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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So, as you know, it is human nature to avoid
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the things that we don't like, right? I mean, this
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: starts from childhood, right? It's human nature to avoid things
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  Speaker 1: that we don't like.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Vegetables.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Exercise, people who only eat vegetables, people who exercise all
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  Speaker 1: the time, people who dress like they eat vegetables and
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  Speaker 1: exercise all the time, whatever it is. And, you know,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes avoiding things we don't like won't hurt us. And
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  Speaker 1: then sometimes avoiding things we don't like can hurt us.
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  Speaker 1: And the category of avoiding things that we don't like
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  Speaker 1: that won't hurt us, I was talking to Sandra last night,
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  Speaker 1: and one of the things that we avoid that won't
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  Speaker 1: hurt us is scary movies and and I don't know why,
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  Speaker 1: but neither of us like scary movies. In fact, we
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  Speaker 1: decided last night the last kind of scary movie that
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  Speaker 1: we saw, and some of you won't even think this
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  Speaker 1: was a scary movie, just to tell you where we are,
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  Speaker 1: was The Sixth Sense. Remember that movie back in 19, yes, 99?
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  Speaker 1: And I remember we watched that movie, and we were
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  Speaker 1: so freaked out by it, we muted so much of
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  Speaker 1: the movie and fast-forwarded through so much of the movie.
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  Speaker 1: When we got to the end, we had no idea
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  Speaker 1: what had actually happened next. Seriously. Then we waited a
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  Speaker 1: couple of days and tried it again. And our second
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  Speaker 1: time through, we muted less of it and fast forwarded
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  Speaker 1: through less of it. And we kind of had an idea.
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  Speaker 1: And on the third round, we finally knew what the
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  Speaker 1: movie was about. So we could talk about it intelligently
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  Speaker 1: with our friends, right? Now, again, there's lots of things
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  Speaker 1: that if, you know, if you don't like them, you
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  Speaker 1: can avoid them and it won't hurt you. But there
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  Speaker 1: are some things that you don't like that if you
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  Speaker 1: avoid them, they have the potential to hurt you. Now,
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  Speaker 1: This is gonna come as a surprise to some of you,
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  Speaker 1: and please don't judge me harshly, but there are actually
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  Speaker 1: statements in the Bible that I don't particularly like.
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  Speaker 2: And today I need to talk about one.
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  Speaker 1: I would say I wanna talk about one, but actually
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  Speaker 1: I just need to talk about one. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: I need to talk about one is this particular statement
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  Speaker 1: answers a very important question, and it's a question that's
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  Speaker 1: relevant to all of us. The problem is I don't
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  Speaker 1: like the answer. And if you don't like the answer
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  Speaker 1: to this question either, just remember this over the next
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  Speaker 1: few minutes. This is not my answer. This is not
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  Speaker 1: me speaking. This is somebody else. I am just the messenger.
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  Speaker 1: You know, don't shoot the piano player. I'm just delivering
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  Speaker 1: the message. Now, the question that the author is going
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  Speaker 1: to answer for us is actually a question we're all asking. Again,
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  Speaker 1: it's just the answer that's disturbing. But the question is this.
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  Speaker 1: What do we do when there's nothing we can do?
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  Speaker 1: What do we do when there's nothing we can do?
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  Speaker 1: When it is what it is and we don't particularly
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  Speaker 1: like what is, which is like now, right? Because for
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  Speaker 1: some of you, you're not gonna be 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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  Speaker 1: your job, you've been furloughed from your job. For some
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  Speaker 1: of you, you've lost opportunity that's not coming back. You
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  Speaker 1: were planning to retire and you're gonna have to put
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  Speaker 1: that off. In fact, you're not sure you'll ever retire.
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  Speaker 1: You don't like what's going on right now because you're alone.
