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Andy Stanley - How To Persevere In Tough Times · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: So as you know, it is human nature to avoid
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the things that we don't like, right, I mean this
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starts from childhood, right, it's human nature to avoid things
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that we don't like. Vegetables, exercise, people who only eat vegetables,
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people who exercise all the time, people who dress like
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they eat vegetables and exercise all the time, whatever it is.
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And you know, sometimes avoiding things we don't like won't
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hurt us, and then sometimes avoiding things we don't like
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can hurt us. In the category of avoiding things that
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we don't like that won't hurt us, I was talking
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to Sandra last night, and one of the things that
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we avoid that won't hurt us as scary movies. And
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I don't know why, but neither of us like scary movies.
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In fact, we decided last night the last kind of
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scary movie that we saw and some of you won't
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even think this was a scary movie.
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Speaker 2: Just to tell you where we are was the Sixth Sense.
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Speaker 1: Remember that movie back in nineteen yes ninety nine, And
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I remember we watched that movie and we were so
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freaked out by it. We muted so much of the
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movie and fast forwarded through so much of the movie.
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When we got to the end, we had no idea
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what had actually happened. Seriously, Then we waited a couple
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days and tried it again, and our second time through
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we muted less of it and fast forwarded through less
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of it, and we kind of had an idea, and
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on the third round we finally knew what the movie
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was about, so we could talk about it intelligently with
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our friends. Right now, Again, there's lots of things that
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if you know if you don't like them, you can
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avoid them and it won't hurt you. But there are
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some things that you don't like that if you avoid them,
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they have the potential to hurt you. Now, this is
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going to come as a surprise to some of you,
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and please don't judge me harshly, but there are actually
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statements in the Bible that I don't particularly like, and
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today I need to talk about one. I would say
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I want to talk about one, but actually I just
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need to talk about one. And the reason I need
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to talk about one is this particular statement answers a
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very important question, and it's.
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Speaker 2: A question that's relevant to all of us.
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Speaker 1: The problem is I don't like the answer, and if
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you don't like the answer to this question either. Just
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remember this over the next few minutes. This is not
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my answer. This is not me speaking, this is somebody else.
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I am just the messenger, you know, don't shoot the
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piano player. I'm just delivering the message.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: The question that the author is going to answer for
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us is actually a question we're all asking again. It's
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just the answer that's disturbing. But the question is this,
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what do we do when there's nothing we can do?
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What do we do when there's nothing we can do?
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When it is what it is? And we don't particularly
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like what is which is like now right.
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Speaker 2: Because for some of you, you're not going to be
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able to graduate publicly.
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Speaker 1: For some of you, you've lost your income, you've lost
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your job, you've been furloughed from your job. For some
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of you, you've lost opportunity that's not coming back. You
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were planning to retire, and you're going to have to
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put that off. In fact, you're not sure you'll ever retire.
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You don't like what's going on right now because you're alone,
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and then you go on Facebook or Instagram and it
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looks like everybody else in the world has somebody, but
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you don't have somebody, or maybe maybe you wish you
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were more alone. But isn't it true that in the
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past few weeks for all of us, in the past
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few weeks, we've all been confronted with our more sinister selves,
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that stuff in us that we weren't sure was there,
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that stuff in us that we're kind of embarrassed about.
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Speaker 2: But we've been confronted with it.
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Speaker 1: And we can't wait for things to get back to normal,
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or well, we can't wait for things to get back
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to more normal. I mean, you love your kids, right,
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but homeschooling really and Sandra and I can you know
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we can sympathize. We homeschooled for ten years. And I'll
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tell you who else can sympathize with you.
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Speaker 2: Ben.
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Speaker 1: Ben is being homeschooled for the very first time, and
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during a break in the homeschooling process, Ben wrote a
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little note, and I'd like to.
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Speaker 2: Share Ben's note with you. Here's what Ben writes.
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Speaker 1: Ben, He's being homed school three sixteen, twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: Here's what he says. It is not going good.
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Speaker 1: My mom's getting stressed out, my mom is really getting confused.
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Speaker 2: And he says this.
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Speaker 1: We took a break so my mom can figure this
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stuff out.
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Speaker 2: And I'm telling you it is not going good.
