Every Good GIft

Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of White House Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

White House believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.

We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.

Take your Bible, please.

Turn to James chapter number one.

James chapter number one.

And if you're kind of new to your Bible, uh don't be embarrassed about that.

Thank God you're in church.

James chapter number one.

It's just after the book of Hebrews in your New Testament.

James chapter number one.

And then also, would you pick up 2 Corinthians chapter 12?

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 12 and James chapter number 1.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Good to see you this morning.

I am looking forward to both times I get to speak to you today.

And uh I want to ask you to look at a scripture this morning that you've seen before, but I'm gonna ask you to really study it with me, and there might be a little bit more in there.

In fact, to be honest with you, every scripture, there's a little bit more in there.

God just reveals it to us as we go, and uh nobody ever completes the Bible while you're on the earth.

When somebody says, I read it through, good.

Keep reading it through.

And it just gets more alive and more alive and more alive with the experience that he gives us.

James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

Let's focus in on verse 17 for a few minutes this morning.

Verse 17.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights.

That's an interesting little phrase.

Father of lights.

He set the big light in the sky, amen.

And a lesser light at night.

The father of lights, and there's more to that, with whom is no variableness.

He's constant, he's faithful, he knows what he's doing.

Neither shadow of turning.

Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, of with whom is no variableness and neither shadow of turning.

I want to ask you to focus in on the concept of uh the good gift and the perfect gift.

It says, every, every.

Now, we already would think about when you're looking at that, if you're a Christian, you'd already think about scriptures maybe like, for by grace, are you saved through what, everybody?

Faith.

And may I say to you that uh the best gift of all is salvation.

And salvation comes from heaven.

Would you agree?

It comes from above.

The idea is getting saved, receiving Christ as Savior is the number one most important good and perfect gift that all of us can receive.

And if you receive that, never stop thanking him for that.

It's a good, it's a perfect gift, and the gift is salvation, and a gift is something that's given, not so much earned, not so much that we merited it.

It's something that God gives to us.

And then we know a second category would be the Holy Ghost gifts us.

The Holy Ghost, which is given to us at the gift of salvation, then brings his gifts into our hearts and our minds.

He gives, if you would, some personality traits, but also he gives us individual abilities, like governments, like helps, like mercies, like giving, like wisdom.

And he gifts us, if you would, with supernatural something from heaven that enhances who we are and what we are to be.

And the Holy Ghost gives those gifts, and please, as independent Baptists or as Christians, may we never lay aside the study of those gifts in our lives.

May I then say to you, after salvation and after these gifts, I want you to look at the word verse 17.

Please underline two words in your Bible.

Every good, underline good, and every perfect, underline perfect.

So good and perfect.

I don't want to try to be clever with you this morning, but I want to say this.

One day Lazarus died.

And Jesus, when he heard about, he said, Lazarus sleepeth.

The importance of that is the way we view something and the way God views something sometimes is a little different.

Now, both of those were true.

Lazarus died, and that was true.

And we would view it as death.

But the Lord said, He sleepeth.

And then he says, I go to awake him.

Our perception, God's perceptions of words are sometimes a little bit different.

Now we want to view them the way we're supposed to view them, but we also want to get in the Bible and see them the way he wants us to see them.

So good and perfect is what I want you to focus on.

And sometimes the good and perfect gift is not something that we see as good and perfect.

I want to say it again.

Sometimes the good and perfect gift that God says, now I'm going to bless you with something, I'm going to give you a gift, and it is good and perfect.

And we may look at it and say, where is there good in that gift?

Hey, parents, have you ever said about one of your children that's good for them?

What does that mean?

It's something that they don't understand that they're going through, that you allow them to go through a little bit, and it's good for them.

And they don't see it as good as all.

What do you mean it's good for me?

It doesn't look good at all.

May I say, as adults, sometimes our father, the father of lights, says, that's good for you, Doug.

That's good and perfect for you.

