THE POWER IN YOUR PAIN | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

all right all right well welcome to life

Bridge Church everybody how's everyone

feeling we doing all

right just want to take a moment to note

to all of you that are sitting uh on the

sides right there that we see these

people that have opened seats next to

them that did not let you sit there and

uh there will be an altar call at the

end of our time together today uh and we

know that there is at least some measure

of sin in the camp so um hey we are

grateful if you do see someone that is

struggling to find a seat please be a

hospitable believer in Christ Jesus

recognizing that he gave his life for

you and you might be able to sit next to

a complete and total stranger it'll be

okay uh anybody enjoy the parking lot

experience this morning was it better

this morning all right yeah thank you

yeah we we knew that we needed to change

service times we knew that this was the

most stubborn group of all so we didn't

change it uh and so it doesn't matter

that I'm going to say things to you like

hey the 8:15 is a great Gathering that

you should consider attending sometimes

because you'd really enjoy it and leave

some more room for people I know that

you're hearing me and it's just woo out

the other ear and and so but just

hypothetically speaking if there were

even like five Saints in the house today

that felt called by God to attend the

8:15 that would be amazing but we're

grateful that you're here uh if I were

you this is the one that I'd want to be

at because it's fun is it not 10: a.m.

is fun we have a good time uh and so we

are going to have a good time today as

we continue in our collection that we

start started this past weekend that we

have called walk the walk walk the walk

is a collection it is a discussion where

we are living and lingering in the Book

of James and we're going to do so for

quite some time as we recognize that

James is making sure that we are a

people who practice what we preach amen

we want to be a people yall with me at

the 10: a.m. we want to be a people that

practice what we preach and so we have

taken this title from a phrase that is

very well known where we will say hey

don't just talk the talk but rather walk

the walk there we go and that's what we

see James is calling us to do James

understands what it means to walk with

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ he

recognizes that it is not just inward

transformation it's not less than that

but it's not just inward transformation

it's also outward application and so

James understands this that we live in a

broken and a fallen world a world that

is sick with sin and sin has separated

us from a holy and a perfect God and so

as a result of that we know that Romans

Romans 6:23

6:23 would tell us that the wages of sin

is death and it's not just a physical

death but it is also an eternal

spiritual death in the sense that you

are eternally separated from your

heavenly father that if God just allowed

there to be sin around him then he would

not be holy and he would not be just and

because he is those things there would

have to be some radical intervention

that happens on our behalf that would

cleanse us of sin that we might be able

to enter into the presence of our

heavenly father and the good news of the

Gospel of Jesus Christ is that in Jesus

we do experience that that we see that

the most merciful demonstration of

sacrificial Grace and love is found in

the person and the finished work of

Jesus Christ that in Jesus there is

salvation that Ephesians 1:7 would say

Ephesians 1:7

in him is redemption and the forgiveness

of sin anybody grateful for that this

morning that that is why we're gathered

here and that's what we're here to

celebrate that you and I understand we

cannot achieve salvation by works yes we

cannot achieve salvation we receive it

as a free gift that is offered to us in

Jesus that we've repented of our sins

and put our faith in him and so we

recognize though we might try to climb

our way to God the good news of the

Gospel is that God came down to us TR in

Jesus and so we understand we are not

saved by our works I'm going to keep

saying that every week we are not saved

by our works you can't do enough of this

and not much of that and all of a sudden

God's like welcome that's not the way

that this works but rather we don't

achieve we receive that gift in Jesus

and so we are a people that trust in his

finished work and we understand that

under the power of the Holy Spirit at

work within us we have regenerated

renewed Hearts but we also have engaged

heads and hands in the work that God has

called us to be a part of yes and so we

are going to be in James chap 1 veres

2-8 where we are talking about

trials all right um that's great anybody

love a good trial love a good trial

anybody in here that would say hey I'm

going through some things right now some

struggles and some trials put them up

you're in the back I can still see you

clearly yep all right let's get let's

get honest today uh that that's that's

that's who we are that's what we want to

be about there are many of us in here

that know what it's like to experience