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Speaker 1: You can relate to that, maybe not specifically to homeschooling,
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but it's just not going good. Maybe it went good
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for the first few days and for their first couple
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of weeks, but.
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Speaker 2: You're kind of tired of this.
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Speaker 1: And then along comes James, the brother of Jesus, with
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advice or instruction that, honestly, it just strikes me as
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too passive, and it strikes me as insensitive. And the
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reason that strikes me as insensitive is James doesn't know
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what's going on in my life, and James doesn't know
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what's going on in your life. That James is going
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to give us advice without hearing our stories, and that's
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always a bad idea. It's a bit like when you
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read in the New Testament where Jesus says, don't worry
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about tomorrow. Don't worry about tomorrow, and you want to
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raise your hand and say, hey, hold on a minute,
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let me tell you about what's coming up tomorrow in
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my life, and then you tell me don't worry about tomorrow.
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It just seems so insensitive to just give these big
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blanket overarching statements, don't worry about tomorrow. And what James
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is about to tell us, well, it falls into that
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same category. But regardless of how much I don't like
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what James says, and regardless of how much maybe you
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won't like what James says, we would be fools not
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to take his instruction seriously.
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Speaker 2: And here's why.
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Speaker 1: Because this is James, the brother of Jesus, and more specifically,
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this is James who was the leader in the church
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in Jerusalem during the first century. This is James who
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believed his brother was his lord because he saw his
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brother crucified and then he saw his brother after he
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rose from the dead. And this is James, the brother
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of Jesus, who led the church in Jerusalem. Get this
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for about thirty years.
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Speaker 2: Let that sink in.
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Speaker 1: He led the church in Jerusalem for about thirty years
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after the resurrection. He believed his brother was his lord
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throughout his entire life, and while he was in Jerusalem
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leading the local church, things were not going well. In fact,
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his street cred for me is related to what happened
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during those thirty years. During those thirty years, remember the
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church in Jerusalem was primarily Jewish. These Jews that had
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chosen to follow Jesus were considered blasphemers. We would say heretics.
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They didn't use that terminology back then. They were considered blasphemers.
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They were ostracized from society, they were ostracized.
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Speaker 2: From the Temple.
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Speaker 1: They're poor, were not supported by the temple, and things
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were very difficult for this group of people.
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Speaker 2: And this was the group of people that James was
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responsible for leading.
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Speaker 1: In fact, things were so bad in Jerusalem for the
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Jesus followers that the apostle Paul would travel around the
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Mediterranean rim collecting money from Gentile Jesus followers to take
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back to Jerusalem to help the Christians in Jerusalem because
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they were so impoverished because they had decided to follow Jesus.
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So for thirty years, James carries this weight and he
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sees the difficulty in the trials that these Jesus followers
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are facing every single day. That essentially James and this
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is what gives them credibility. James was surrounded by and
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he was actually responsible for a community in crisis, and
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with all that going on, here's what he told his
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first century Jesus follower friends to do and here's what
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he tells you to do, and here's what he tells
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me to do.
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Speaker 2: James, Chapter one. Here's what he says.
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Speaker 1: James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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This is amazing that all these years later James considered
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his brother his lord.
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Speaker 2: Now what he.
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Speaker 1: Says next, if you grew up in church, is pretty familiar.
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And I've taken this verse and I've reversed the order
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so that US English readers can get a better sense
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of what James is communicating.
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Speaker 2: Here's what he says next.
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Speaker 1: And here's the part, well, it's just not my favorite
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part of the Bible.
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Speaker 2: Here's what he says.
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Speaker 1: He says, whenever you face trials. Whenever you face trials,
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not if ever, whenever you can't pray him, you can't
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obey them away, you can't face them away. Trials are
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going to come whenever you face trials, because it's just
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the nature of things, as we've talked about before.
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Speaker 2: When Sin entered the world, sin.
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Speaker 1: Held the door, sorrow, death, disappointment, and illness walked right in.
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So he says, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
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And the little Greek word translated face is a really
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interesting word. It carries the idea of being taken by surprise.