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  Speaker 1: And then you go on Facebook or Instagram and it
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  Speaker 1: looks like everybody else in the world has somebody, but
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  Speaker 1: you don't have somebody. Or maybe, maybe you wish you
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  Speaker 1: were more alone. But isn't it true that in the
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  Speaker 1: past few weeks for all of us, in the past
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  Speaker 1: few weeks, we've all been confronted with our more sinister selves,
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  Speaker 1: that stuff in us that we weren't sure was there,
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  Speaker 1: that stuff in us that we're kind of embarrassed about,
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  Speaker 1: but we've been confronted with it. And we can't wait
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  Speaker 1: for things to get back to normal or, well, we
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  Speaker 1: can't wait for things to get back to more normal.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you love your kids, right? But homeschooling, really?
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  Speaker 1: And Sandra and I can, you know, we can sympathize.
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  Speaker 1: We homeschooled for 10 years. And I'll tell you who
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  Speaker 1: 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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  Speaker 1: during a break in the homeschooling process, Ben wrote a
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  Speaker 1: little note, and I'd like to share Ben's note with you.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Ben writes. Ben, he's being homed school, 3-16, 2020.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what he says. It is not going good. My
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  Speaker 1: mom's getting stressed out. my mom is really getting confused.
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  Speaker 1: Then he says this, we took a break so my
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  Speaker 1: mom can figure this stuff out. And I'm telling you,
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  Speaker 1: it is not going good. You can relate to that.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe not specifically to homeschooling, but it's just not going good.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe it went good for the first few days or
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  Speaker 1: for the first couple 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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  Speaker 1: advice or instruction that honestly, it just strikes me as
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  Speaker 1: too passive and it strikes me as insensitive.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason it strikes.
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  Speaker 1: Me as insensitive is James doesn't know what's going on
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  Speaker 1: in my life and James doesn't know what's going on
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  Speaker 1: in your life, that James is gonna give us advice
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  Speaker 1: without hearing our stories and that's always a bad idea.
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  Speaker 1: It's a bit like when you read in the New
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  Speaker 1: Testament where Jesus says, don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry
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  Speaker 1: about tomorrow. And you wanna raise your hand and say, hey, hey,
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  Speaker 1: hold on a minute. Let me tell you about what's
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  Speaker 1: coming up tomorrow in my life. And then you tell me,
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  Speaker 1: don't worry about tomorrow. It just seems so insensitive to
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  Speaker 1: just give these big blanket overarching statements, don't worry about tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: And what James is about to tell us, well, it
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  Speaker 1: falls into that same category. But regardless of how much
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  Speaker 1: I don't like what James says, and regardless of how
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  Speaker 1: much maybe you won't like what James says, we would
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  Speaker 1: be fools not to take his instruction seriously. Seriously, and
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  Speaker 1: here's why. Because this is James, the brother of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And more specifically, this is James who was the leader
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  Speaker 1: in the church in Jerusalem during the first century. This
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  Speaker 1: is James who believed his brother was his Lord because
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  Speaker 1: he saw his brother crucified and then he saw his
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  Speaker 1: brother after he rose from the dead. And this is James,
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  Speaker 1: the brother of Jesus, who led the church in Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: get this, for about 30 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 30 years
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  Speaker 1: after the resurrection. He believed his brother was his Lord
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  Speaker 1: throughout his entire life. And while he was in Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: leading the local church, things were not going well. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: his street cred for me is related to what happened
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  Speaker 1: during those 30 years. During those 30 years, remember, the
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  Speaker 1: church in Jerusalem was primarily Jewish. These Jews that had
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  Speaker 1: chosen to follow Jesus were considered blasphemers, we would say heretics,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't use that terminology back then, they were considered
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  Speaker 1: They were ostracized from society.
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  Speaker 2: They were ostracized from the temple.
