Why Mike Tyson Is Right

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So, Father, we come today knowing that we're welcomed.

We're not just tolerated.

We're not the wayward kid that can't get their act together that everyone rolls their eyes towards when they show up at the family reunion because they can't wait to see what drama he's gonna bring.

No, we're the beloved sons and daughters of God.

So we come into your presence as the beloved, wanted, desired, chosen, sought out, chased down, found out people of God.

And we come into your presence today, Lord, to say, speak.

Say a shaping word, Lord, that affects how I think, how I act, how I live, how I move and have my being in this world, how I occupy the space that I occupy with confidence, not condemnation.

We don't have to apologize for being here, God.

We are the creation of God.

We're created by God in the image of God for a relationship with God that brings glory to God.

That is our identity.

That's who we are.

It's our created purpose.

And so we've come to align ourselves with that today in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen.

You can have a seed.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it open up to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

And I want to talk to you this morning about why Mike Tyson was right.

Now some of you think I'm kidding or I'm trying to be funny.

I'm not.

For those who don't know, Mike Tyson was probably the most dominant boxer of his generation.

He was the heavyweight champion of the world.

Uh at the age of 19.

He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and the title said Kid Dynamite, because Mike Tyson was all business.

He was the bear of a man, and he talked like this right here.

And so it was a little bit off-putting.

Uh, but he would get in the ring and maul people.

People were afraid of him before they ever got in the ring.

So when they did get in the ring, he would beat them to death in 93 seconds, and it would be over.

And so he was just going through people, I mean, just knocking people out viciously.

Uh and guys would show up these silk robes and entourage and rap music.

Mike Tyson took a white bath towel, cut a slit in the middle of it, put it over his head, and he walked into the ring with this towel hanging on him and his gloves.

That was it.

And it struck fear in the hearts of his opponents.

So one is the uh one of the guys he was gonna fight was kind of like watching his fights, and he they interviewed him, they said, How do you feel?

You're fighting the most feared man on the planet.

And he said, Well, I've been looking at his fights, and I've got a plan, and so I'm gonna execute my plan.

So they went and went and interviewed Mike Tyson after that, and they said, Well, your opponent says that he has a plan on how to defeat you.

What do you think about that?

Mike Tyson said this everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth.

That's why Mike Tyson was right.

Because everyone has a plan until life punches you in the mouth.

Everyone's got a plan until Hurricane Harvey dumps two feet of water in your house.

Everyone's got a plan until your son or daughter looks at you and says, I don't believe this anymore.

Everyone's got a plan until your husband looks at you and says, you know what, I just don't feel it anymore.

Why don't we just go our separate ways?

Everybody has a plan until life punches you in the mouth.

And yet the Bible says when life punches you in the mouth, there's a way you should respond to that.

But there's some things that you need to know in order to respond appropriately to that when it happens.

The Bible speaks to it in James chapter 1, starting in verse 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion.

Greetings.

Now let me stop right there when he says, To the 12 tribes in the dispersion, these people are dispersed, they're scattered in places not of their own choosing.

Uh that they've been sent there because life has been punching them in the mouth, so to speak.

Uh and James is writing to them, and he's addressing how to live.

And so hear it again, knowing that.

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without without reproach, and it will be given him.

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.

For the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

So what does the Bible say?

What are these things that we should know?

There's four of them right here in these eight verses.

The first one is this you should know that there's a way that we need to think.

There's a way that we need to think.

Now, either the Bible is cruel or it knows something that we need to know.

And right here in James chapter 1, God is inviting us to know this.

James 1 · chapter mention

And this thing we need to know, first and foremost, is we need to know that there's a way you need to think.

And it's found in verse 2 when he says, Count it all joy, my brothers.

When you meet trials of various kinds, when you read the Bible, don't look for the big words and try to figure them out.

Look at the little words, because I'm not very smart.

So I look at the little words and I try to make sure I understand what they mean.

Like he says, Count and win and meet.

Count and win and meet.

Count it all joy.

Now, either that that sounds just like uh almost like masochist, like like masochistic, like you, you you just enjoy pain?

No, not at all.

Uh that word count is the Greek word hegeomide, and it means this.