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In fact, it's used in the context of being robbed
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in other Greek literature. So he says, whenever you are
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surprised by trials, whenever you are surprised by trials, whenever
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you wake up one day and oh no, you get
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that call. Oh no, you get that information. Your son
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or your daughter calls, or perhaps the doctor calls. Oh no,
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you face you're surprised by a trial, He says, whenever
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you face trials of many kinds. Here's what we're to do.
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And again, remember this isn't me talking. This is James.
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He says, whenever you're faced with many kinds of trials,
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consider it, that is, as your perspective, adjust your thinking.
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I want you to rethink it, James says, I want
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you to reframe your trial as pure joy. My brothers
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and sisters, reframe or rethink your trial in such a
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way that you can begin to see it as a
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This isn't me talking as a source of joy. And
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how can he say this without knowing the circumstances of
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our lives. He hasn't even heard our story. No matter
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what you're going through. No matter what your trial is,
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I want you to step back and I want you
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to reframe it to the point where you can find
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joy in the midst of your trial.
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Speaker 2: Now, how can he say that? He tells us.
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Speaker 1: He says, because, he says, because you know, he says,
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there's something you know that you've lost sight of because
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you're in the midst of a trial.
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Speaker 2: Of course, you've lost sight of it.
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Speaker 1: He says, because you know that when you stop to
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think about it, when you pause long enough to catch
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your breath, when you're able to see beyond your immediate circumstances,
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he says, here's what you're going to remember. Here's what
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you're going to discover, because you know that the testing
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of your faith, the testing of your faith, and what
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is the test? Testing means I'm going to do something
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to ensure that whatever it is I'm testing is authentic.
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And real testing is the process used to determine the
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authenticity of something. And he says, this trial that you're facing,
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the trials that we're facing, are testing the authenticity of
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our faith. That trials This is his point, that trials
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expose the authenticity of our faith and the term faith
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in this particular context actually is referring to our confidence
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in God.
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Speaker 2: So it could be restated this way.
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Speaker 1: Trials expose the authenticity of our confidence in God, don't
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they write? I mean, this just happens. This isn't a
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decision you make. This isn't a decision I make.
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Speaker 2: When I am.
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Speaker 1: Surprised by a trial, immediately I discover something about my faith.
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When you're facing a trial of any kind. Using James terminology,
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immediately you discover something about your faith.
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Speaker 2: You discover in that moment what you.
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Speaker 1: Believe, what you really believe, what you were pretending to believe,
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what you were taught as a child, but you never
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really embraced as an adult. In that moment, without doing anything,
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your faith, the authenticity, the genuineness of your faith is
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being tested. It just happens, to put it another way,
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when circumstances begin to deteriorate. When circumstances deteriorate, artificial counterfeit
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and what's in it for me, faith deteriorates right along
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with it. You've seen this happen to other people. Perhaps
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this is your story, and James is telling us, whether
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we like it or not. James says, there is joy
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in discovering how real our faith really is. There is
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joy into discovering that, even though I wouldn't sign up
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for what's happening in the midst of my trial, I'm
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discovering something about myself I could not discover any other way.
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You're discovering something about yourself you could not discover any
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other way. You're discovering something about your children, or your
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husband or your wife, or your brother or your sister
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that you wouldn't discover, and they wouldn't discover any other way.
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In the midst of trials, we are confronted with the
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authenticity or the lack of authenticity of our faith, and
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James says, there is joy in making that discovery. And
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this perspective of faith stands in stark contrast to some
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of the silly things that are taught sometimes by people
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who do what I do, some of the silly perspectives
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on faith, specifically faith, and this is so important. Faith
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is not how we get God to do stuff. That's
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not the point of faith. Faith isn't a superpower. Faith
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is simply confidence that God already did something. Faith is
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simply confidence that God is who God reveals himself to
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be in the New Testament and that he will do
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everything he's promised. That faith is ultimately a response to God.
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It's not a way to leverage God or to get
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God to do something he wasn't originally intending to do.
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That's not faith, that's not New Testament faith. So James says,
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here's what happens when you're facing a trial, and you
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cannot avoid trials in life. When you face trials, immediately
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you discover.
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Speaker 2: Something about you.
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Speaker 1: You discover something about your faith, and ultimately you discover
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something about your heavenly Father. And James says, if you
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will step back for a moment, if you'll catch your breath,
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if you'll regain your perspective, there is joy in that discovery.
