it for a moment. We read in James that we're considering pure joy because it's going to give us endurance and maturity and wisdom. Does Jesus need endurance? No. I mean, he he's God, he'll forever. Does Jesus need to mature or to become perfect?

No, he's already perfect. Does Jesus need to get wisdom? No. He's the author of wisdom. But there's a couple of reasons in scripture why Jesus was given this, and Hebrews 4.15 is one of them. For we do not have a high priest who was unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. And he was given this so that we could, he could understand. You could say, ah, he understands, because he was tested just like I am. Not that he needed to be tested, but you want to know, does he understand what I'm going through? You can't say you can't ever say to him, you don't understand. Yeah, you're God, and you you've never been tested with sin.

He was tempted in the wilderness. So one reason Jesus went through this testing is so that we could know. We have a great high priest who's been tested and tempted, just like we are, yet without sin. But there's another reason, and I want you to catch this one. We didn't look at this last week, but here it is in 1 Peter 2 21. For you were called to this, because Christ also what suffered for you. He didn't have to, but he suffered for you. Now the next part is what I want you to catch. Why did Jesus go through some of these things? Leaving us what? An example. That you should follow in his steps. You know that that bracelet that some people wear, W W J D, what would Jesus do? And there was a book in his steps that was written years ago.

That every day you'd say, okay, Lord, how you're walking this way. Help me to walk this way today, too. I want to walk in your steps. But leaving you an example. Look at the screen for a moment. Here's the Greek word that's used for an example. Hupa Gramon. Okay. And let me just slide it up at the top of the screen. This is an example. With Greek words, they often break down into a prefix and then a root word. And this is this is the case as one of them, so let me just divide it apart. You can see the prefix on the left side of the screen. And we talked about this prefix with a word last week for endurance. But this word is now used in example. And last week, I tried to talk you through this, but I'm going to let you see it on the screen right now.

I'm going to highlight. See that? I put a little circle around that backwards apostrophe. And that's the rough breathing mark in Greek. And it makes the H sound for that word. So this is pronounced huple. So let me slide that down and put the H there. Okay. The Upsilon, I'll highlight it, is the second letter in this little prefix. And the Upsilon, it makes two letters in English. It will make the U sound. You hear it in Upsilon. Or it makes the Y sound because the Greek doesn't have that Y sound. So I put the Y up here as well. The third letter becomes the pi. You use it in pi r squared or in things of mathematical things. The pi makes, by the way, just before I even drop it in, let me remind you the Greek alphabet has 24 letters.

The American, the English alphabet has 26. We take every one of their letters virtually and put it into English. The Greek became our main setup for our language, for the English language for us. So that I don't know if you know if I mentioned this to you, but like uh the first two letters are alpha, beta, you know, alpha, beta, gamma, delta, alpha, beta. And we put those two together, and we formed our English word, alpha bet. And so almost all our English words come from a this Greek kind of background. So now go back up here again, and that pi becomes the letter P in English. And the omicron becomes our letter O, and you have the hypo. And then let me so that's a little prefix. We'll talk about that in a second.

The second part of the word, uh, the root is grapho. Grapho. Christ suffered, leaving us a what? An example. And now we're talking about example here. And so again, this uh gamma, that's what it is in Greek. Gamma, what letter is it gonna make in English? Gah. Gamma is gonna make the letter G. The next letter, uh, it almost looks like our P, only it's an R in Greek. It's the row. And what is the row gonna make in English? What letter? The R. Okay. The next one looks just like uh the English letter that we have. It's the uh alpha and the alpha, we use it in our letter A. So now the the the fourth letter on the screen, let me highlight it on the screen. It's the fee. We have no uh letter that looks like the zero, the the O with a line down through it, but it's the fee, and we get a couple of English letters from that.

Um the one that's used in our English word here, uh, phi, phone, phone. And how do we write phone? I used to laugh. Uh I had one guy that he said, oh, phone is F-O-N-E. Phone, you hear it. Fone. But the what letter makes also in phone, what letter makes that? The physic so what English word do we have from this word in the Greek, for example? This graft. Okay, so now let's get back to these two words. On the screen, look at hypo, and the hypo means under. It's the prefix for under. Hyper is above. So if a kid is hyperactive, he's bouncing off the walls. He's the bow of the activity you want him to have. We use uh hypo in a hypodermic needle. What's derma? Do you know what derma is in English?