It says to have authority over, to rule, to lead, to think, to go before.

And so here the Bible's telling us how to think about trials before we get punched in the mouth by one.

He says, you can have authority over these things.

They can't have authority over you.

You can have authority over these things.

You can act as a king or as a regent or a ruler if you'll just think beforehand and get your mind made up about what exactly is going on here.

And if not, you're going to respond to it differently.

One of the things that helps us in thinking is learn to ask the right question.

In order to ask the right question, usually you have to burn through some wrong questions.

Like, here's some wrong questions that I have to work through in my own life.

When, when, when, when I, because he says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when, not if, when.

Because here's what you need to understand.

In this life, you and I will face many different trials.

Are you aware of that today?

It's in Christianity, it's not the way you escape the hardship of living in a fallen world.

Some of it is I live in a fallen world and sin is at work.

Now look at me.

Some of it is a consequence of our own sin.

Amen?

See, you can't just act like, oh, I don't know what happened.

It just out of the blue.

No, you know exactly what happened.

He says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when, not if, you meet trials of various kinds.

You meet, you're not looking for them, you're just kind of going down the path of life, and all of a sudden, boom, something happens you never saw coming.

And the Bible says, consider that joy.

It's not being sarcastic, it's not being uh uh uh uh negative or sadomasochistic or any of that kind of stuff.

We just enjoy pain.

No, no, no.

There's a way that you and I need to think that says, you know what, I count this joy.

Why?

Because I see this against the backdrop of against the backdrop of that, and that is the character and the consistency and the plan and purposes of God.

And so, whatever this is, it pales in comparison to that.

That's the only way that you and I can count it joy.

Otherwise, whatever we go through, it's just another reason to hate ourselves and feel disappointed with God.

So you gotta learn to ask yourself the right questions by burning through the wrong questions.

Like, here's one of the wrong questions that I ask a lot.

Why me?

Why me?

I don't know about you, but once in a while life just punches me in the mouth.

And see, most of y'all are aware, oh yeah, I heard your wife's mom died, your mother-in-law died.

Yes.

She died.

This is all in the past four weeks.

My uncle died, my mother-in-law died, lightning struck our house and knocked out our garage door opener.

Uh uh, opened a dishwasher a couple days ago, and the bottom of it was just full of water, it wouldn't drain.

Everything in my life is breaking now.

Speaking of water, there was a leak under our vanity on my wife's side in our bathroom, and the vanity, she said, Yeah, that's about an inch of water underneath the sink, and the vanity wicked it all up, so now it's all warped, and we got to get that replaced.

And I'm like, awesome.

And you women, you see everything as an opportunity to remodel.

And she's like, Maybe we can do some things with this bathroom, maybe you can shut up.

How about that?

I told her this morning, she goes, What do you want for Father's Day?

I said, I want to be served all day.

And she said, Good luck with that.

You better go to Burger King if you want that.

So I'll be going there for lunch.

I mean, you can meet me there.

And so all of a sudden it's crazy.

I got my wife's van the other day.

There's a big rusty scar on top of it.

I'm like, hey, did you see this thing?

It's already corroding the metal up here.

Had to get that, and the guy says, Yeah, I could paint this one panel, but the best thing to do is paint the whole top of your van.

Well, of course you say that.

You own a body shop.

But I'm just walking away, kind of thinking, could anything else?

That's one of the other questions I ask myself.

That's not a good question.

Can anything else happen?

Yeah, yeah, I don't want to know the answer to that question.

Because I think that, and then I'm kind of like, oh, I thought that, but I didn't say that.

Don't hold that against me because I know more could happen.

This is plenty.

I'm I'm I'm I'm uh I never say I'm joyful.

I'm trying to learn to say, you know what, God?

I'm seeing this against the backdrop of that, and I'm good.

I'm joyful.

I got a giddiness in me because I don't know what you're doing, but I believe you're doing something.

Because this is what the Bible says, this is why the Bible says it.

When I say learn to ask the right question, you gotta burn through the wrong questions.

Here's the wrong question.

Here's one more wrong question that we get hung up on.

How does this make you feel?