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So here's what he says, whenever, not if ever, you
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face trials of many kinds, consider that whole process, that
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whole encounter as joyful or pure joy, my brothers and sisters.
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Because he says, here's what you know. You just lost
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sight of it. I'm reminding you because you know that
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your faith is being tested, and you know that the
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testing of your faith does two things. It demonstrates something
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and it produces something. It demonstrates something and it produces something.
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It demonstrates whether or not your faith is real. And
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he says, but there's another benefit. It also produces something.
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And here's what it produces. He says, over time, the
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trials that you're facing will produce perseverance. Perseverance, you know
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what that is. It's the ability to hold up. It's
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the ability to hold up.
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Speaker 2: Under pressure or under stress.
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Speaker 1: In other words, he says that trials, even though we
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don't sign up for him, trials make our faith stronger.
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And trials make our faith stronger because trials automatically exercise
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our faith. Trials exercise our faith because trials exercise our
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faith muscle.
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Speaker 2: And you know this. The only way to make a
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muscle stronger is to exercise it. But here's some good news.
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Speaker 1: This is not an exercise you choose. This is an
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exercise that chooses you. I don't choose it. You don't
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choose it. It chooses us. And then James says the
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most interesting thing. He says, don't leave the gem early.
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Well that's not exactly what he says, but that's what
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he means. Look what he wrote nowt He says this,
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and allow perseverance to finish its work. In other words,
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don't bail out in the middle of the process. And
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this is a really big, uncomfortable idea. So see if
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I want to see if I can explain this here,
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here's what he's saying. He's saying, Look, what God is
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doing right now through this trial is at the center
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of what God is doing in your life. And you
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don't want to shortchange the process or you will miss out.
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Or to say it another way, the thing that we
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want removed, I mean, think about the thing you want
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removed right now from your life. The thing that you
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want removed is the thing that God has chosen to use.
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The thing that we're trying to pray away or pray
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out of our life, which is completely understandable, is the
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thing that until God chooses to remove it, that God
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is using it. Or to say it a different way,
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the tension in our lives is that is at the
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epicenter of God's activity in our lives. The tension in
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our lives is the epicenter of God's activity in our lives.
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And I can prove it. What are you praying about
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right now exactly? Isn't it true? This trial, this difficult
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time that you're going through this thing that you wish
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would change, It has your undivided attention, and this is
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what you're praying about.
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Speaker 2: In fact, perhaps you haven't prayed.
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Speaker 1: In a long time and suddenly you find yourself praying why,
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Because that's what trials do. It exercises our faith and
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it is the epicenter of what God is up to
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in our lives.
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Speaker 2: That's why our trials inform our prayers.
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Speaker 1: So James says this, look, don't shortchange the process, don't
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bail out on the process, don't quit the process, and
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don't stop believing, because there is an outcome.
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Speaker 2: And here's the outcome. He continues.
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Speaker 1: He says this, Let perseverance finish its work so that
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you might be mature and complete, not lacking anything. And
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he's using a little play on words here, here's what
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he's saying. He's saying, let perseverance complete its work so
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that you will be complete. Let perseverance let the process
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play out. Let perseverance complete its work so that you
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will be complete, so that you will have grown up faith.
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And let's face it, the only way to have grown
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up faith is to face a trial and to experience
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God's faithfulness in the trial. So ask God to use
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this until God chooses to remove this. Ask God to
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use this until life chooses.
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Speaker 2: To remove this.
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Speaker 1: Now, James knows how challenging this is, and he knows
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that for many of us, and for many of the
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folks in his original audience, trying to imagine how something
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good could come from something so bad, how something good
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could come from such a trial, is almost unimaginable. And
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James says, I understand that. So if you can't imagine
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how to find.
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Speaker 2: Joy in your trial, if you can't see the value
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of the fact that, hey, I really do believe I've
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discovered something about myself and I've discovered something about God,
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but I still can't imagine that it's worth what I'm
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going through.
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Speaker 1: James says, I get it. So here's what I want
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you to do. If any of you lacks wisdom, specifically,
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if any of you lacks the perspective you need to
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see this the way that God sees it. If any
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of you lacks the perspective to see that God is
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doing something in you and through you, he says.