And you say, It doesn't look good and perfect, but it's going to complete you, it's going to perfect you, it's going to mature you.

And when you see it the way I've sent it, you will embrace it and glory in it.

But initially, it doesn't look good and perfect.

It looks kind of mean and nasty.

Come on, are you still with me or not?

You say, I don't get it.

Look at 2 Corinthians 12.

You're doing great.

2 Corinthians chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

And I want to present you a good and a perfect gift because it's something that's so important in our lives.

You've studied it before, but I want to highlight a couple of words.

2 Corinthians chapter 12.

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

There's a section starting with about verse number 5 and going down through verse number 11.

And the uh the section of scriptures is something that we need to look and re-look at and review again.

And it's a section about strength and weakness.

Strength and weakness.

What do you mean?

The concept, it's a biblical concept, is the way we become strong is to become weak.

Now I want to tell you this.

You won't read that in most secular leadership books.

They wouldn't start out with the first chapter is how to be strong is to become weak.

Boy, that would be a bestseller, wouldn't it?

But to the saved person, to the person that understands scripture, that means so much to us.

Because there's strength in weakness.

There's weakness that we have that allows his strength to be stronger in us and gets more glory for him.

So the concept of strength in weakness, sometimes God gifts us, because every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above.

Now we think good like pleasant, like joyous, like thank you.

I always wanted that.

We don't say that about a thorn.

Thank you for that thorn.

I've always wanted one of those.

What should I do with that?

Just keep pricking myself.

Why did he call it a thorn?

Because it acts and it actions itself to prick us, to humble us.

Come on, are you still with me?

To cause a little suffering.

And it's actually something that we sooner or later view as I didn't see it as good and perfect, but I sure do now.

It starts out with, oh, Lord, let this depart from me.

Please.

And have you ever noticed Paul's thorn is, you have to really study, and Paul's thorn that's spoken about, and you'll see this word thorn, and you look at it in verse number seven, you'll see the word thorn.

Paul's thorn, uh it's studied, and people have some speculation, but did you notice God never specifically says what it is?

Why?

Because he wants us to study to see what ours is.

What do you mean?

Well, you say, Well, I didn't have what Paul has.

Did you notice he's kind of vague on what the thorn is?

But I want to show you the categories of this gift.

Everybody still okay with me today?

The categories of this gift of the thorn is listed down in verse number 10.

So here's the categories: infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, distresses.

Those are the categories of this gift.

What do you mean, this gift?

This gift is to perfect us, it's to mature us.

It's not a gift that we initially feel like is pleasant.

Infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, distresses for Christ's sake.

Brethren, I want to tell you, sometimes God gives us a gift, and I'm not trying to be clever with you, but it's really very good for us.

It's perfect for us.

But it doesn't seem that way at the start, but it produces something in us because the end of this thorn allows the power of Christ to rest upon us.

Let me say that again.

It allows the power of Christ to rest upon us.

And in the power of Christ, there's wisdom.

In the power of Christ, there's a good spirit.

In the power of Christ, there's a strength and weakness.

In the power of Christ, it it allows us to glorify God.

And I want to tell you something, the Lord does this, it even makes us look better than we are.

People look at us and go, wow.

And we look in the mirror and go, wow.

The older you get, the more you look in the mirror and go, wow.

Look at all those lines and wrinkles.

And you can cover them up, but come on.

Once you take a shower, there they are again.

It's just part of withering.

And it's like, boy, I gotta get rid of that.

Stretch, stretch, stretch.

Do your best.

Age is coming.

But with age comes wisdom.

It's the outward man perishing.

It's the innerward man renewed and strengthened day by day.

And the concept is this category of this gift, the infirmities, the reproaches, the necessities, the persecution, the distresses, for Christ's sake.

And then it says, verse number 10, when I'm weak, verse 10, then am I, say it, strong.

It's the strength of weakness.

And I do not think any Christian is exempt from this.