How does this make you feel?

I was talking to somebody the other day in counseling, and then the lady said to me, Well, my therapist I used to go see, she would always ask me how things made me feel.

You've never asked me one time how things make me feel.

I said, That's on purpose because A, I'm not a therapist.

I think therapists are great, but B, your feelings do not create your reality.

And if you go through life thinking your feelings create your reality, you will never know how you really should feel.

And she said, Well, we began every session with my therapist asking me how I was feeling today and how these things, what I'm experiencing, made me feel.

I said, if I leaned into how my life makes me feel, I would be on TV right now.

And she said, What do you mean?

On CNN.

Newsflash, local pastor goes berserk in Home Depot.

I don't want to lean into how things make me feel.

That's an invitation to smallness.

That's not an invitation to the greatness God has in store for me.

Now, here's some questions.

Once you burn through all the normal questions, all the old wine instead of the new wine, here's some questions that kind of help you get out how you need to think.

Uh, number one, do I believe God is at work in this?

Do I believe God is at work in this?

Because if God is not at work in this, then it's every man for himself.

The ship is going down, you become ruthless and radically self-centered.

Number two, how do I see God at work in this?

If you say yes, I believe God's at work in this, if that's just a church answer, you gotta you your friends ask you really digestive questions like, How do you see God at work in this?

Number three, what would it look like for me to join God and participate in my sanctification?

Sanctification just means me becoming more and more like Christ and less and less like me.

How do I participate?

What would it look like for me to join God?

That's why I need to understand that God is at work and how he's at work so I can join him and be a partner in my sanctification.

You see, this ought to capture our imagination right off the bat when he says, Count it all joy, my brothers.

Why?

Because if you handle this trial properly, there's great joy to be experienced.

If we don't handle it properly, what we're gonna do is just erode into self-pity and self-loathing and self-medicating.

You're gonna go to the refrigerator and think, I deserve a second dessert.

All right, I deserve a fifth shiner.

Oh yeah, yeah, I like it.

Well, say, what?

Uh not me, Pat.

Sure, sure.

That little voice in your head is like your kid's baby dog.

You pull that string, what about me?

What about me?

Might as well, my kids had a little baby, my old had a little foot, mamma, mamma.

Should sit in a room all night and just pull that thing.

That thing disappeared one day.

We don't know what happened to it.

The next day the Holy Spirit's like, Did you get a load of how annoying that was?

That's what you sound like sometimes.

What about me?

What about me?

Say something else, Neil.

Oh, okay.

Well, if I give the kid back, can I keep saying the same thing?

There's a way you need to think.

Secondly, there's something you need to know.

There's something you need to know.

Look in verse 3.

After he says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

Verse 3, for you know.

For you know, it's assumptive language.

He assumes we know this, so that it behooves us to know it, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

You need to know this.

You see, with every trial will come a temptation.

Now, there's a difference in a trial and a temptation.

A trial is like we're being tested, it's like working out.

You get you're sore the next day because lactic acid is built up in your muscle tissues.

Uh, I don't I don't personally experience that, but I read about it.

Uh it sounds painful.

I'm not a big fan of paying people to make me feel pain.

But anyway, uh, with every trial will come a temptation.

And so you have to discern the difference between a trial and a temptation.

Uh, and here's the temptation that comes with every trial.

The temptation is to trust something else or someone else to get you through the trial instead of God.

Let me say that again.

With every trial will come a temptation.

And so if you really want to help your friends who have a lot of stuff going on, uh you need to ask them, hey, what are you being tempted to do right now?

Because with every trial, there's a temptation.

There's this, we're in the middle of just hardship, and we're trying to say, hey, I want to count this all joy.

But man, could anything else break, not work anymore, get flooded by water, or get wrecked, or die in our life?

Please, nothing else for a while.

And the temptation, what is the temptation?

Here's a question you should ask yourself: what am I tempted to when life punches me in the mouth?

Because with every trial comes a temptation.

And again, the temptation is to trust something or someone else other than God to see you through this period of testing.

No one, beloved, becomes a mature Christian.

No one becomes who we all say we want to be without enduring a little hardship.

Do you know that this morning?