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Speaker 2: Here's what I want you to do.
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Speaker 1: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God
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for what for wisdom, and he will give it to
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you generously, without finding fault. It will in fact be
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given to you. Now here's the problem. When I'm going
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through a tough time, I don't want wisdom. I want relief.
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Right when you're going through a tough time, you don't
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want wisdom, you want relief. But James says, look, I
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understand that. But if you want God to choose what
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you are going through and you're having a hard time
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seeing that there's anything good that could come from this,
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he says, lean in and ask God for wisdom. This
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is a prayer that God will always answer that. You say, God,
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give me your eyes to see this the way that
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you see it. Give me your eyes to see me,
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and you know my friends and my family, and my
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work situation and my finance is the way that you
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see it. Give me wisdom to see as you see.
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And you know this, We've talked about this before. Oftentimes,
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when we have the ability to see as God sees,
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we are more inclined to do as God says. James says,
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and then you will have the perspective you need to
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persevere through what you're going through. So I want to
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put it all back together, and then I want to
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tell you a story about a friend of mine.
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Speaker 2: Here's what James says.
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Speaker 1: He says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,
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whenever you face trials of many kinds.
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Speaker 2: Why why can we do this? He says, because you
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know this.
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Speaker 1: You know that the testing of your faith, the testing
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of your faith, demonstrates the authenticity of your faith. The
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testing of your faith also produces perseverance. The testing of
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your faith demonstrates that your faith is real, that God
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is faithful, and ultimately you will have stronger faith. And
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he says, and don't bail out early. Let perseverance finish
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its work. Don't leave the gym early so that you
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may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. But if
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you get to the point where you just can't do
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it any longer, if you get to the point where
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you're thinking, God, if you are real, you've got to
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demonstrate your love for me.
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Speaker 2: I got to hear something, I got to know something.
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I've got to see.
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Speaker 1: Something I can't see, he says. In those moments, don't
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give up. I want you to ask God for wisdom,
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he says. If any of you likes wisdom, the perspective
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you need to get through this. You should ask God,
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who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
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will be given to you. Now, let me ask you this.
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Have you ever met someone like this? Have you ever
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met someone or known somebody, maybe you're related to, somebody
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who faced trials of many kinds, trials that you know
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they're facing the trial and you're thinking, how would I
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respond if I were.
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Speaker 2: Going through that?
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Speaker 1: And you watch them walk through the trial with extraordinary
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faith and confidence of God. They face things you hope
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you never have to face, but their confidence in God
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never wavered. You do you know people like that? I've
20:54
met lots of people like that through the years, and
20:57
I got to tell you, and I think you would agree,
20:59
those are the most inspiring, hope giving, faith.
21:03
Speaker 2: Giving people I've ever met.
21:06
Speaker 1: Right, I am more inspired, I should say I'm most
21:09
inspired by people whose faith is tested and endures. I'm
21:12
more inspired by people who get a know from God
21:16
and their faith endurers than I am by people who
21:18
always seem to get a yes from God and they live,
21:21
you know, somewhat of a wrinkle free life. I mean,
21:24
isn't it true that you're more inspired by people who
21:27
get the.
21:27
Speaker 2: Know and yet remain faithful.
21:29
Speaker 1: And the reason you're so inspired by them, and the
21:31
reason I'm so inspired by them is this. They leave
21:34
us with confidence that there is a category of faith,
21:38
and there is a category of confidence in God that
21:41
can endure just about anything. The people whose prayers go unanswered,
21:48
but their confidence in God remains firm. I had a
21:53
friend like that. This name was Reggie Campbell. Reggie Campbell
21:57
passed away three months.
21:58
Speaker 2: Ago in January.
22:00
Speaker 1: I've known Reggie for over twenty years, and I got
22:04
to tell you I had never seen an individual face
22:08
and embrace his own mortality with more confidence and more
22:11
courage and more faith than Reggie Campbell. I've known him
22:15
for so long. I've been with him when he got
22:17
a yes from God. I've been with him when he
22:19
got a no from God. I was with him when
22:22
it seemed like maybe God changed his mind. I stood
22:25
next to him in nineteen ninety eight or nineteen ninety nine.
22:28
Speaker 2: I'm outside in ICU.