I'll say it again.

I think all Christians have the opportunity to experience this.

Necessities, distresses.

This concept that it's not pleasurable.

It's something that God has for us to grow us, to mature us.

It's a perfect gift.

It's a good gift.

It's something that He gives us to humble us because notice a word in here.

Notice the word and please underline it, verse 7.

Lest I should be exalted.

Exalted is associated with pride.

What this thorn does, it uh it deprides us, it lessens pride.

Pride is one of the enmities of God.

Would you agree with that?

Pride is something that causes us to be distant from God.

Humility causes us to be closer to Him.

So I want you to view maybe something in your life right now and consider it as I need to get on the right side of this thing.

It just seems like it won't go away.

It just seems like it's just still there.

And I've asked the Lord to take it away.

It keeps coming back again.

And I'm not talking about sin, I'm talking about something that He says, oh no, that's for your growth.

That's for your maturity.

That's for your completion.

That's for your perfection.

Please listen.

That's so you can learn to comfort someone else.

That's to soften you.

That's so you don't view yourself above me.

That's so you're not egocentrical.

That's so I can do more with you.

That's so I can use you, because you said you want to be used.

You asked me to use you.

That's the limp of Jacob.

What do you mean, the limp of Jacob?

One night, Jacob had an encounter with God and he went away.

Please look, he went away like this.

He halted the rest of his life.

But what he got that night was power and favor with God and man.

What do you mean, power and favor?

Brethren, you want to be a better business person?

Get weak.

Huh?

Oh, yeah.

Let me take you to a business seminar spiritually.

You want to be a better business person?

Receive the gift that's perfect and good from above, and get weak.

That doesn't make any sense.

Watch what God does in giving you favor in your company, in your job, in your business, uh, promoting you in the military.

Well, I gotta learn this, I gotta learn that.

You do.

But dependence on God requires us to have weakness.

And it's not something we say, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna think weak, I'm gonna think weak, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna be weak, I'm gonna be weak.

Wow, I'm weak, I did it wrong.

Doesn't work that way.

This is not an I did it, this is a he does it.

He does it.

So he gave to Paul something that he said.

Paul said, I asked him three times.

Now, please listen.

This is Paul, this is Paul, this is Paul who was able to do miracles.

What do you mean, miracles?

He got stoned, they left him for dead, and he got back up again.

This is Paul who did all kinds of things with God's power.

But for this one, God says, I'm not giving you power to heal this, Paul.

I'm giving you power to overcome and to stay with it, and to look on it in the right way, and to accept it, and to embrace it, because this one's staying with you.

Because I've given you so much, and I know others are gonna look upon you in a certain way, and and and and and I've lifted you up and I've set you before kings and I've given you opportunities to plant churches, but I don't want you to be exalted in your own mind.

I may give you favor with other people, but I don't want you to look at yourself in an exalted way because then I'd have to resist you because of pride.

So I'm giving you something that I will not take away.

And when I give it to you, initially you're gonna say, Please take it away, Lord.

What is this for?

I don't understand this, brethren.

Um if trees could talk, what do you mean if trees could talk?

I have fruit trees.

If trees could talk, as I go out and begin to prune them, the tree might say, What are you doing to me?

Why are you cutting off branches?

Why are you cutting that one off?

It's dead.

And not necessary anymore.

Why are you cutting that one off?

It's draining strength that needs to go to other branches so you can produce more fruit.

What are you doing to me?

I'm the husbandman.

It's just not like I don't just like cutting branches, although I do.

I don't know, some guys just like cutting trees.

I'm one of those guys.

Careful, when I start pruning, the whole thing might come down.

It's not because I don't like it, I just like cutting things, amen.

I don't know what it is.

There was a tree out in front of our house years ago.

I started pruning it.

It was dropping all kinds of leaves, walk coming in the front door.

I started pruning it and cutting it, chopping a little bit.