No one, thank you, one person.

Let me say it again for the rest of you.

None of you are gonna become who you say you want to be spiritually without enduring some trials and some hardship.

Do you realize that today?

Now, you just have to embrace that.

That's not fatalism, that's not saying it's always gonna be hard or crazy, but you look in the Bible, there's a guy in the Bible, the Apostle Paul.

He wrote 13 books of the New Testament.

He recorded them under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

And this is what he's talking about that he goes through.

This is in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

Start reading verse 21.

He says, But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am a, I'm speaking as a fool now.

I also dare to boast about that.

Are they Hebrews?

So am I.

Are they Israelites?

So am I.

Are they offspring of Abraham?

So am I.

Are they servants of Christ?

I am a better one.

I'm talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes, less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea.

I'm starting to have a lost in space flashback.

Danger, danger, Will Rogers, danger.

There's danger everywhere.

Danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there's a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Hey, man, look at me.

God knows that you labor under this weight of being the provider and the person to fix it, make it all better, and blah, blah, blah.

Paul says, Man, I got all this stuff going on.

And then on top of that, I gotta pay the mortgage and mediate the fights between my kids and take my wife to dinner and get plenty of sleep and don't gain weight and be Billy Graham Jr.

Ah.

The Bible gets that.

Look what he says.

And who is weak?

And I'm not weak?

Who is made to fall?

And I am not indignant.

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

And Damascus, the governor, under King Aretus, was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me.

But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and I escaped his hands.

Let me just stop you right there.

Read all that stuff.

Danger, danger, heartship, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And he says in verse 31, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever.

Here's what it comes down to, men and women.

Can you go?

Can life punch you in the mouth and you still want to bless God?

Can you still say, Oh, man, the Father of the Lord Jesus, be blessed, bless God forever.

Bless God forever.

Can you come in and when worship starts instead of sat there and sulking and pouting, can you just enter in and kind of say, you know what, God?

I counted all joy.

Could I hold this up against that and this pales in comparison to that?

And I know, God, that you're at work in this.

You're not trying to punish me.

You are testing me because the testing of my faith produces things in me that I could not experience apart from being tested.

So I get it.

I've been trained in how to think.

This is what the Bible calls us to.

There's something you need to know.

Back in James chapter 1, he says, verse 2, count it all, joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

James 1 · chapter mention

Why?

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Can you just know today, man, that the testing of your faith, you're not being uh punished, you're being prepared.

It produces in you a steadfastness.

And then thirdly, what we need to know this morning is there's something you need to allow.

There's something you need to allow.

If you're taking notes, put a star by this uh because uh we're gonna get personal here in about two minutes.

He says, here's what you need to allow, and letfastness have steadfastness have its full effect.

That you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If you're going to allow it, then you need to understand what it is.

This is the literal definition of that word steadfastness.

It's the characteristic of a person who's not swerve from their deliberate purpose and their loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.

Hear that again.

It's a characteristic of a person who's not swerved from their deliberate purpose.

They don't go, well, this Jesus thing's not working for me.

I mean, I just thought this would be a lot easier.

Who told you that?

That person doesn't read the Bible.

Stop listening to people to water cooler at work and trying to get your faith nourished by them.

Uh, when I say there's something you need to allow, and then what you need to allow is steadfastness to have its full effect.

Because if we don't let steadfastness have its full effect, then uh we're never gonna be complete and perfect, lacking in nothing.

In other words, we're always gonna be lacking.

And the reason I say put a star by this is that this is especially hard when it comes to our kids.

But it is most critical.

If you've got children, I don't care if they're 44 or they're four today, it is most critical that you allow steadfastness to have its full effect in the lives of our kids.

Otherwise, they grow up thinking they're sovereign.

They grow up thinking they're sovereign.

What do you mean?

They think that everybody and everything should serve them and their ideas, and kids who don't experience steadfastness go into early adulthood, kind of underdeveloped.

And one of the reasons is that they've been parented in such a way that they think that every decision is theirs to decide.

Let me say that again.

Here's how you raise kids who think they're sovereign.

They're parented in such a way that everything is up to them.

Everything.