22:29
Speaker 1: His twenty something year old son had just had a
22:32
terrible car accident. And when I went in and saw Ross, honestly,
22:36
I thought to myself, we're going to have a funeral
22:38
in a few days, and I stood out outside that
22:41
ice you with Reggie, and I listened to him pray.
22:43
And I'm telling you, knowing that in any moment he
22:46
may lose his son, seeing his confidence in God, I
22:49
will never ever forget that moment.
22:51
Speaker 2: And I told him that many many times.
22:54
Speaker 1: Years later, he got a no he had a lung
22:57
disease that caused him to slowly have decree lung capacity,
23:01
and the doctors told him there's no cure that eventually
23:04
you're just gonna lose your ability to breathe, and there's
23:07
really nothing we can do. And this was going to
23:09
be a multi year process. And throughout that time, you know,
23:12
Reggie and I would get together and I'll never forget
23:14
one breakfast we had.
23:15
Speaker 2: I was. I got there early.
23:16
Speaker 1: He came in pulling his oxygen tank. He sat down
23:20
and he just looked really rough, and I leaned across
23:23
the table. I said, Reggie, how are you doing, honey.
23:27
Gave me this surprise look, and he said something that
23:30
was so profound to me. In the moment, I actually
23:32
got my phone out and I typed it out.
23:35
Speaker 2: Here's what he said. He said, Andy, I'm fine, I'm fine.
23:38
Speaker 1: Look, he said, my life has always been in God's hands.
23:42
Nothing has changed. My life has always been in God's hands.
23:47
Nothing has changed. My life was in God's hands when
23:49
things were great. My life has been in God's hands
23:52
when things were not great. My life has always been
23:54
in God's hands. Andy, I'm fine. Nothing has changed. And
23:59
then he got another Yes, he had the opportunity to
24:01
have a lung transplant.
24:03
Speaker 2: They transplanted his lung. The surgery went well.
24:06
Speaker 1: In fact, for those of us who knew Reggie, he
24:09
actually named his lung, which was a little strange.
24:12
Speaker 2: He named his lung Larry.
24:14
Speaker 1: And every time you got together with Reggie, Reggie would
24:17
tell us how Larry was doing. And things went along
24:20
fine for a while. But as you may know, when
24:23
you have a lung transplant plant or an organ transplant
24:25
of any kind, you have to take anti rejection drugs
24:28
so your body won't reject the organ, which rereaks havoc
24:31
on your immune system. So eventually Reggie developed a very
24:35
rare form of cancer, and the doctors told him, they said,
24:37
if we treat the cancer, it may cause your body
24:40
to reject your lung, which is exactly what happened. So
24:46
in November, before the January that he eventually passed away.
24:50
I'd kept up with Reggie. We're all praying for Reggie,
24:52
praying for a miracle. And he was wide open to
24:54
a miracle, but he was wide open to his heavenly
24:57
Father making the decision for him. He was total confidence
25:01
in God. And so he called me one day. It
25:03
called me in November and he said, look, Andy, He said,
25:06
I want to start a new men's small group. He said,
25:10
but here's the thing, and again, here's exactly what he said.
25:13
He said, I won't be around to finish it up,
25:16
but I want to get it kicked off. So I
25:18
want you to co lead a group with me. And
25:20
I know at some point in the group I'm going
25:22
to pass away, but I just want to.
25:23
Speaker 2: Help get it kicked off.
25:25
Speaker 1: That was his confidence in God, and that was his
25:28
approach to his own mortality. And my friends, you know this,
25:32
when you see it, you never forget it. When you
25:36
see it, it marks.
25:38
Speaker 2: You for life. One more episode with Reggie.
25:42
Speaker 1: Two days before he passed away, I visited in his home.
25:46
I've been in his home many times, and I went
25:48
into his home office and he was sitting there with
25:50
his oxygen. And there was a white marker board over
25:54
in the corner of his office I'd never seen before,
25:56
and across the top of the board were these words
25:59
my co and there was a list of six things
26:02
he had written out by hand on the marker board. Now,
26:05
when I looked at the six things, I thought these
26:07
were like maybe life goals that he had established a
26:09
long time ago when he was maybe reviewing his life
26:12
as he got to the end. But they weren't life goals.