trials in this life and very often it is

difficult for us to make sense of what

it is that is happening in the midst of

those is there anything that is

happening in the midst of those you

could be here now and we welcome your

questions and discussion around what is

it that God is doing here well we're

about to let the word of God speak

because I don't know if you know this

but we do not show up to listen to

someone one just kind of uh go on and on

and on all day and we are here to listen

to what it is that God's word has to say

and so with that being said yall ready

for the word James chapter 1 beginning

James 1 · chapter mention

in verse two it says this consider it a

great joy my brothers and sisters

whenever you experience various trials

because you know that the testing of

your faith produces endurance and let

endurance have its full effect so that

you may be mature and complete lacking

nothing now if any of you lacks wisdom

he should ask God who gives to all

generously and ungrudgingly and it will

be given to him but let him ask in faith

without doubting for the doubter is like

surging sea driven and tossed by the

wind and the person should not expect to

receive anything from the Lord being

doubl minded and unstable in all his

ways let's pray

together uh Lord we

are really grateful um to be gathered

together in this place and to be able to

be honest about some of the pain that we

are experiencing Lord I know some

people's struggles uh and trials that

they're enduring here and yet I know

that there are some where I I know

nothing at all and Lord you do and so

father I'm asking that your spirit would

move in this place in a mighty way to

where we might have some people have

their minds unlocked to the realities of

what it is that you're doing in them but

Lord that you would also maybe provide

some alleviation and freedom in the room

that did not exist prior to coming in

here and so Lord we are not uh here here

just kind of hoping that we can go

through the motions but we're believing

that you are here that your presence is

here that we are not just here alone but

rather we are gathered in your name so

Lord would you do a remarkable work for

the glory of Your Name Lord we love you

we praise you and we thank you we ask

these things in Jesus name

amen well in

1975 American jazz piano player by the

name of Keith Jarrett was doing a tour

across Europe and one of his stops was

was at the cologne opera house in

Germany and so at the cologne opera

house they were employing at the time

who was the youngest concert promoter in

all of Europe a young 17-year-old Jazz

fanatic named Vera Brandis Vera Brandis

had been expecting to have more than

1,400 people show up for this concert

that Keith Jarrett would be performing

on this particular evening and she was

really thrilled and excited about the

prospect of seeing all these people come

to be able to listen to him and here's

the thing you got to understand about

Keith Jared he's an obsessive

perfectionist he's very particular about

the kinds of pianos that he plays he's

someone that cares a lot about the way

that things sound to be a great

obsessive perfectionist you have to want

everything to be absolutely perfect and

that's what he wanted and so he had

requested a very specific grand piano

that he wanted to play on this

particular evening for this live

performance and yet what he would come

to find out is that something shocking

would be in store for him he and his

manager had driven all through the night

in order to make sure that they were

here at this venue for their concert

that would go on that day and so as they

ended up showing up at this particular

venue they were inspecting it and they

were checking everything out to kind of

see what they were working with and they

were shocked when the piano that they

had for him that evening ended up being

wheeled out they realized Not only was

it not a grand piano but it was actually

a baby grand piano and it looked like it

was in rough shape it looked like it had

been used for rehearsals but it was

certainly not something that anybody

could expect that you would use for a

live performance and so still Keith

Jarrett wanted to humor the people that

were there and he decided that he would

sit down and review this piano that they

had given him to work with and as he was

messing around on this piano he started

to recognize that some of the black

notes didn't work that the pedals were

sticking every now and then he noticed

that the upper register was Tiny and

thin and that the base register was

particularly weak and so to make matters

worse he had just driven all through

through the night he was dealing with

severe back pain and so Keith Jarrett

was dealing with very little sleep very

little health and now he had this

horrific piano that was in front of him

to play in front of all of these people

and so he went back to Vera Brandis and

just said hey there is no way on God's

green earth that I'm playing this

concert tonight I cannot with this awful

piano that you have provided and so she

did what any 17-year-old girl at their

first job would probably do in that