And they don't submit to anything.

There's not just, hey, this is the way it is in the story.

Well, I don't like that.

Tough.

Too bad for you.

Suck it up, buttercup.

That's just the way it was before you got here, and it'll be that way after you're gone.

No, if you raise your kids to think everything is negotiable, then you've raised a person who has to be God.

Because they can't submit to anybody.

Here's how you know you've raised that person.

They don't submit to anything, but they evaluate, critique, and criticize everything.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Get a call to see a young man.

They say, Hey, we don't go to your church, but uh we haven't problems with our sons.

Absolutely, I'd love to help.

Come in.

75 minutes of exegeting the human soul and psyche.

He walks in with his mom, sits down and Say, tell me why you're here.

Oh, well, I don't know.

My mom, you know, she thought maybe you could help me.

And then I saw him asking, okay, why are you here?

What have you done that your mom makes you come talk to a preacher that you don't even know?

Well, I mean, I got caught shoplifting and I like to smoke a little weed.

You like to smoke a little weed or a lot of weed?

Because weed is good.

He's like, What'd you say?

I said, I'm just trying to get your attention.

And for the record, I don't think weed is good.

Now, when I was in high school, I thought weed was real good.

But I'm not in high school anymore.

I haven't smoked weed since 1982, in case you're wondering.

But sometimes when I'm in the elder meeting, I miss it, but I digress.

Yes, I'll vote yes.

Let's keep going.

No, I said, Why are you here?

And I said, let me, do you have to steal?

And he goes, No, actually, we're rich.

My dad owns a company.

And I said, So you're rich?

So basically, you're a rich pot-smoking shoplifter.

And his mom kind of shifted in her chair, and I thought, this is gonna be good right here.

So we do 75 minutes, we get to the end of it, and she looks at him and I said, Okay, I said, any questions about what we're talking about?

I said, because I just try to assess, not accuse, but just kind of assess and diagnose.

And I and I prefer to, well, let's let's look at deep structural changes that need to be made.

And his mom looked at him and said, uh, was that helpful to you?

That was her phrase.

Was that helpful to you?

And I went, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Don't ask him that.

That's not the question.

And he's like, What do you mean?

I said, when you ask your kids, is that helpful to you?

What you say to your kids is you get to pass judgment on this.

And let me tell you something, ma'am.

When a total stranger gives you 75 minutes of their life, the least you can do is muster up some gratitude.

Don't look at your pot-smoking, shoplifting 16-year-old and go, Do you approve of that?

So I said to the kid who I love, hey, hey, it doesn't matter if you approve or not.

It doesn't matter if that was helpful or not.

What I just gave you is the truth.

Now, if you don't respond to the truth, you're gonna be just another lazy pot-smoking socialist drinking coffee at Starbucks, running your mouth about your opinions.

And the kid is like, and the mom is incensed.

By the way, I have appointments available this week to see your kids.

And the mom is like, and she said, Do not talk to him like that.

And I said, ma'am, I'm gonna say something crazy.

I'm not a harsh person, but what I'm gonna say to you is your son's this way because no one's seen through his nonsense and called him on it.

And she's like, Well, I don't, I don't particularly appreciate this.

And the son looked up and said, What do you mean, sovereign?

Because everybody deep inside of them has a part of them they wish to God someone would put their hands on.

Not to harm them, but just to say, hey man, you I said, by the way, your son is shoplifting because he's burning y'all's barley fields.

He's trying to get your attention.

What do you mean?

There's a story in the Bible about King David wouldn't see one of his sons, and his son finally said, Hey, he's got barley by my field, by my pasture.

Burn his barley, then my dad will see me.

Hey kids, if you want to get your parents' attention, burn the garage down today.

You'll get all the undivided attention you want.

And so listen to me, parents, this is free.

If you don't give your kids some some some attention, they will burn your barley fields just to get your attention.

I said, Your kids child, y'all are rich.

He said, Yeah, my dad owns a company.

I said, if your dad owns a company, why couldn't he take a day off and be here today?

And the lady's like, Oh, well, that's a whole nother story.

I think that's part of the story.

Your son craves male authority, so it centers him and silences him.