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  Speaker 1: Their poor were not supported by the temple and things
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  Speaker 1: were very difficult for this group of people. And this
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  Speaker 1: was the group of people that James was responsible for leading.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, things were so bad in Jerusalem for the
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  Speaker 1: Jesus followers that the apostle Paul would travel around the
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  Speaker 1: Mediterranean rim collecting money from Gentile Jesus followers to take
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  Speaker 1: back to Jerusalem to help the Christians in Jerusalem because
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  Speaker 1: they were so impoverished because they had decided to follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: So for 30 years, James carries this weight and he
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  Speaker 1: sees the difficulty and the trials that these Jesus followers
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  Speaker 1: are facing every single day that essentially James, and this
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  Speaker 1: is what gives him credibility, James was surrounded by and
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  Speaker 1: he was actually responsible for a community in crisis. And
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  Speaker 1: with all that going on, here's what he told his
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  Speaker 1: first century Jesus follower friends to do. And here's what
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  Speaker 1: he tells you to do. And here's what he tells
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  Speaker 1: me to do. James chapter one, here's what he says. James,
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  Speaker 1: a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: This is amazing that all these years later, James considered
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  Speaker 1: his brother, his Lord. Now, what he says next, if
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  Speaker 1: you grew up in church, is pretty familiar. And I've
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  Speaker 1: taken this verse and I've reversed the order so that
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  Speaker 1: us English readers can get a better sense of what
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  Speaker 1: James is communicating. Here's what he says next. And here's
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  Speaker 1: the part, well, it's just not my favorite part of
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  Speaker 1: 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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  Speaker 1: not if ever, whenever, you can't pray them away, you
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  Speaker 1: can't obey them away, you can't faith them away, trials
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  Speaker 1: are going to come.
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  Speaker 2: Whenever you face trials, because it's.
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  Speaker 1: Just the nature of things, as we've talked about before,
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  Speaker 1: when sin entered the world, sin held the door, sorrow, death, disappointment,
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  Speaker 1: and illness walked right in. So he says, whenever you
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  Speaker 1: face trials of many kinds, and the little Greek word
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  Speaker 1: translated face is a really interesting word. It carries the
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  Speaker 1: idea of being taken by surprise. In fact, it's used
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  Speaker 1: in the context of being robbed in other Greek literature.
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  Speaker 1: So he says, whenever you are surprised by trials, whenever
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  Speaker 1: you are surprised by trials, whenever you wake up one
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  Speaker 1: day and oh no, you get that call, oh no,
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  Speaker 1: you get that information, your son or your daughter calls,
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  Speaker 1: or perhaps the doctor calls, oh no, you're surprised by trial.
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  Speaker 2: He says, whenever you face trials of many.
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  Speaker 1: Kinds, here's what we're to do. And again, remember, this
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  Speaker 1: isn't me talking.
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  Speaker 2: This is James.
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  Speaker 1: He says, whenever you're faced with many kinds of trials,
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  Speaker 1: consider it. That is, adjust your perspective, adjust your thinking.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to rethink it, James says. I want
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  Speaker 1: you to reframe your trial as pure joy, my brothers
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  Speaker 1: and sisters. Reframe or rethink your trial in such a
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  Speaker 1: way that you can begin to see it as a,
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  Speaker 1: this isn't me talking, as a source of joy. And
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  Speaker 1: how can he say this without knowing the circumstances of
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  Speaker 1: our lives? He hasn't even heard our story. And he says,
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  Speaker 1: no matter what you're going through, no matter what your
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  Speaker 1: trial is, I want you to step back and I
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  Speaker 1: want you to reframe it to the point where you
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  Speaker 1: can find 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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  Speaker 1: there's something you know that you've lost sight of because
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  Speaker 1: 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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  Speaker 1: think about it, when you pause long enough to catch
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  Speaker 1: your breath, when you're able to see beyond your immediate circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: he says, here's what you're going to remember.
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  Speaker 2: Here's what you're going to discover.
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  Speaker 1: Because you know that the testing of your faith, the
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  Speaker 1: testing of your faith, and what is a test? Testing
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  Speaker 1: means I'm going to do something to ensure that whatever
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  Speaker 1: it is I'm testing is authentic and real. Testing is
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  Speaker 1: the process used to determine the authenticity of something. And
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  Speaker 1: he says, This trial that you're facing, the trials that
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  Speaker 1: we're facing are testing the authenticity of our faith. That trials,
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  Speaker 1: this is his point, that trials expose the authenticity of
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  Speaker 1: our faith. And the term faith in this particular context
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  Speaker 1: actually is referring to our confidence 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 they, right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this just happens. This isn't a decision you make.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't a decision I make. When I am surprised
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  Speaker 1: by a trial, immediately I discover something about my faith.