26:15
They were actually finish strong goals. He had just developed
26:20
these a few weeks before to make sure this was
26:22
what he focused on as he spent his last few
26:25
weeks in this life. Now, the thing that was amazing
26:28
to me is most people don't have a to do
26:30
list about how to live well. Reggie developed a to
26:34
do list to ensure that he died well. And I
26:37
want to share with you what was on that board.
26:39
Number one, he wrote, I will walk with Jesus.
26:44
Speaker 2: Every day. I will walk with Jesus every day. Wait
26:48
a minute, waitit, Reggie.
26:49
Speaker 1: Wait, the Jesus that didn't answer your prayer, the Jesus
26:54
that has allowed you to go through so many trials,
26:57
the Jesus that has not healed you.
27:01
Speaker 2: I will walk with Jesus every day. Wow.
27:05
Speaker 1: Number two, I will be grateful and live every day
27:08
to the fullest. In other words, he says, as I
27:10
leave this life, I want to make sure I am
27:12
leaning in up into the very end. I will be
27:14
grateful and live every day to the fullest. Number three,
27:18
I will bless my family with words, pictures, and videos.
27:22
He wanted to make sure that his grandchildren would know him,
27:25
not just know what he'd written, but know what he
27:27
looked like. He left the messages he put together, song
27:30
list and playlists. Number four, I will invest in my guys,
27:35
the small group of men that he had been developing
27:37
and mentoring for many years. I will invest in my
27:40
guys for their good and God's glory, not mine. His
27:44
point being, even though I'm dying, even though I'm receiving
27:47
all kinds of letters and sympathy cards and all kinds
27:50
of things, he says, this is not going to be
27:52
about me. It's going to be about them. And then
27:56
I want to skip number five and come back to it.
27:58
Number six on the list was this, I will let
28:01
people love on me.
28:03
Speaker 2: Now. I asked him about this, when I.
28:04
Speaker 1: Said, what is that about he said, Well, he said,
28:06
my whole life, when people want to.
28:08
Speaker 2: Do things for me, I'm like, no, I'm fine. I'm fine.
28:10
I'm fine, And I could relate to that.
28:12
Speaker 1: Maybe you can relate to that, he said, I decided
28:14
to hear at the end. If people want to bring
28:15
us food, I'm going to let them bring us food.
28:17
If people want to love on us, I'm going to
28:19
let them love on us. If people want to love
28:20
on my family, that's just my pride. I just want
28:23
to allow people to love on us. Now, that was
28:28
a pretty powerful list, but I tell you.
28:29
Speaker 2: Number five is the one that got to me.
28:33
Speaker 1: Number five goes right to the heart of what James
28:38
was saying all those years ago.
28:40
Speaker 2: Here's what Reggie wrote.
28:41
Speaker 1: I will not give up and run out the clock.
28:46
I will not give up and run out the clock.
28:50
This was his version of, to use James words, I
28:53
will let perseverance finish its work to my last breath,
29:00
going to lean in rather than sit it out.
29:05
Speaker 2: Here's the thing. Reggie's faith did not reverse.
29:08
Speaker 1: The consequences of life in the fallen world, and he
29:10
was wide open to that.
29:11
Speaker 2: We all prayed for a miracle. You should pray for
29:13
a miracle.
29:13
Speaker 1: But Reggie's faith did not reverse the consequences of life
29:17
in the fallen world, and he did not expect it
29:19
to because he understood what faith is. Faith is not
29:21
a superpower. Faith is not how we get God to
29:23
do something God doesn't want to do. Faith is a
29:25
respond to the faithfulness of.
29:27
Speaker 2: Our heavenly Father.
29:29
Speaker 1: Reggie's faith actually produced. His faith produced perseverance and courage
29:34
in the midst of a fallen world. And my friends,
29:38
it's why I'm telling his story. It's the people who
29:41
get a yes from God that we forget so easily.
29:44
It's the people who get a no from God but
29:47
whose faith is rock solid, that.
29:49
Speaker 2: Change our lives and change the world.
29:51
Speaker 1: And this was James's goal for his first century audience,
29:54
and it's his goal for you, and it's his goal
29:57
for me. In the first century in James world, honestly,
30:00
things did not get much better, and in.