circumstance she panicked she tried to

get a piano that she could swap out in

time but nobody was able to make it

happen she brought in a piano tuner that

came in to try to see what he could do

with this piano and he was like I don't

even think God could restore this piano

like this thing is awful why would you

bring this for someone and so she did

the only thing that she could do at that

point which was to beg she begged Keith

Jarrett to go on with this performance

and somewhat mercifully but also

reluctantly he decided that he would and

he didn't go out until 11:30 p.m. that

evening and he did so with a back brace

for his pain and he ended up playing his

heart out he recognized that the piano

that they had provided was small and so

it wasn't going to be able to generate

enough volume to fill the room and so he

would stand up and slam down on the keys

he would sit down and carefully avoid

all of the broken keys and he ended up

delivering what would become an alltime

historic performance that we see that

this concert would become known as the

col concert and that he would deliver an

alltime historic performance that is

considered to be one of the greatest

musical performances in all of human

history and for a period of time it

would also be the bestselling album of

all time in multiple categories the

bestselling solo Jazz album of all time

and the bestselling piano album of all

time that what we see is that he had

been provided with this absolutely

horrific circumstance and yet he also

provided an alltime historic performance

that he had been given this musical

trial that would somehow result in in a

musical Triumph like he had no reason no

logical reason to believe that this

could become an iconic performance one

of the best selling albums in multiple

categories there was nothing that made

sense in that regard the piano he'd been

given was pathetic the day had been

distracting my man's back is literally

broken and yet what we see is that

despite the fact that he had no logical

reason to believe that any of these

things could come to fruition something

remarkable ended up happening that we

see that he would play his magnum opus

on a mangled

piano that you would see it's

interesting that he had been given

this and it didn't make sense that it

could become what it

became the truth of the matter is if you

think about it the only reason that he

played the way that he played and he

seen the success that he's seen is

because of this piano that he was given

not in spite of the trial but because of

the trial we see that all of these

incredible things would happen he had

been presented with a trial that

initially seemed like an initial

inhibition to anything great that could

happen and rather he would come to

recognize that trial was the instigation

of what many people today see as musical

Perfection it was because of that trial

that something incredible was able to

happen not in spite of it and I say that

to you today because the truth of the

matter is I think we've got a lot of

people in here that can find themselves

navigating some trials and some

struggles and we probably don't like it

a whole lot like has anybody in here

ever been in a situation or a season

where you're like just anything that can

go wrong is going wrong

anybody come on y'all are good up there

that's that's good to know I'm glad

we'll talk y'all can preach next week

like uh like like everybody has like

like where you feel like hey there are

things that I'm hoping for and it

doesn't feel like any of that is

happening we ever been in a season or

situation ation like that where you're

like God I I want to do something

incredible with this life that you've

given me like I want to make beautiful

music with the life that you've given me

and it feels like you gave me a trash

piano like it feels like the black notes

don't work and the pedals are sticking

it feels like it's anxiousness and anger

it feels like nothing could possibly go

right with what I've been given and yet

what we see is that God loves to play

Beautiful music on broken Pian and in

Jesus Christ Christ there's the

Redemption of broken notes and sounds of

a new song and I say that to you this

morning because what we need to

understand is that he is echoing that

here in James like this is a difficult

word for us to process and yet it's one

that we are required to process

nonetheless and he's going to

demonstrate that the same thing is true

here in this text and he starts off in

James chapter 1 vers2 and says consider

James 1 · chapter mention

it a great joy

okay uh consider it a great joy my

brothers and sisters whenever you

experience various

trials see you next week right like I

like is that what y'all

do let let me go first here um whenever

I find myself in the middle of what

feels like a legitimate trial I feel all

sorts of things all sorts of

things Joy let alone great joy aren't in

the top

hundred I feel all the things that would

make many of you wish you had a

different Pastor I I'm telling you anger

anxiousness fear frustration why God I

feel all those things before I feel Joy

or great joy nothing just ends up

happening and I'm like this is great God