Well, this was not quite what I expected.

I'll tell you what, our friend said, You have an unusual approach.

I said, I don't have an approach, ma'am.

I have an understanding.

Not an approach, it's not a technique.

Uh and the guy goes, What do you mean, sovereign?

And I said, You want me to explain to your son what's sovereign, then y'all can go?

I'm not mad at you, but if this makes you uncomfortable, and he goes, No, what do you mean by sovereign?

I said, I don't think you're sovereign.

Only God gets to be sovereign, in control.

Only God gets to do what God wants to do every day.

I don't get to do what I want to do every day.

It just doesn't happen that way, okay?

And by, for example, if I own the company, I'd come to work ten times a year.

Where's Neil today?

Hey, my name's on the check.

You don't ask me questions.

You just do your job.

But I don't own the company.

So where I work here, I gotta show up every day.

It's just the way it is.

I said to him, I said, What do I mean by sovereign?

He says, This is what I mean.

It seems like you've been parented and kind of told this lie that you get to decide because we are in the age of the empowerment of the individual.

All you gotta do is have a bad experience in a restaurant, and all of a sudden you're a media superstar, or an idiot's got to go in your school and shoot people, and all of a sudden you're an expert on gun control.

You're not.

You're just not.

And I said, You're not sovereign.

Because here's what's gonna happen.

Right now, when you're 16, it feels kind of cool.

When you're 21, you'll look around and realize you do not have that many deep reciprocal friendships.

People don't want to be around you, not because they don't like you.

You could probably buy real expensive weed because you got money, but people don't want to be around you because they don't trust you.

And I hope you like smoking pot.

And the mother's like, What?

I said, I hope you like smoking pot because by the time you're 21 to 25, there will be such a deep loneliness of soul that you will have to self-medicate to keep that from depressing you.

And the mother who's thinking up here, despite the fact that we're talking down here, she says, I can't believe you told him to smoke pot.

I didn't tell him to smoke pot.

I said, I hope you like smoking pot.

Your son doesn't need permission to smoke pot.

He already smokes pot.

Follow the dialogue, mom.

You're here because your kid gets baked and steals stuff he doesn't need.

And you want to make that my fault.

And I tell you no.

And the kid goes, Can I see you again?

Now ask yourself, why would a pot smoking shoplifter want to come see the preacher again?

Because deep inside everybody longs for authenticity.

For someone to kind of go, I don't believe you.

No, no, not mad at you, you're not a victim.

Your mom's gonna go out of here and oh baby, I'm sorry.

You had to experience that.

You should pay me for this.

This will change your life.

He said, Well, my dad'll pay, I don't take money.

Why not?

Because sometimes I have to I have to say things people don't want to hear.

Like today.

And I said, I don't feel a need to pray and make it official.

Come on, I'll walk you out.

Mom grabbed her purse and now, look at me.

Ladies, I'm not making fun of that mom.

I think she loves her son.

I don't think her son respects her.

Here's why.

Jesus said, more Bible, Jesus said, don't fear the one that can kill your body, that could kill just your body.

Fear the one who can kill both body and soul and cast you into hell.

He was talking about himself.

Your kids should live with this conscious awareness, my mom and dad could kill body and soul and cast me into hell.

And most of them don't.

Because it takes time for you to breed into your kids, to expose your kids to you enough to they kind of go, I don't want to cross my dad.

And not because I'm afraid of him, I just respect him and what he says.

Now, how do we get off on that?

Here's something there's something you need to allow.

You need to allow steadfastness.

What it says, and let steadfastness have its full effect.

You may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

And if you don't allow steadfastness to have its full effect in your kids, look at me.

They will leave your house ill-prepared for what awaits them in the world.

Because they're lacking.

They're lacking.

Daughters that leave your house lacking, dad, they will move in with the first guy who says they love him because they want to be protected.

Because they can't stand alone in the solitude of themselves and go, I'm okay.

I don't need a man to complete me.

I don't put my worth in my body or my reputation.

And then we go, oh, well, I can't believe I'm my kid.

I just went off to college and went out there to Texas Tech and moved in with some boy.

That didn't start when she got to Lubbock.