And I said to my wife, Can I take a little bit of water?

Yeah, take a little bit more off of that.

I got to where it was just like straight up with a few little things, and she said, Why don't you just cut that thing down?

I said, Yeah.

I'm not against trees.

I love trees.

I really do.

I like trees.

You say, I don't think you ought to cut trees.

This one was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing.

It needed to be cut out.

In fact, I cut it down, you say, I don't see the boy, we need that to produce air and and you know oxygen and and all that.

Yeah, but this one we needed for parking.

What do you mean?

Cut it down, took out the pavement, we put in uh asphalt, more parking spaces for our growing family.

We still have trees out back that are flourishing.

Planted four more out back just to make up for that one out front.

It's for all the tree huggers.

Amen.

I'm a tree hugger, I like trees.

I love trees.

I love I climb trees when I'm young.

I'm trying to get out of this one.

I climbed trees when I was long and built tree houses, amen.

The point of it is sometimes we get pruned and we kind of go, huh?

What did I do wrong?

Oh, it's not that you did wrong.

In fact, you've been bearing fruit, and I want you to bear more fruit.

John 15.

And then I want you to bear much fruit.

And the only way to do that is cut you back a little bit.

Trim you up a little bit, shape you a little bit, mold you a little bit.

Doesn't seem pleasant at the time, but out afterwards, wow.

Lord, give me more opportunity.

God says, Let me prep you for that.

Let me prep you for opportunity, let me prep you for spiritual opportunity.

I want to give you more wisdom.

I want to give you more, I want to make you an expert in an area that I want to use you in in your life to help others.

I have a gift I'm giving you.

It's going to make you somewhat of an expert in that area.

Then I'm gonna give you experiences that's gonna make you somewhat of an expert in that area, and then I'm gonna bring people to you that you can help in that area, but in order to do that.

Let you not get exalted.

I have to give you a gift.

It's not a gift that you're gonna like.

But one of these days you'll not like it, but you'll glory in it.

Are you still with me or not?

We don't have to like it to glory in it.

Glory in it, like if it if it allows the power of Christ to rest upon us, then I want to receive the gift.

Please don't take this wrong.

I have to use myself as an example.

So this knee has had three surgeries.

You say, come on, I've got something more than that.

I know, I know.

We're not comparing war wounds here.

And in this heel, there's steel.

I had an accident.

I've got steel plates in here.

So I got this one wheel that once in a while gets a little gimpy.

And it's a wonderful wheel.

What do you mean, wheel?

I got one leg and it's it's got it's got surgeries and it's got scars.

Got one up here, three down here, a bunch down here, and it's not a bad leg.

In fact, it's my best leg.

What do you mean it's the best leg?

Because when I get off the airplane once in a while, I get off like this.

And somebody will say, Did you do something to yourself?

And I said, Yeah, I'm getting old.

Are you still with me?

But I don't view that as negative.

I have to view it as that's why I get this opportunity.

That's why I get to do this.

That's worth wisdom.

That's worth that's worth a good spirit.

That's worth humility.

That allows to be strength through weakness.

That reminds me how frail I am.

That kept me years ago from doing some things that I would have wasted my time with.

What do you mean, wasting your time?

Oh, oh, you don't know.

Man, I was a sports enthusiast.

Not just watching.

I'll get out there and do it.

And I did.

And I found myself truly on the rugby field on Sunday afternoon, Beauford, South Carolina.

Go to church, run to the rugby field.

Miss Sunday night services.

I say nothing wrong with that.

For me, there was.

Now wait a minute, wait a minute.

Nothing wrong with missing Sunday night service.

For me, what God planned for me to be and do, I needed to be under the Word of God.

For me.

I'm not judging you, I'm saying for me.

And so I got saved, stayed playing rugby, went to church Sunday morning, had all my clothes, my rugby gear in the van, drove down to Hilton Head, South Carolina, played rugby in the afternoon, got so beat up, I couldn't make it back to Sunday evening church.