Skin. And so hypoderma is under the what? Skin. So a dermatologist is what kind of a doctor? The doctor that's gonna deal with the skin. Okay, and so hypodermic goes under the skin. So hypo here, hypoglycemic. Somebody that has uh sugar, their sugar uh level is not high enough. It's under, it's under what it should be. Hypoglycemic. So now you have under, and you have graft. And on let me drop this in. Graph means to write. We we make a graft on the screen, and so we write it out so that they can see and understand. So, now what word are we talking about uh in our text today? Uh as we lead up to it, Christ suffered, giving us an example. So this is the word for example. So let me put it together on the screen like this.

It means to write under. Well, how on earth is that an example? What does what does that mean? For the Greeks, it meant something really clear. For us, it doesn't mean, it doesn't make it very clear. So let me go back in your thinking, because did they have, did they have any paper? No. Did they have the iPads? No. Did they have the chalkboards? No. Did they have the whiteboards? No. So how did they teach their kids how to write? The papyrus was too expensive. They couldn't just say, hey, here, mess this up. The papyrus is the plants, and they would beat them together and mulch them up and dry them out, and then they could write on that papyrus. So what did they do to teach the kids to write?

Well, they had a couple of ways to do it. And both of them go back to the word example. So Christ suffered, giving us an example so that we can see by his life how to handle these trials and these sufferings. What they did for kids is they either used wax, and so they would melt the wax down, and then the teacher would in the wax draw the letters. And the kids, once that wax would set up, would trace that underlying example for them to learn how to write. Now, what do they do if they can afford wax? Because wax wasn't cheap back then either. So they did this.

And in the sand, they would spray it down, dry it up, and the kids would then trace the example that they needed to have. So what did Christ do? He came down to earth and he gave us an example. A hupa gramone, so that we could follow. And what was his example in? Christ suffered, giving us an example that we should walk in his steps. You see this in scripture as well, uh in this setting. What did Jesus do when the woman was taken in adultery? He didn't say, Hey, let me show it on. Let me get the screen up here and let me show it to you.

What's interesting is there's only there are only a couple of times in scripture what you where you really see the finger of God used. One time is in the Old Testament when he did the Ten Commandments, and he put them on the table of stone. God, he didn't need any chisel, man. He just took his finger, and stone was nothing to him. And he gave us the three commandments. And then you see it here as well. So God is giving us an example that we should follow. So let's get back now to where we were last week. How God uses trials in our lives to bring us to rejoice in him. And so James is having to write these people. Now, what's going on in their lives? That's a trial or a test or a difficulty. Verse one says this, James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes, King James Version, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad.

So what's going on in their lives? They were from Jerusalem. But what happened in Jerusalem that scattered them abroad? The persecution, the suffering, the trials. God asked him to go into all the world to preach the gospel. Did they want to go into all the world and preach a gospel? No. So God says, okay, I'll allow this to happen. What happened? The suffering and the trials. And they dispersed everywhere, so the gospel could be taken everywhere. God's saying, here's what I want you to do. And if you decide not to do it, then God allows things to happen in our lives so that we're put under pressure so that we can become like him. I said to you this way, look at the character traits in verses 2 James 1, verses 2, 3, 4, 5, that make us that get produced in us when trials come into our lives.

What does he want to do in our lives? He wants to bring us joy. Remember when we looked at uh Philippi a few weeks back? It's not happiness that he wants us to have, because happiness depends on happenings. But he wants to give us joy and joy as a fruit of the Spirit that's inside our lives. And so Satan can't get there, but he can get here on the outside of our lives.

He says, I want you to have that. The first character trait we looked at was endurance. We looked at this last week, okay? Endurance. And you remember the Greek word for this is Hugh Paul Meno. And meno is the root word there, means to abide or to live there. It's used all the time in John 15. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will. I'm divine, you're the branches. If you remain in me, remain or abide in me. So that's for endurance. What's interesting, let me put it on the screen in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1. Lay aside, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with what? Endurance. This is the Greek word that's used in our James passage.

Run with endurance. But what's interesting in James, where we looked at it last week, endurance. God wants to give us endurance. And so he allows trials in our lives to give us endurance. There's another word that gets translated, besides endurance, for this same Greek word. As a matter of fact, let me put it on the screen in another translation that you might be familiar with. This is the King James translation of that same Hebrews passage. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience, the race that is set before us. That's the same Greek word, same passage. So which is it? Endurance or patience? And the answer is yes. It's the same.