Lubbock's actually a very nice town.

If you're staying on a tunican, you can see Vegas.

What am I saying?

This is what I'm saying.

Let steadfastness have its complete work.

Here's why.

Steadfastness does three things.

Number one, it teaches you the insufficiency of sin.

Number two, the sufficiency of God.

And thirdly, it reminds you of the capacity of self.

Let me say it again.

It teaches you the insufficiency of sin.

Secondly, the sufficiency of God.

And thirdly, it reminds you of the capacity of self.

Back to my pot, smoking, shoplifting friend.

We were walking out, and I said, Hey man, you think I'm being mean to you today?

He goes, No, that was that was enjoyable, actually.

And I said, Here's the thing.

At my core, I think you're capable of more than what you're doing.

And I don't think you need therapy.

I don't think you need rehab.

I think you need to man up, ladybug, and stop being a little boy.

And he stuck his hand out.

And I said, He said, Thank you.

I said, You're welcome.

I'm here Monday through Thursday.

Friday, I disappear.

And he's like, I'll be back.

I want to talk to your mom about that on the way home.

That's all I'm just saying is, hey, I want to remind you of the capacity of yourself.

You're capable of more.

Here's the last thing there's someone you need to ask.

There's someone you need to ask.

If you're going to consider it all joy when life punches you in the mouth, what do you mean?

Verse 5.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him.

Why does he say?

Because he's talking about trials and joy.

And he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, here's why.

Don't miss this.

James is writing to the 12 tribes, the people of God that have been scattered by the dispersion.

They're fleeing persecution and yet they're experiencing persecution and trials and hardships.

And he he talks about joy and then he realizes this is going to sound crazy to them.

And he says, hey, if any of you lacks wisdom, if this doesn't make sense to you, if this offends your ears, he says, hey, ask God who gives generously to all without reproach.

What does it mean that God gives to all without finding reproach?

It means that God doesn't look for a reason to say no.

God looks for an opportunity to say yes when you pray to Him.

Do you understand that?

He doesn't look for a reason to say no to you.

He looks for an opportunity to say yes to you.

I said to the Lord the other day, Lord, this, I don't know what's going on.

I was texting a friend of mine.

He texted me and said, I'm concerned about you.

And I said, Thank you.

I think we're doing okay, but we're kind of like about every third day something breaks or gets flooded or dies.

I mean, we're gonna stay away from people.

I I call people, you want to go to dinner?

No, we're good.

Whatever's going on, we don't want to get them goodies.

And he said, Man, just hang, hey, hang in there.

Hey, here's something that's allowed me to hang in there.

My oldest daughter said to me, Hey, Dad, this is a song I think I think you would enjoy.

Because she we we talk to our kids about what's going on.

Hey, life is crazy and God's good.

Okay?

God is great.

But she sends me a song, and I was like, okay, I'll listen to this.

Now it's not my favorite song, it's my prayer, okay?

Here's a song, it's called New Wine.

Uh here I brought the lyrics, some of the lyrics to it.

It says this in the crushing, in the pressing, you're making new wine.

In the soil, I now surrender.

You're breaking new ground.

So I yield to you and to your careful hand.

When I trust you, I don't need to understand.

Make me your vessel, make me an offering, make me whatever you want me to be.

I came here with nothing but all you have given me.

Jesus, bring new wine out of me.

That's been my prayer, especially that chorus where he just says, make me your vessel, make me an offering, make me whatever you want me.

I'm walking through Home Depot the other day, looking for plumbing stuff to see if I can fix what's going on to sing.

And my mind neutral is I just sing.

When I'm not thinking about anything, songs come out.

So I'm walking through Home Depot and I'm just singing, make me a vessel.

And a guy over there holding a bag of fertilizer, looks over his shoulder at me like this.

And I'm walking by, make me an offer, make me whatever you want me to be.

And he's like, All right, all right, somebody in a good mood.

I said, Oh, sorry, sorry.

And I said, This has been a crazy six weeks.

People are dying and stuff's breaking, and lightning struck my house and all kinds of stuff.

And I don't want to pity, I don't want to practice self-pity.