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  Speaker 1: When you're facing a trial of any kind, using James terminology,
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  Speaker 1: immediately you discover something about your faith. You discover in
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  Speaker 1: that moment what you believe, what you really believe, what
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  Speaker 1: you were pretending to believe, what you were taught as
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  Speaker 1: a child, but you never really embraced as an adult,
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  Speaker 1: in that moment, without doing anything, your faith, the authenticity,
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  Speaker 1: the genuineness of your faith is being tested.
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  Speaker 2: It just happens.
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  Speaker 1: To put it another way, when circumstances begin to deteriorate,
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  Speaker 1: When circumstances deteriorate, artificial, counterfeit, and what's in it for
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  Speaker 1: me faith deteriorates right along with it. You've seen this
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  Speaker 1: happen to other people. Perhaps this is your story. And
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  Speaker 1: James is telling us, whether we like it or not,
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  Speaker 1: James says there is joy in discovering how real our
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  Speaker 1: faith really is. There is joy into discovering that even
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  Speaker 1: though I wouldn't sign up for what's happening, in the
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  Speaker 1: midst of my trial, I'm discovering something about myself I
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  Speaker 1: could not discover any other way. You're discovering something about
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  Speaker 1: yourself you could not discover any other way. You're discovering
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  Speaker 1: something about your children or your husband or your wife
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  Speaker 1: or your brother or your sister that you wouldn't discover
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  Speaker 1: and they wouldn't discover any other way. In the midst
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  Speaker 1: of trials, we are confronted with the authenticity or the
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  Speaker 1: lack of authenticity.
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  Speaker 2: Of our faith.
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  Speaker 1: And James says there is joy in making that discovery.
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  Speaker 1: This perspective of faith stands in stark contrast to some
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  Speaker 1: of the silly things that are taught sometimes by people
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  Speaker 1: who do what I do, some of the silly perspectives
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  Speaker 1: on faith. Specifically, faith, and this is so important, faith
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  Speaker 1: is not how we get God to do stuff. That's
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  Speaker 1: not the point of faith. Faith isn't a superpower. Faith
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  Speaker 1: is simply confidence that God already did something. Faith is
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  Speaker 1: simply confidence that God is who God reveals himself to
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  Speaker 1: be in the New Testament and that he will do
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  Speaker 1: everything he's promised. That faith is ultimately a response to God.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a way to leverage God or to get
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  Speaker 1: God to do something he wasn't originally intending to do.
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  Speaker 1: That's not faith. That's not New Testament faith. So James says,
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  Speaker 1: here's what happens. When you're facing a trial and you
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  Speaker 1: cannot avoid trials in life, When you face trials, immediately
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  Speaker 1: you discover something about you, you discover something about your faith,
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  Speaker 1: and ultimately you discover something about your heavenly father. And
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  Speaker 1: James says, if you will step back for a moment,
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  Speaker 1: if you'll catch your breath, if you'll regain your perspective,
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  Speaker 1: there is joy in that discovery.
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  Speaker 2: So here's what he says.
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  Speaker 1: Whenever, not if ever, you face trials of many kinds,
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  Speaker 1: Consider that whole process, that whole encounter as joyful or
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  Speaker 1: pure joy, my brothers and sisters, because, he says, here's
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  Speaker 1: what you know. You just have lost sight of it,
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  Speaker 1: I'm reminding you, because you know that your faith is
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  Speaker 1: being tested and you know that the testing of your
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  Speaker 1: faith does two things. It demonstrates something and it produces something.
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  Speaker 1: It demonstrates something and it produces something. It demonstrates whether
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  Speaker 1: or not your faith is real. And he says, but
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  Speaker 1: there's another benefit. It also demonstrates, produces something and here's
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  Speaker 1: what it produces. He says, over time, the trials that
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  Speaker 1: you're facing will produce Perseverance, you know what that is?