that's not my initial

response and I don't think it's yours

either like like that's not the way that

we're wired but what you see here is

that it there's a word that you you

can't even get to the next word in the

verse before you have to spend some time

on that first one it says

consider consider it a great joy

whenever you experience various

trials you have to consider that word

consider before you move forward and

what's amazing is that in the original

language that word consider it it

literally means a mental evaluation that

is filled with careful thinking it's not

just evaluating what's in front of you

it's evaluating all of the things that

are around the extenuating circumstance

in front of you it means careful and due

deliberation over what you see in this

particular moment that you might be able

to look at more than the actual struggle

and trial in front of you and look at

all things that you know to be true and

realize that I can have an inner

attitude that lives in Defiance of this

external circumstance that there's an

inner life that's being built in Me by

the power of the Holy Spirit through the

work of Christ Jesus that is able to

look at what's in front of me and go I

realize that this is a card that I have

been dealt and yet I believe that there

is more than what I see right here and

now right we consider it a great joy

what's interesting is that we consider

things all the time you will consider

things today we consider often consider

ing something it is simply calculating

based upon your values right right so

let let me help you I I I like cars that

look cool I'm not even like a car guy

because I said cars that look cool like

I I just I I think that there are cars

that I look at and I just realize that

costs a lot and I and I like them now

here here's the truth of the matter I

like these cars that that look like a

Batmobile and I realize I probably can't

afford and so because of that I I

realize that I need to consider the fact

that I value my marriage more than that

vehicle and so I cannot purchase it and

and really put ourselves in a financial

hole and then go back to my wife and be

like lindsy look what look what I did

for us and then she's going to go we're

going to counseling right like there's

no way that you can do that I consider

that I value my marriage more than I

value that vehicle just enough right

like that would be cool to drive a

Batmobile but probably not a good idea

you might consider in your life you

might be in a place right now where

where you you realize hey my family is

thriving things are going well but but

you're offered a new position somewhere

else but your teenagers are loving it

here and so you realize hey I'm going to

forego I'm calculating based upon my

values I could make more money there but

my family is doing well here because I

value my family I'm not going to go

purchasing trying to figure out how I

can purchase more things with money that

that you calculate on values all the

time but Warren weby says it like this

he he says our values determine our

evaluations if we value comfort more

than character trials will upset

us if we value the material and the

physical more than the spiritual we can

never then consider it a great joy if we

live for the present and we forget about

our future we will be bitter not better

which sounds amazing except for the fact

that it's still

hard like like that sounds awesome but

are y'all reading like what I'm reading

I skipped this stuff like I don't This

Is Not Great consider it a great joy

whenever whenever you experience various

trials not if whenever when you

experience trials and doesn't just say

like an if then statement like you

learned in school right it doesn't say

if remember in high school like one of

the maybe maybe it was earlier than that

I don't it's been a minute so like uh

like do you remember in in like science

class one of the first things that you

learn is the if then statement y'all

know what I'm talking about did y'all go

to school like is like did like I'm not

talking about college I'm just like did

did did y'all like go to elementary

school I don't know when you learned it

but I know you did did anybody know what

the if then statement is am I okay all

right I'm glad that we all have like

Elementary level education all right so

uh like the if then statements the most

basic thing about forming a hypothesis

ever if this happens then that will

likely happen right we good like we

remember this now and so what you'll

notice is that it's like hey if I don't

study for the test then I'm likely going

to fail the test that that's the way

that it goes we see that James is doing

something way worse than that here it's

not an if statement it's a when then

statement when you experience trials

then Rejoice is that great whenever you

feel like suffering smacks you in the

face sing whenever you feel like you're

getting pummeled with painful

circumstances in life praise and what

you see is that it says whenever you

experience various trials in that great

like a diversified assortment of Trials

all sorts of different trials pick your

candy trials all sorts of different