If I have endurance and I keep have to keep running in a marathon, it takes patience to keep going. And so here it is. Run with patience. So what does God want to create in my life and in your life if he's going to give me a trial? And endurance is going to take patience. I don't get it overnight. How do I know that it's endurance? Because I can do it for a long period of time. It takes patience to do it for a long period of time. So let's go back to the text. James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion. Greetings. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you face various trials. So knowing that the testing of your faith produces what? Endurance.

And that's what we looked at last week. Produces endurance or patience. Those of you who have kids, what have you learned? Patience. The testing of your time. I told you how to do it. I told you not to do that. And what do they do? They turn right around and do it again. And you're learning endurance and patience. So let's get now from where we stopped last week. Let's take it from there. How God uses trials in our lives to produce joy. And he's going to do, he's going to give us endurance. That's the first character he lists in the text. The second character is maturity, maturity. Actually, it's translated in different ways in English, so we'll talk about that. But maturity. Here's the text.

Consider it a great joy, my brothers. Let me highlight that. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials. When's the last time you went, oh, oh, goodie! Man, this is terrific. I'm sicker than I can be. And man, or I just had an accident with my car, or I just lost my job. Oh, this is terrific. This is, you know, you might say that sarcastically. Oh, terrific. What else do I need to go wrong? But he's saying, no, last week, and I even alluded to this. This is a command in scripture. He's saying, look, I want you to consider it. I'm not even asking you. I'm not even requesting you. It's an imperative in the Greek. You need to consider it a great joy when you fall into diverse temptation.

Diverse problems. Trials. And I go, really? You're gonna command me to be joyful? Yes. He said, I want you to be joyful. Because it's going to give you what? Endurance and maturity. He's not going to leave you like you were when you first trusted him. He said, I want you to grow in this way. So let's go back. Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work. Verse 4. Can I say this? There's a command in this verse, too. There's only two commands. There's two commands in verses two, three, four, and five. The first command, you consider this great joy. He doesn't use the word you.

An imperative usually has the word you.

And you say, oh yeah, yeah, I should. Let me give it to you in the New American Standard. Okay, I'll put that on the screen. And let endurance have its perfect results. Do you hear the command now? They don't give the word you there, but let you need to let endurance have its perfect result in your life. So twice he's giving a command to people that are dispersed all over that world at that time, saying, Look, there's a reason for your trials, and I want you to really, I want you to learn endurance and patience. I want you to have maturity in this. So let's look at it this way. But endurance must do its complete work. I love it when Scripture then says, I'm going to tell you why I'm telling you this.

Let endurance, but endurance must do its complete work so that. Here's why. So that. I'm going to tell you why. So that you may be what? Mature and complete, lacking nothing. Mature and complete. What's interesting, I'll put the Greek word on the screen here. It's teleos. Telios. It's used for both mature and complete. It's used two times in this text. So that you can become mature and complete. I've already told you, Jesus didn't need to mature. He didn't need to be complete. He is complete. He's all in all. But for us, he's allowing trials so that we can be mature and complete. So let me take teleos and put it up here and tell you it means that things are finished or are moving towards completion.

Now, teleos is used, I'm going to give you three ways it's used. Um to help you understand this. It means the completion of a guy that uh was talking about he was draw a picture, you did the feathers of a bird and the details. And he would just do bird after bird after bird, so that he could feather in uh the feathers. You know, with with people watching the eagles uh at uh big Bear. I don't know if you've seen it at all in the news. That the two eagles that have three eggs in the nest. And you know, they have a camera right up there so you can see them. Be great if you could show this to your kids. Um the male and the female, the the the female has uh been on the nest a lot, but the male it they'll switch times so the female can go get something to eat, but you also see the male bringing back food to the female, just a wonderful picture of what God designed, you know.

You we think, well, how do they know to do that? God put it in them, and then the female has been on the nest even through all the storms, the longest she's sat on the nest, not leaving that nest with those three eggs during this period, sixty-two hours. And you'd see her just and if you can show your kids these these pictures are on the news or on uh YouTube, and and when the when the female uh went when she stood up to shake the feathers off, the snow was about yay thick on her on the back, and she just took it off, and the male comes back, he came back with a a mouse or something, and she could have something to eat, and you'll see them, they're they're pecking each other on the beak, you know, just lovingly Venus action, and it's amazing to watch what God designed in animals like that.