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  Speaker 1: It's the ability to hold up. It's the ability to
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  Speaker 1: hold up under pressure or under stress. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: he says that trials, even though we don't sign up
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  Speaker 1: for them, trials make our faith stronger. And trials make
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  Speaker 1: our faith stronger because trials automatically exercise our faith. Trials
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  Speaker 1: exercise our faith because trials exercise our faith muscle. And
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  Speaker 1: you know this, the only way to make a muscle
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  Speaker 1: 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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  Speaker 1: exercise that chooses you. I don't choose it. You don't
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  Speaker 1: choose it. It chooses us. And then James says the
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  Speaker 1: most interesting thing. He says, don't leave the gym early. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's not exactly what he says, but that's what he means.
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  Speaker 1: Look what he wrote next. He says this, and allow
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  Speaker 1: perseverance to finish its work. In other words, don't bail
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  Speaker 1: out in the middle of the process. And this is
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  Speaker 1: a really big, uncomfortable idea. So I wanna see if
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  Speaker 1: I can explain this here.
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  Speaker 2: Here's what he's saying.
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  Speaker 1: He's saying, look, what God is doing right now through
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  Speaker 1: this trial is at the center of what God is
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  Speaker 1: doing in your life. And you don't wanna shortchange the
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  Speaker 1: process or you will miss out. Or to say it
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  Speaker 1: another way, The thing that we want removed, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: think about the thing you want removed right now from
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  Speaker 1: your life. The thing that you want removed is the
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  Speaker 1: thing that God has chosen to use. The thing that
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  Speaker 1: we're trying to pray away or pray out of our life,
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  Speaker 1: which is completely understandable, is the thing that until God
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  Speaker 1: chooses to remove it, that God is using it.
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  Speaker 2: Or to say it a different way, the tension in our.
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  Speaker 1: Lives is at the epicenter of God's activity in our lives.
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  Speaker 1: The tension in our lives is the epicenter of God's
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  Speaker 1: activity in our lives, and I can prove it.
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  Speaker 2: What are you praying about right now? Exactly. Isn't it true?
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  Speaker 1: This trial, this difficult time that you're going through, this
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  Speaker 1: thing that you wish would change, it has your undivided attention.
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  Speaker 2: And this is what you're praying about.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, perhaps you haven't prayed in a long time
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  Speaker 1: and suddenly you find yourself praying. Why?
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  Speaker 2: Because that's what trials do.
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  Speaker 1: It exercises our faith and it is the epicenter of
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  Speaker 1: what God is up to in our lives. That's why
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  Speaker 1: our trials inform our prayers. So James says this, look,
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  Speaker 1: Don't shortchange the process. Don't bail out on the process.
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  Speaker 1: Don't quit the process. And don't stop believing because there
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  Speaker 1: is an outcome. And here's the outcome.
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  Speaker 2: He continues.
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  Speaker 1: He says this, let perseverance finish its work so that
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  Speaker 1: you might be mature and complete, not lacking anything. And
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  Speaker 1: he's using a little play on words here. Here's what
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  Speaker 1: he's saying. He's saying, let perseverance complete its work so
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: that you will be complete. Let perseverance, let the process
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: play out. Let perseverance complete its work so that you
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: will be complete, so that you will have grown up faith.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: And let's face it, the only way to have grown
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: up faith is to face a trial and to experience
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: God's faithfulness in the trial. So ask God to use
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: this until God chooses to remove this. Ask God to
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: use this until life chooses to remove this. Now, James
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: knows how challenging this is. And he knows that for
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: many of us and for many of the folks in
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: his original audience, trying to imagine how something good could
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: come from something so bad, how something good could come
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: from such a trial is almost unimaginable.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And James says, I understand that.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: So if you can't imagine how to find joy in
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: your trial, if you can't see the value of the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: fact that, hey, I really do believe, I've discovered something
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: about myself and I've discovered something about God, but I
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: still can't imagine that it's worth what I'm going through.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: James says, I get it. So here's what I want
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: you to do. If any of you lacks wisdom, specifically,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: if any of you lacks the perspective you need to
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: see this the way that God sees it, if any
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: of you lacks the perspective to see that God is
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: doing something in you and through you, he says, here's
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: what I want you to do. If any of you
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: lacks wisdom, you should ask God for what? For wisdom.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: And he will give it to you generously without finding fault.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: It will, in fact, be given to you. Now, here's
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: the problem. When I'm going through a tough time, I
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: don't want wisdom, I want relief, right? When you're going
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: through a tough time, you don't want wisdom.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: You want relief. But James says, look, I understand that.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: But if you want God to choose what you are
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: going through and you're having a hard time seeing that
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: there's anything good that could come from this, he says,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: lean in and ask.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: God for wisdom.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: This is a prayer that God will always answer. That