kinds and it doesn't just say trials it

doesn't just say trial it says triols

with an S like plural like there's going

to be lots of those different candies

that you could select it could be

anything from like a mild inconvenience

to an overwhelming seemingly

insurmountable trial that you could find

yourself in a place where you're like

hey I just set my alarm for the wrong

time and then I was late to work and I

missed a meeting I'm in hot water with

my

boss or I had a tickle in my throat and

I went to the doctor and I thought that

I had strep and now I'm fighting for my

life like it could be any of those

things it could run the gamut any of

those

things whenever you

face various

trials then what and you go why why are

you bearing down on this right here and

now for this reason I think there's some

of us that go but but but that's for

people who don't

believe that's not for me and I would

say

well um

it says consider it a great joy my

brothers and

sisters that's

us that's you and me we're in it

together I I it's saying hey in this

life trials are not something you can

flee they're a guarantee so long as

you've got breath in your lungs you will

encounter trials and I'm beating this

dead horse at this point for this reason

I think that Believers in Jesus have

misconstrued and quite frankly L been

naive to how trials operate in our

life like I think a lot of us have been

fed the lie and maybe even believed the

lie if I live my life with enough

obedience then I'll be excluded from

trials and the truth of the matter is

that is one of the most bogus lies that

you could ever hear in your life and the

problem is that some of you think God's

a dictator and not a dad and and so you

find yourself in a place where you're

like I'm just going to March as straight

as I can and I'm GNA stand up straight

I'm gonna be tall I'm I'm going to live

my my life well enough to where I'm not

going to find myself in any kind of

trial and the truth of the matter is

there is nothing you can do in your life

you can't live with enough obedience to

be excluded from trials which is

hopefully freeing for some of us because

some of you feel like God's perpetually

mad at you and he's not he he's going to

discipline like a dad who realized this

hurts now but it's going to make things

better in the long run that what you see

is it doesn't matter how well you're

living or not living

trials cannot be something that you are

excluded from as a result of your

obedience here's the crazy thing you'll

probably end up in more trials as a

result of your

obedience than your Disobedience think

about Joseph you see it all throughout

scripture Joseph tells his brothers a

dream sure they're probably not the most

fun thing to hear if you're one of the

other brothers hey I had this dream and

y'all were bowing down to me and stuff

kiss in the ring it was crazy and they

throw him in a pit and after he gets

thrown in a pit he ends up finding

himself in a palace and as he's in

Pharaoh's Palace all of a sudden his

wife makes a false accusation against

him and he ends up in prison because of

his

obedience you see it with Moses God

calls to Moses in a burning bush and

it's like hey I need you to go and tell

the most powerful man in the world to

let my people go and Moses is like

please send somebody else and they have

this whole battle about it for like a

chapter and a half and then finally

Moses goes and he goes up to pharaoh and

says hey man God said to let my people

go and pH goes uh no and I'm going to

increase their suffering because of his

obedience Shadrach Meshach and Abednego

like you see that all of the people in

the nation are like we'll Bow Down and

Worship whoever as long as we don't get

killed and they're like hey do you guys

want to Bow and they're like no we want

to be obedient to the Lord and they get

thrown into a fiery furnace because of

their obedience you see what the TW

disciples that whenever they find

themselves on the shore Jesus says hey

will you guys go across to the other

side I'll meet you over there and they

find themselves smack dabb in the middle

of a storm because of their obedience

Paul and Silas are going in the

direction that the Lord tells them to go

we see that Paul casts a demon out of a

slave girl and as a result of that they

then are thrown into prison and they

have their feet put in stocks as a

result of their obedience Jesus Christ

lived the perfect life that you and I

could not and died the death that you

and I deserved in perfect obedience told

us that we're going to have to take up

our cross and follow him and we think

we're going to get out of this stuff

no obedience is not going to exclude you

from trials you might encounter more but

they are there to establish your

faith and for many of

us you could probably get to a point

where I I have at one point or another

and you go okay well it's it's the whole

rejoicing thing that's tough

honestly like is this where people get

the idea that Christians are just fake

act like fine even when things aren't

fine you pretend like things aren't

painful even though clearly they are no

nobody's asking you to