Now, an artist, when he goes to do the feathers, it's they're not easy to do. And so they keep drawing and drawing and drawing. Let me show you a picture uh that an artist has done. Some of you you ever heard of the artist, uh the painter of light? Uh he's done several uh paintings that would um this painting is one of his paintings, um, and for him, um this this painting currently goes for about 2800 dollars, and that's a cheap painting that he would do. Okay, he's since passed away. Uh Thomas Kincaid. Maybe you've heard of his name, you know, but he's known as the painter of light, and he also incorporates his faith into it. Can you imagine how many hours it took to get the nuances of the clouds?

Or the see the the creek, the the or the river, the small river flowing through that area. Can you imagine when he painted the last stroke on that picture? Painting, painting hours, hours, hours, hours, different colors. And when he puts his last stroke on, you know what he says? He says the telestai. You know, he says in English, it is finished. It's finished. Now, it's totally not finished at that point, because you know what this guy does, he would take some portions of his hair or his blood and embed them so the DNA is in the picture, so nobody could ever claim to have a picture that was his uh without the real painting. He's they they've duplicated things and they don't have that.

But in the real expensive pictures that he's done, his DNA is in there. Once the DNA is in there, what does he say? Telios, teleos, uh telesty. It is what? Finished. It's done. Let me give you another way that this is used. It's uh it's used for the completion of a picture, it's also used for the final payment of a mortgage. If you uh are buying a house, or if you are paying on a car, and you make payments and make payments and make payments on a house, it's 20 to 30 years. And when you make the last payment, how do you feel? When you make the last payment on the car, how do you feel? I think thank God I don't have to make any more payments like that. It's finished. You know, yeah. Uh when I watch people that and we've helped them learn how to pay off their houses early, and they come and they walk out of that that bank, they go to the bank to make the last payment.

They don't mail it in. They want to they want that stamped, and and they walk out of there and they have their picture taken, and they point and paid in full. It's finished. What does James say? I want you to let trials have their perfect work, so that you can be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. I want God to do his finishing work on your life. And how does he do it? Trials, difficulties, suffering. God's using them, and you're to consider it all joy. I'll tell you, you know whether God has reached that point when you really are suffering, and you can say, I don't know how God's gonna use this, but I Lord, I'm looking, I'm excited to see what you're gonna do in this, and you have a sense of joy, not happiness.

You're not happy when things go wrong, when your car gets destroyed, or you know, whatever happens, but to have that joy, that peace in you. Let me give you the final way that I want you to really see how it's used in scripture. It's the final statement of Jesus on the cross. He uses it in this word. You know, the seven last statements of Christ on the cross. The the last one is the Greek word that's taken from teleos, it's the Greek word to tell us die, to tell us die.

In our language, it's the phrase, it is finished, and that's what he cries on the cross. It's done. The payments made, it'll never have to be done again. It's a complete final paid and full. The mortgage is paid, this debt for sin has been paid. Let me give you a couple of places that it's used in scripture. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Do not be conformed to this age. You know this verse. Probably you learned it. I don't know, did you learn it in King James? Uh Romans 12, 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, King James. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you might know what is that good and here it is.

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God. Teleos.

And complete will of God for your life. Ah, especially when it comes to trials and difficulties. Let me give you another place that's used in Colossians. We proclaim him Christ, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that, here it is again, he's gonna tell you why he's proclaiming it, so that we may present everyone what mature. Same Greek word that's used in James chapter one, that he says, I'm doing this so that you can be mature and complete. And what does he allow to happen in your lives so that you can become mature and complete? Trials, testings, sufferings, difficulties. I mean, anybody can, anybody can rejoice when things are going fine. That's why God, you know, when Satan came to God and said, Hey, you know, he's presenting himself to God, and God says, Hey, have you considered my servant Job?

He's a righteous man. And Job says, Yeah, but you know, he's only that way because you've given him all these things. He's got everything. You just touch what he's what he has, and he'll curse you to your to your face. God said, Okay, you can touch everything he has, just you can't touch him. And then he loses everything. And what does he do? He worships God. Job 120. His wife says, Why don't you curse God and die? And instead, he oh Lord, I want to worship you. That song, you give and take away, you give and take away. Yet my heart will choose to say, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be.