And God gave me a gimp.

To do what?

To make me reconsider.

The time spent and where.

I remember when God gave it to me, and I said, uh, well, I looks like I'm not going to be able to play on Sundays.

They say, we've got a big game.

We need you.

Nothing wrong with sports.

Come on, are you still with me?

But it depends on prioritizing.

And for me, I'm not judging you, I have no jurisdiction over you.

For me, he said, I want you to give that up.

And be in church Sunday night with a fresh mind.

Ready to receive.

And then he says, Let me give you a good and perfect gift to help you.

Sorry, boys, I can't come.

And initially it was like, oh, frustration, frustration.

Gotta get back out there again.

And then God slowly worked on me, said, give it up.

I'll give you something better.

Nothing wrong with sports.

Nothing wrong with rugby.

But I learned so much on Sunday nights.

It would keep me studying for days.

And God said, that's your weakness that's going to provide me to be strong in you.

And I want you to look at it as a good and a perfect gift.

It's an infirmity.

It falls in the category of infirmity.

There's reproach, necessities, distresses.

For Christ's sake.

It's a good gift.

It's a perfect gift when you put it in the category for Christ.

To be more for Christ.

To becoming an expert in some area of life.

Comfort.

Wisdom.

Mercy.

Like an expert.

Like good at it.

Organization.

Like good at it.

Scripture.

Helps.

Become good at it.

Watch for opportunities.

Oh, but the training required.

You say these are all character things.

Now you're getting it.

Now you're getting it.

Because character things, character qualities, can be used in all aspects of life.

Doesn't matter what aspect of life you're in, a character quality that's developed by God.

And then opportunities given gives him glory.

And that's what we're down here to do is to glorify the Father.

The Father of lights gives us these wonderful, valuable, priceless experiences to make us better.

And hopefully we get to the place where we do what Paul did.

He embraced it.

Look at it real carefully, watching your time.

Notice what he says.

He said three times in verse number eight, I thought the Lord, I've asked him, to have this depart from me.

And then in verse number nine, he said, My grace is sufficient, my strength, made perfect in weakness.

And then he said, Most gladly, most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities.

Why?

That the power of Christ may rest upon me.

It's a gift, it's a good gift.

Brethren, now it's an emptying.

And I want to watch your time.

Naomi came back empty in the book of Ruth.

Now she was ready for God to fill it again.

Sometimes the emptying process is very difficult.

And God said, I got to empty you of yourself a little bit so I can fill you with myself.

Would you say amen to that?

I want to empty you.

It's a good gift, it's a perfect gift that I might fill you to make you a little different than who you are, who you've been.

We are in the state of becoming.

All of us are in the state of becoming, becoming more in Christ.

And sometimes that means an emptying of self.

And so today, if you could walk out of here and let's say you're here with somebody that knows you, and you could say to them when you walk out, you know what?

I'm going to view what we've been talking about in my life a little different.

I've been looking at it as negative, and I need to look at that as positive.

I was on the phone this morning with a pastor.

He's been going through some stuff.

He said, Pastor Fisher, actually said, Brother, Brother Doug.

Brother Doug.

He said, I've had a breakthrough.

I said, really?

He said, last night at about one in the morning, I realized that what God has brought into my life is good for me.

I got a little tear.

I said, well, you don't know what that means to me because I'm preaching on that this morning.

He said, Really?

I said, yeah, your confirmation.

What you're telling me this morning, he called, he said, this is what's going on.

I said, that's confirmation.

And he went on for 10 minutes telling me why it's good now.

And I thought, praise the Lord.

That's a wonderful thing.

You know, uh, it's okay to talk to somebody about our problems in our life.

Would you agree with that?

It's not okay about that.

But I want to be around the kind of people that sooner or later view those problems in time with revelation as what a good gift.

What a perfect gift.

What a gift that is necessity in my life.