act there there's a devotional that I've

read over the

past like 15ish years and on one of the

days there's a poem in it think about it

for a while every year that I read it

and it goes like this it says strange

and difficult we may find it but the

blessing that we need is behind it the

school of suffering graduates

exceptional

Scholars there's something that's

happening there consider it a great joy

when you encounter experience various

trials why because there's something

profound being produced in you and we

don't just see this here in James though

we do you go on to verse three and it

says because you know isn't it great

that you know something isn't it great

that you're not just aimlessly like why

am I going through this why am I going

through that if you are a follower of

Jesus Christ then you can know none of

this stuff is for nothing he's using it

there's something powerful in it he says

because you know that the testing of

your faith what

produces produces endurance Romans

chapter 5: 3 and four would say we know

that Affliction produces endurance

endurance produces proven character and

proven character produces hope there's a

line of production that's going on here

1 Peter chap 1: 6 and 7 would say that

you suffer grief in various trials so

the proven character of your faith may

result that will produce praise glory

and honor at the revelation of Jesus

Christ that in the tension of

trial is where you realize there's

something profound that's being produced

in me right you don't even have to go

that far in life to find out that this

is true in lots of other much more minor

circumstances uh one of the thing that

things that I don't understand in this

world is people that like the

gym we serious right

now the people that just like Man Iron

there's nothing like going in and seeing

a bunch of people that didn't actually

end up succeeding in some things to end

up just caring so much about like I just

want to just I just man I just love

pumping iron is it the greatest thing

ever I'm like have you had like cookies

like there's all sorts of things that

are better than this like I I would do

anything other than be here right now

like but I had one guy come up to me at

one point in my life and he said Luke

every man thinks they're Brave by saying

that they would die for their family

everybody would do that said the

question is will you work out for them

and do your best to live as long as you

can for them and I was

like you know I'm going to have to pray

about that I honestly don't know um I

like I actually you know how how long am

I going to live if I don't like you know

I it's just like I I got to know what's

the timeline so but I I I felt convicted

enough to where I felt like I would do

it and the first thing that I wanted to

do was uh I go into a gym I don't know

anything I'm here I'm like please

everybody leave me alone like can there

just be curtains that block me off in my

sadness over here and and and as I get

there my first order of business in my

own mind is I'm going to go a 100 Floors

on the StairMaster anybody know this

horrific torturous death machine you

know what I'm talking about um I decid

I'm going to go 100 Floors on the stair

master I'm a Christian so I put

Christian music in my ears I I I would

never listen to anything else under any

circumstances and and so as I find

myself getting there I'm like this is

Stairway to Heaven almost literally I am

Huffing and puffing I am pounding the

pavement on this StairMaster I feel like

I been on this thing for plenty of time

must be 144 floors up I look down it

says

12 and um

I go get

management your stair Master's broken

right I've gone 144 floors it's saying

12 it's kind of weird and I I'll I'll

tell you because I've dealt with it

emotionally at this point

um the next

day I I felt

like I felt like

somebody had strapped me down to a train

track run over my legs and then backed

up and did it again like it was just

awful it was awful and like I'm I'm a

man so like I still have like I I want

to you Lindsay's like you okay I'm like

yeah I'm good yeah I'm just like it's

awful but I realized over

time I still don't like to do this thing

don't get it twisted but I can go 100

Floors

without having much pain because there

was endurance that was built up as a

result of continuing to go underneath

the strain of this awful machine I did

it right and here's the truth of the

matter uh you don't have to be someone

that likes to go to the gym we've

established that that makes you normal

the truth of the matter is that there's

a lot of other things that would

indicate that you love struggle and

trial now you don't you don't for

yourself we loathe struggles and trials

when they apply to us

but we love a story that's got good

struggle we love a tale that's got great

trials you actually wouldn't have it any

other way like you can't eliminate the

biggest struggle and trial in the midst

of a story that you're willing to watch

or read or tell to another person like

you can't leave out of Star Wars that

Vader Luke's

dad I trust I've heard about it my whole

life Luke I'm your father it's like the

biggest part

like you can't leave out that Maximus is