What's he gonna do? He's gonna move us to rejoice in him. How does he start out verse 2? Considerate joy. But then he says, if you can't, then I'm gonna allow this to happen. And so he's giving these characters, endurance, which can also be the word patience. Second, maturity, which can also be the word perfect or perfect. You know what, you know what Matthew 548 says? Be yeft, even as your father in heaven is perfect. Now, obviously, the only way we ever get perfected is in him.

Before him in love. Ephesians chapter 1. So he's wanting us to have maturity. Let me give you the last thing he's going to do in verses 2 through 5, that character trait. He wants us to have wisdom. Wisdom. Now, wisdom, well, let's look at the text here. Considered a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Do you notice what James does? He ends the verse with endurance and he begins the next verse with what? Endurance. Now, you ought to really understand. You know this, I'm sure. But when God's word was translated for us, it didn't have any verses or any chapters. So there wasn't a break here. There wasn't this is verse 4, and verse 3 was here.

The verse, our verse 3, he says, I'm gonna let me back it up here. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance. So he's just keeping linking them together. Matter of fact, he's gonna end verse 4 so that you might be mature and complete, lacking nothing. How does verse 5 start? But if any of you lacks wisdom, you see what he's doing? He lay one, and then you start the next verse with it, and then he ends with this, and he links it to the next verse. He's just laying it out so that you can say, Wow, this is what I need in my life. But endurance must do its complete work so that you may be mature, complete, lacking nothing. Now, if any of you lacks wisdom, how do you know if you lack wisdom?

If I were to ask you right now to give me a definition of wisdom, what are you going to tell me it is? What are you going to teach your kids when you teach them how to have wisdom? I would say to you, um, if you want to teach this to your kids, I I alluded this at one point when the book of Proverbs is a great book to teach children about wisdom. And especially starting at chapter 10, because chapter 10 starts to give about every verse or every two verses, is like a sermon in a sentence. I I told you Proverbs 10:1, a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. So again, when my son did well, I said, Oh, he gave me a glad heart. When he did something wrong, and my wife was disappointed in it, I'd say, remember what the text said, because he memorized this verse with me.

You know, you just at an early age they can memorize these like sponges. A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother, and I'd say to him, you know, you just gave your mom a heavy heart. Because they need to understand the Proverbs. Now, Proverbs chapter 4, I'm gonna give it to you this way. I don't have it on the screen, so this is just this is off the cuff stuff, okay? Proverbs chapter 4, verses 5, 6, and 7. So that ought to be easy for you to remember. Proverbs 4, 5, 6, and 7. Chapter 4, verses 5, 6, and 7. It talks about getting wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. With all I getting, get understanding. You know, what I would say to you is have your kids learn uh Proverbs 4, verses 5, 6, and 7, and have them pray that regularly.

It tells you that wisdom is supreme, therefore get wisdom. Get understanding, though it costs you everything you have, get these two things. Wisdom. If you lack wisdom, now how do you if you don't know what wisdom is, how do you know if you lack it? Look at me for a second. Do you can you give me right now a biblical definition of wisdom? I'm not talking about knowledge. We know what knowledge is. Knowledge is book learning. We keep learning it and learning it, and we learn how to do something, and we have the knowledge of it. What is wisdom? God has wisdom. And he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God. Okay, what am I asking him for? I would say that most people don't know what wisdom is.

And you want to teach your children what wisdom is. I'm gonna give it to you in a second, but if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing. If I'm asking God for wisdom all the time, he's not up there saying, Oh, come on, you haven't gotten it yet. Can't believe you again? You're asking me again. He gives generously and without criticizing, and it will be given him. So uh the question I have, you know, well, let me say this first. The fact uh Dan uh McCartney said this the fact that at least some of James' readers apparently lacked wisdom suggests that endurance has yet to complete its work in them because you're gonna get endurance and you're gonna get maturity, so that we're perfect, but if we lack wisdom, endurance hasn't done its work because endurance will lead to the maturity, which will lead to wisdom.

So the question is so how do I get wisdom? Well, I ask of God. What do I so I ask, but how do I know if I got it? Psalm 11, verse 10 says it this way The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who follow his instructions have good insight. His praise endures forever. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In another passage, he says it this way the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So, you know, if I want to begin to to have wisdom from God, now what is fear of the Lord? I'm not talking about um a phobia, you know. You know, I have fear of heights. I have a fear of of needles. I have a fear of of whatever. Um we're talking about the fear, the fear of the Lord is where I have.