30:02
Speaker 2: Fact, they never got really good. But their unwavering faith
30:07
and their unwavering confidence and their Savior literally changed the world.
30:13
And so we're reminded that God will use this, that
30:17
God will use this until God chooses to remove this.
30:21
And this is kind of the bottom line.
30:22
Speaker 1: That God will use whatever he chooses not to remove.
30:26
Speaker 2: Reggie understood this. You know people who understand that.
30:29
Speaker 1: And James' words, james instructions are an invitation for all
30:34
of us to step into this to say, God, use
30:37
this until you choose to remove this. Use this until
30:40
you choose to remove this. Our life chooses to remove this.
30:43
But use this to remind me that you're faithful. Use
30:46
this so that I understand my confidence in you is real.
30:51
So if we lean in and when we're confused, if
30:54
we ask for wisdom, and if we live with open hands,
30:59
in an open heart, then you will experience and I
31:02
will experience, the amazing faithfulness of God through trials that
31:06
we did not choose, that chose us, but that God
31:09
has chosen to use in us. Now here's how James
31:14
finishes this section of his letter.
31:16
Speaker 2: Listen to what he writes.
31:17
Speaker 1: He says, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial.
31:23
Speaker 2: That's Reggie.
31:25
Speaker 1: Maybe that's going to be you, hopefully that'll be me.
31:28
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, not praise
31:31
it away, obeys it away, or faith is it away.
31:34
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial. Because having
31:38
stood the test and having discovered that their faith is real,
31:43
that person listen to what he promises, that person will
31:46
receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised
31:50
that those who love him.
31:52
Speaker 2: And do you know what the crown of life is? Me? Neither.
31:57
Speaker 1: I have no idea, but it sounds good, doesn't it.
32:01
The point is simply this that God values, God values
32:06
and uses persevering faith. That God values and God uses
32:12
persevering faith. And God has invited you, and God has
32:16
invited me to step into this realm and to begin
32:19
to see the trials that we're facing every single day
32:22
in this life. Because here's what we know. With confidence,
32:25
persevering faith leaves its mark on the world, and it
32:29
leaves its mark on the people around us. We don't
32:33
choose the trials. The trials choose us. We don't choose
32:37
the trials. We simply choose our response to these trials.
32:41
And James, this is so powerful. James invites us to
32:45
lean in and to allow God to purify and strengthen
32:49
our faith in the midst of what we would never choose.
32:53
Now here's the thing, these current events that we're all
32:55
experiencing they're impacting all of us differently, but they present
32:59
all of us with the same opportunity. They present us
33:02
with the opportunity to allow perseverance to finish its work
33:06
so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
33:12
So with that in mind, I want to invite you
33:15
to incorporate the following little prayer into your prayer life.
33:18
In fact, you may pray every single day and may
33:21
want to tack this on again. You may not have
33:23
prayed in a long time, and you're praying for the
33:25
first time in a long time.
33:27
Speaker 2: I want to give you words to pray.
33:29
Speaker 1: Perhaps you've never prayed because you're not sure you know how.
33:33
This is a great time to start, and this prayer
33:36
is a great place to start. I want to encourage
33:38
you to begin praying this Heavenly Father, use this until
33:42
you choose to remove this Heavenly Father.
33:46
Speaker 2: Use this until you choose to remove this.
33:50
Speaker 1: And if you cannot imagine how God could possibly use
33:53
what you're facing right now, then I want you to
33:55
do what James tells us to do. I want you
33:57
to ask God for wisdom, because James says that is
34:01
a prayer that God will answer every single time. So
34:05
one more time, I want to put it all together,
34:08
and we'll close with James's words. Here's what he said,
34:12
Consider it pure joy. Reframe it in such a way
34:16
that you can see the joy in it. My brothers
34:18
and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, and
34:22
here's why, because you know, once you catch your breath,
34:25
you know that it's simply a test of your faith.
34:28
And a test of your faith produces perseverance if you
34:31
let it. So, let perseverance finish its work so that
34:34
you may be mature and complete and not lack anything.
34:38
But if you just aren't sure you can get there.
34:41
If any of you lacks wisdom or perspective, you should
34:44
ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault,
34:48
and it will be given to you