on this gladiatorial Rampage why he just

woke up he was hungry one day no it's

because they murdered his wife and his

son you can't leave that out you can't

leave out how Harry Potter who I know is

like evil evil magic and Lord of the

Rings and narn or good magic I don't

know how we came to that but uh Harry

Potter you can't leave out that he's

bullied his whole life and he's stuck in

a Cupboard Under the Stairs like that

makes The Story You're The Chosen one

but everyone doesn't like you on the

other side of Hogwarts how does that

work you can't leave out that Noah is

reading to his beloved and he's put

together this story where oh he's not

just volunteering at a home but he's

reading to his wife who has Alzheimer's

their story like you have to know like

you can't leave out those parts listen

to me nobody loves a story without

struggle nobody loves a tale without

trial not even you you can't put those

chapters down and you won't look away

from those scenes

a good struggle and a good trial not

only shapes the story it shapes the

trajectory of the story maybe most

importantly it shapes the character's

character and can I tell you God will do

the same with

you he will make you struggle to make

you strong in him he will put trials in

your path not just allow trials but he

will put trials in your path in order to

trans form

you we love it that way we just don't

like when it's happening to us but it

creates it produces what

endurance and it says let endurance have

its full effect so that you may be

mature and complete lacking nothing uh

endurance in the original language it's

one of my favorite Greek words it's the

word hoop it means to abide under that

you're abiding in Christ underneath the

weight and the strain of struggle and

trial and that there's an endurance

that's being built up as a result of

that you're remaining underneath the

weight of that struggle and trial I have

a mentor that says it like this he says

Luke I'm not wiser than you despite the

fact that he's like 70 so he is but he

says Luke I'm not wiser than you he says

but I've seen more sunrises and sunsets

I've had to live underneath the strain

of things that you experience for a

longer amount of

time it's endurance

says that you may be perfect incomplete

or mature incomplete lacking nothing now

I I flip those mature incomplete or

perfect incomplete because you might be

reading a translation that says

perfect my translation is one that I

prefer and that's why we read it because

we love God and and what we see is it

says mature and complete lacking

nothing your translation uh is not bad

it's just that that word in the original

language it could be rendered as mature

or perfect but uh I I like the word

mature because perfect can be can make

you panicked a little bit wait I got to

be perfect at the end of this thing and

it's not saying that you'll be without

flaw it's saying that you'll be mature

that the thing that began in you will be

carried on to completion Philippians

would say that he who began a good work

in you will carry it on to completion

yes says that we will be mature and

complete lacking nothing and he says now

if any of you lacks wisdom you should

ask God who gives to all generously and

ungrudgingly and it will be given to him

but let him ask in faith without

doubting now whenever we find ourselves

in the middle of Trials there's a normal

response it can be

disorienting what is going

on and in the middle of that what we see

is that sometimes you'll find yourself

in a trial and you'll know exactly what

God is doing anybody testify you you you

know how you ended up in this one if

you're like me I'm not saying anyone

else in here is but let me just be

honest about me I I have heard uh

through the gra find that hypothetically

speaking there's the potential that I

can be hard-headed at times and and and

so sometimes I find myself going through

the same type of trial over and over and

over and sometimes you wonder why is

this happening and what I love is that

God says ask ask

me and I'll give you the wisdom to do so

but what's kind of scary is that second

part he says ask

in faith without

doubting I I love that he says to ask

him and he'll give generously and

ungrudgingly are you hearing that like

when you're in the midst of great

struggle go to God with it and he says I

I'm going to give generously I'm not

going to be like here's an Eminem he's

going to give you the bag he he's like

I'm going to give you all of it I will

give you the wisdom that you need for

this situation and it says ungrudgingly

it's not like if you repeatedly come to

God and say Lord I need more wisdom for

what it is that I feel like I'm

encountering it's not like he didn't

give you enough the first time but you

might need to go back to him a second

time because you didn't eat the whole

bag he'll say I'll give it to you I'll

give it to you generously and

ungrudgingly and he not only says what

we should ask he says how we should ask

generously and ungrudgingly but then he

says in faith without doubting and that

can be where a lot of us are like I'm

out on that if you're just being real

in faith and without