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: you say, God, Give me your eyes to see this
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the way that you see it. Give me your eyes
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: to see me and my friends and my family and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: my work situation and my finances the way that you
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: see it. Give me wisdom to see as you see.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: And you know this, we've talked about this before.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Oftentimes when we have the ability to see as God sees,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: we are more.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Inclined to do as God says.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: James says, and then you will have the perspective you
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: need to persevere through what you're going through. So I
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: wanna put it all back together And then I wanna
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: tell you a story about a friend of mine.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Here's what James says.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: He says, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: whenever you face trials of many kinds. Why, why can
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: we do this? He says, because you know this. You
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: know that the testing of your faith, the testing of
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: your faith demonstrates the authenticity of your faith. The testing
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: of your faith also produces perseverance. The testing of your
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: faith demonstrates that your faith is real, that God is faithful,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: and ultimately you will have stronger faith. And he said,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: and don't bail out early. Let perseverance finish its work.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Don't leave the gym early so that you may be
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: mature and complete, not lacking anything. But If you get
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to the point where you just can't do it any longer,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: if you get to the point where you're thinking, God,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: if you're real, you've gotta demonstrate your love for me.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I gotta hear something. I gotta know something. I've gotta
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: see something I can't see. He says, in those moments,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: don't give up. I want you to ask God for wisdom.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: He says, if any of you lacks wisdom, the perspective
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: you need to get through this, you should ask God
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: who gives generously to all without finding fault and it
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: will be.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Given to you.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this. Have you ever met
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: someone like this? Have you ever met someone or known somebody,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: maybe you're related to somebody, who faced trials of many kinds,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: trials that they're facing the trial and you're thinking, how.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: Would I respond if I were going through that?
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And you watch them walk through the trial with extraordinary
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: faith and confidence of God. They face things you hope
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: you never have to face, but their confidence in God
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: never wavered. Do you know people like that? I've met
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: lots of people like that.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: Through the years.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: And I gotta tell you, and I think you would agree,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: those are the most inspiring, hope-giving, faith-giving people I've ever.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: Met, right?
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I am more inspired, or I should say I'm most
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: inspired by people whose faith is tested and endures. I'm
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: more inspired by people who get a no from God
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and their faith endures than I am by people who
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: always seem to get a yes from God and they
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: live somewhat of a wrinkle-free life. I mean, isn't it
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: true that you're more inspired by people who get the
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: no and yet remain faithful? And the reason you're so
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: inspired by them and the reason I'm so inspired by.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Them is this.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: They leave us with confidence that there is a category
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: of faith and there is a category of confidence in
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: God that can endure just about anything. The people whose
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: prayers go unanswered, but their confidence in God remains firm.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I had a friend like that. His name was Reggie Campbell.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Reggie Campbell passed away three months ago in January. I've
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: known Reggie for over 20 years. And I gotta tell you,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I had never seen an individual face and embrace his
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: own mortality with more confidence and more courage and more
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: faith than Reggie Campbell. I've known him for so long.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: I've been with him when he got a yes from God.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I've been with him when he got a no from God.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I was with him when it seemed like maybe God
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: changed his mind. I stood next to him in 1998
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: or 1999 outside an ICU, his 20s. something your old
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: son had just had a terrible car accident. And when
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I went in and saw Ross, honestly, I thought to myself,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: we're going to have a funeral in a few days.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: And I stood out outside that ICU with Reggie and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: I listened to him pray. And I'm telling you, knowing
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: that in any moment he may lose his son, seeing
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: his confidence in God, I will never, ever forget that moment.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: And I told him that many, many times. Years later,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: he got a no. He had a lung disease that
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: caused him to slowly have decreased lung capacity. And the
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: doctors told him there's no cure, that eventually you're just
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: gonna lose your ability to breathe and there's really nothing
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: we can do. And this was gonna be a multi-year process.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: And throughout that time, Reggie and I would get together
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and I'll never forget one breakfast we had. I got
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: there early. He came in pulling his oxygen tank. He
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: sat down and he just looked really rough. And I
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: leaned across the table. I said, Reggie, how are you doing?