I don't want to miss what God's doing in me because sometimes I can focus on what I feel like what God's doing to me, like God's picking on me.

God's not doing to me.

God's working in me, and I don't want to miss what how God's working in me.

And he put his bag of fertilizer and he said, All right, all right, we're gonna have church up in here.

That'd be great with me.

I'll sing and you preach.

I don't get to sing in my church, they'll never let me sing.

And he was like, Yeah, you don't need to sing.

It's not just a song, it's a prayer.

Make me your vessel.

Make me an offering.

Make me whatever you want me to be.

I came here with nothing but all you have given me.

Here's the part that slays me.

Jesus bring new wine out of me.

What does that mean?

Aren't you sick and tired of saying the same thing to God you've said since you were twelve?

That's old wine, beloved.

Unless you learn to train your eye to see and your ear to hear what God's doing and how he's doing it, you're gonna just convince yourself just to drink old wine instead of saying, Hey God, what are you doing in me?

What do you I don't want to miss that?

Bring some new wine out of me.

So I said to my new best friend at Home Depot, yeah, I just want Jesus to bring some new wine out of me.

All right, all right, yeah.

I said, so anyway, where's plumbing?

He's like, it's over there.

Why do I say that?

Because the Bible says, hey, there's someone you need to ask.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without finding reproach.

He didn't look for a reason to say no.

He looks for an opportunity to say yes.

That's the kind of father he is.

Now, given that, ask yourself this question and we're done this morning.

Because God doesn't look for a reason to say no, he looks for an opportunity to say yes.

What could you ask him for today?

If you really believe that.

What would you be willing to ask him for?

If you really believe that, hey, he doesn't find reproach.

He doesn't look down and go, yeah, I remember 1979, I saw that, I got that on the wall.

You're gonna pray to me and ask me for what about 1982?

That's not God, that's not the God of the Bible.

There's someone, there's a way we can think.

Uh there's there's something we need to know, there's something you need to allow, and there's someone you need to ask.

Let's pray together.

If you're visiting today, we like to just teach the Bible and then kind of give you some soul space to think about it.

Occasionally we like to come and just maybe sing a song over you.

So just ask the Lord, hey, what do you what had my name on it today?

What what was it that when you said it, I was like, oh, wait a minute.

Yeah.

Are you more wired up to think about what God's doing to you or what God's doing in you?

The Bible says we can count it all joy, brothers and sisters.

When we meet trials of various kinds.

Not only are we gonna have a bunch of trials, but they're gonna be a different kind.

Some of them are gonna be little, some of them are gonna be big, some of them are gonna be relational, some are gonna be financial, some of them are gonna be domestic, some of them are gonna be international, some of them are gonna be physical, and some of them are gonna be spiritual.

But you can know that the testing of your faith develops steadfastness.

And oh, beloved, be be still, stay in the moment, stay in the moment, don't seek to get out of the fire, that's where he is.

Because let's steadfastness have its full effect so you'll be perfect and complete, not lacking in anything.

But if you lack wisdom, if you can't figure out why this is happening to you and you're starting to feel like God's picking on you, ask him.

But he gives because he gives generously, he loves to say yes.

Let's think about these things.

This prayer sung over us this morning.

Father, we're thankful, and because of that, our prayer today is for new wine, new power, and new freedom to be born in us and expressed through us.

This is our prayer, God, make it our experience, we ask in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Thanks for your presence today.

Uh, if you don't have a church home, I would love the privilege of being your pastor.

That that just that doesn't mean I'm just the guy that talks on Sundays.

Uh, I want to be the guy that shows up in your life when life punches you in the face.

Not to accuse you, but to help you to think rightly about it and enjoy what God's doing in you.

Uh, some of us will be available down front.

If you have any questions about what you heard this morning, we'd love to answer any questions and pray with you.

Stand to your feet if you would.

We'd like to finish our service with a blessing.

Hold your hands out, speak a blessing over you, and we'll be dismissed.

Because your father is good, good father.

You can trust him in what he's doing.

It's not just for your good, it's for your involvement.

And involvement is what you were created for.

Depart now and stay involved in what God's doing to change the world for his glory.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you're dismissed.