doubting and then furthermore it feels

like James goes on to kind of make fun

of the struggle does it

not it says in verses 6 through eight

for the doubter is like the surging sea

driven and tossed by the wind and that

person should not expect to receive

anything from the Lord being

double-minded and unstable in all his

ways here's what I need you to hear loud

and clear when it says in faith

without doubting it's not saying that

you're never going to stumble underneath

the weight of struggle are you hearing

me on that you're you're not it's not

saying you'll never struggle and stumble

underneath the weight of a

trial what it's saying is that you would

live with a commitment to walk the road

that you're on that you don't have one

foot on the narrow road and another on

the wide path you're not making exit

strategies if you've ever watched

Olympian Sprint which

again it's one of those things but like

if you've ever watched an Olympian

Sprint they'll do so out of a Block

they'll have both of their feet on a

single block he's saying don't put one

foot on one block and one on another and

feel like you're going to end up going

in the right direction or you're going

to be able to do so without struggling

even more he says you need to make sure

that you are running wholeheartedly in

the direction that I've called you to go

and not have your feet all over the

place walk with me come hell or high

water walk with me

Romans chapter 8:8 says consider the

sufferings of this present time they are

not worth comparing with the glory that

is going to be revealed to us anybody

grateful for that John 16:33 says you

John 16:33

will have suffering in this world but be

courageous because I have conquered the

world if you're someone in here and

you're not a believer in Jesus let me

tell you something really really

difficult

I don't know why you're going through

what you're going through hopefully it's

the grace of God trying to get a hold of

you but if you're in here and you you

don't know Jesus it it's difficult to

know what exactly is going on here I

feel like all of this is for

not but if you're a believer in Christ

Jesus you've already been told that

suffering is

coming but you've got Eternal

hope in the fact that through the resur

resurrection of Jesus

Christ there is nothing that you cannot

experience the Triumph through God

over y'all hear me on

that

like I had two people over the last

year that I was walking with and praying

for in a very serious way over a serious

health

issue one of them I did their

funeral and the other one I can hug

their

neck and kind of privately someone came

to me at one point and said hey

um how do you make sense of one person

living and another one dying why would

God heal one person and not heal the

other and I said God healed

both God healed

both you either believe in the

resurrection of Jesus Christ or you

don't that's where the rubber meets the

road you can do whatever you want to do

to me in this life you can put me in a

grave and the truth of the matter is I

ain't

there I am eternally secure in

him tuning a piano can

exceed 20

tons of tension on a

string and if you want to play Beautiful

music you will be tested

and it's in those great trials that you

find that God's producing something

profound in

you because there's nothing worse in the

world than having a bunch of people that

feel like they deserve and are entitled

to things going the way that they want

to and they have character that cannot

sustain so much as the wind blowing them

the wrong

direction God I ask

that I ask that you would form us in in

your

image powerful

way God I don't know if there's anyone

in here who's never put their faith in

Jesus but right now if you're someone

who's never put your faith in Christ but

you want to take that step today and you

want to say hey I I know that I'm a

sinner in need of a savior I know that I

need Jesus Christ in my life that I

don't want all of this to be for not but

I want to surrender my life to him not

just for him to save me but I am

underneath his lordship that I might

find myself being transformed in a

remarkable way if that's you would you

just put your hand up if you could be so

bold and pray with me and say father I'm

a sinner in need of a

savior I believe Jesus Christ lived the

perfect life that I could not and died

the death that I deserved upon the cross

I believe that his blood covers my sins

past present and future and I am

repenting of my sins and putting my

faith in his finished work on the cross

I believe he was buried in a tomb for

three days and that he rose to life

again and I believe that I can have life

In His

Name Lord for those of us that are

encountering deep struggle and trial I

ask right now that we would find

ourselves on our face at this altar that

we might have people that have

experienced the same thing come around

us and be able to testify to the fact

that it is in those great trials that we

often see that you are

near so clearly that we

experience transformation in a

remarkable

way Lord would we we cry out to you this

morning we love you we praise you and we

thank you we ask this in your name