Let me spell it out. Where I have a you listening to me? They're making it. Where I have a W Eyes before God. Where I have awe. An awe of God. This is the God of the universe. And he can do whatever he wants. He's God. And I have that awe that this is the God that controls and protects. And it's in awe of God. So let me give you the definition of wisdom. Wisdom is the ability. And let me highlight it here. Wisdom is the ability to see things from God's point of view. Do you catch that? So when somebody loses their job, and they turn and say, Okay, God help me to see this from your point of view.

Are you trying to move me to this? You're trying to change me to this. Is there somebody over here at another job that needs to hear about you? And you're gonna send me there so they get saved? They're ready to get saved. God is uh the reason I'm sick, you didn't want me to get out on the road today and uh it was gonna be an accident. Lord, help me to see this from your point of view, not my point of view. So when somebody comes to me for uh biblical counseling, their marriage is on the rocks, they're having difficulty. You know what I you know what I hear as the two of as the husband and the wife sit there, she says, you know what he always does he does this and he does this, and he says, Yeah, but you do this and this and this and this, and I say, Okay, wait a minute, let's start right from the beginning.

Let's see this marriage from God's point of view, not from your point of view, and not from his point of view, but from God's point of view. What does God want to do? Listen, marriage is not about your happiness, it's about your holiness, and so if I'm gonna see it from God's point of view, I'm not gonna be, oh, this is so good, my wife doesn't want to listen to me, or this is so good. My husband has left all these dirty clothes on the floor again. It's gonna be, oh, God has given me this opportunity to grow and to gain wisdom, and wisdom is the ability to see things from God's point of view. So, from God's point of view, how does God speak to people? Well, we know he does through his word, right?

And when his word is silent, how does God speak to your kids when God's word is silent? Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. So, who does God use to speak to your children? You as parents, and I teach your kids, if they want wisdom, they'll see this from God's point of view. This isn't mom or dad trying to keep them from having fun. This is mom or dad trying to protect their lives. When my uh my son, I I got married when I was 27. When my son was about 25, I said to him, you know, it's it's time you start looking at, you know, having a life partner. And he's he's I I was in the garage. I can tell you, I know exactly where I was when it happened. My son said to me, Dad, you tell me who to take out, and I'll take our heart.

I thought, man, I'm not messing with this. If his heart, if his heart has that godly of an attitude, then I just need to be praying. He was twenty five. He didn't get married until he was thirty-eight. But he waited. And he was willing to listen. When it came time, he sat down with my wife independently, with me independently, with his sister independently, asking each one of us, do you see anything in this person that would keep me from going ahead? And being married.

Because what do you do? You want to see things from whose point of view? God's point of view, not your point of view. So when you have trials in your life, why complain about them? Because if you complain about them, you're doing it from whose point of view. Your point of view. And God is trying to get you to see things from his point of view.

So the question I have for you is are the trials in your life produced in you endurance and maturity and wisdom. That's what he's wanting to bring about. And that's what he's bringing about as he introduces the book of James to your heart and life. Let's pray together.

Thank you for your word. Thank you that it's a light.

And so Father, today.

And our suffering. And that you would teach us how to endure. How to be complete.

So in this congregation, they're facing trials right now. May they learn.

And you're using it to perfect them. To be like you. Thank you, Jesus. Giving us all the way to us.

Thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Let's all rise and respond in worship. And just remind I'm just reminded that uh in our trials that uh God is going to just produce endurance and maybe we just allow that to have its full and complete work in us as we just live throughout this life. So let's rise and sing together.

Blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name in the land that is full mysteries of abundance flow. Blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name. When I'm found in the desert place that I walk through the wilderness. Blessed be your name.

Every blessing you pour out all the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say, Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glory, blessed be your name, blessed be your name, when the sun shining down me, when the world's all easy, blessed be your name, blessed be your name, blessed be your name on the room with pain in thee authority, blessed be your name, every blessing, every blessing, turn back to grace when the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say, Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glory's name, blessed be, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glory, give and take you give and take away, you give and take away my heart will choose to say, Lord, bless it be your name, see that again you give and take, give and take away and take away, give and take away and take up my heart will choose you say blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glory, blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your name, blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be your glory of name to remind us of when we have trials you give away, but I still want to say blessed be the name of the Lord Let me close with this benediction over you from Jude.

Jude is only one chapter long. In verses twenty-four and twenty-five, it says this. Now to him who is able to protect you from tumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory without blemish and with great joy. To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen. Have a great week in the Lord. God bless.