It's a shipwreck that put me on a certain island that God wanted me to be on in life.

What do you mean it's a shipwreck?

It's a it's something that broke up in my life.

And it looked like I was failing.

But it wasn't a failure because we swam ashore, and when we got to shore, we found there was something on that shore.

There was something there to do that God wanted us to do, so it wasn't a failure, it was a failing that we learned from that turned into something wonderful.

And I'm not trying to be clever.

I'm saying swim to shore.

Don't drown out there.

Man, right right over there, just keep swimming, go forward.

It's right in front of us.

Yes, but there's no way this can be, this.

There's no way this, this, there's no way this could ever be used by God.

His ways are above our ways.

And then I want to read you this last verse of scripture, and you say, well, everybody knows that one.

So here it is.

And we know that all things work together for, say it, good to them that love God, to them who are called, no, no, no, it says, are the called, the called according to his purpose.

Therefore, if we love God and we're called in some way, shape, or form, and brethren, please, please, please, don't think the only calling puts you behind a pulpit.

I'm gonna say that I think everyone in here is called to something.

Everyone that's saved is called to something.

Everyone that's saved is gifted with the Holy Ghost in some way, shape, or form to profit with all.

And everyone has to expect the gift and maturity, perfecting of infirmities, necessities, distresses, difficulties for Christ's sake.

That we can be weak so he can be strong.

Therefore, may we by God's Holy Spirit turn around and glory in it.

I didn't say you wake up and are you telling me I gotta like it?

I don't see how I can like that.

I didn't say like it, I said glory in it.

There's a difference.

There's times when I get off the airplane where this thing is hurting, I go, oh, but I think about what other people have and think I got nothing.

So I'm limping a little bit.

So people are walking faster than me.

That's why I left the rugby field.

Go on, let me move.

You the fast lane is over here.

Let me move over here.

I'll just go at my own pace.

I'll get there.

Think the tortoise.

Think the tortoise.

Think the tortoise.

As the hairs go by.

I'll catch up to the same line they're gonna get in.

I'll get to the same stoplight that they're gonna get to.

Three cars behind.

Are you still with me or not?

It's not who finishes fastest, it's who's finished, who finishes.

And we still finish.

We still keep going.

I pray today God can turn that around to say, I'm I love the Lord.

I'm called.

This must be for good.

It must be for good.

You know the illustration.

All right, I should never even attempt this.

Because I'm not good at telling jokes.

Have you ever noticed?

There's a story, and it's not true.

It's meant to be illustrative, though.

Two children, one positive, one negative, one an optimist, one a pessimist.

One child got this wonderful gift, looked at it.

That was the pessimistic child, looked at the gift and found wrong with it.

Found all kinds of wrong with it.

The other child, the optimistic child, they were given a gift too.

In fact, they were put in a room with horse manure in it.

The one child that was a pessimist looked at the gift and complained about it.

The other child, as they opened the door and looked in, they saw the optimistic child digging in the horse manure.

They said, What are you doing?

He said, With all this horse manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere.

You may not remember the whole message.

And you'll go out and say, Did you hear the horse manure message?

Keep digging.

There's probably something good in there somewhere.

In that infirmity, in that reproach, in that distress, in that situation at work, in that situation in the family, in that doctor's visit, there must be a pony in there somewhere.

There must be some wisdom in there somewhere.

There must be something God has for me or for me for someone else.

In there somewhere.

You know, like spouse, honey, let's have a better attitude about what we're going through.

Church, let's encourage one another.

Just every once in a while walk by and say, hey, how you doing?

If you haven't received Christ as Savior, maybe that's why God brought you.

The life after salvation gets so exciting.

Please, if you haven't received Christ, don't be cast away from his presence forever.

Humble yourself.

Receive Christ as Savior.

Have a place in eternity.

Get written in your name, written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and then in this life, a hundredfold more.

God will give that for salvation.

Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call six one nine-461-5561.