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: And he gave me this surprise look. And he said
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: something that was so profound to me in the moment,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: I actually 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
  Speaker 2: Nothing has changed.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: My life has always been in God's hands. Nothing has changed.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: My life was in God's hands when things were great.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: My life has been in God's hands when things were
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: not great. My life has always been in God's hands.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Andy, I'm fine.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Nothing has changed. And then he got another yes. He
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: had the opportunity to have a lung transplant. They transplanted
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: his lung. The surgery went well. In fact, for those
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: of us who knew Reggie, he actually named his lung,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: which was a little strange. He named his lung Larry.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: And every time he got together with Reggie, Reggie would
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: tell us how Larry was doing. And things went along
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: fine for a while. But as you may know, when
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: you have a lung transplant or an organ transplant of
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: any kind, you have to take anti-rejection drugs so your
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: body won't reject the organ, which wreaks havoc on your
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: immune system. So eventually Reggie developed a very rare form
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: of cancer. And the doctors told him, they said, if
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: we treat the cancer, it may cause your body to
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: reject your lung, which is exactly what happened. So in November,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: before the January that he eventually passed away, I'd kept
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: up with Reggie. We're all praying for Reggie, praying for
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: a miracle. And he was wide open to a miracle,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: but he was wide open to his heavenly father making
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: the decision for him. He had total confidence in God.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And so he called me one day, he called me
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: in November and he said, look, Andy, he said, I
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: wanna start a new men's small group. He said, but
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: here's the thing. And again, here's exactly what he said.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: He said, I won't be around to finish it up,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: but I wanna get it kicked off. So I want
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: you to co-lead a group with me. And I know
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: at some point in the group, I'm gonna pass away,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: but I just wanna help get it kicked off. That
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: was his confidence in God. And that was his approach
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to his own mortality. And my friends, you know this.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: When you see it, you never forget it. When you
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: see it, it marks you down.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: For life.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: One more episode with Reggie. Two days before he passed away,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: I visited him in his home. I've been in his
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: home many times and I went into his home office
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: and he was sitting there with his oxygen and there
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: was a white a white marker board over in the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: corner of his office I'd never seen before. And across
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: the top of the board were these words, my commitment.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: And there was a list of six things he had
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: written out by hand on the marker board. Now, when
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I looked at the six things, I thought these were
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: like maybe life goals that he had established a long
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: time ago and he was maybe reviewing his life as
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: he got to the end, but they weren't life goals.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: They were actually finish strong goals. He had just developed
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: these a few weeks before to make sure this was
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: what he focused on as he spent his last few
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: weeks in this life. Now, the thing that was amazing
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: to me is most people don't have a to-do list
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: about how to live well. Reggie developed a to-do list
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: to ensure that he died well. And I wanna share
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: with you what was on that board. Number one, he wrote,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I will walk with Jesus every day I will walk
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: with Jesus every day.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute, wait, Reggie, wait.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: The Jesus that didn't answer your prayer, the Jesus that
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: has allowed you to go through so many trials, the
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Jesus that has not healed you.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: I will walk with Jesus every day.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Number two.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: I will be grateful and live every day to the fullest.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: In other words, he says, as I leave this life,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: I wanna make sure I am leaning in up until
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: the very end.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I will be grateful and live every day to the fullest.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Number three, I will bless my family. with words, pictures,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and videos. He wanted to make sure that his grandchildren
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: would know him, not just know what he'd written, but
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: know what he looked like. He left them messages. He
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: put together song lists and playlists. Number four, I will
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: invest in my guys, the small group of men that
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: he had been developing and mentoring for many years.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: I will invest in.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: My guys for their good and God's glory, not mine.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: His point being, even though I'm dying, even though I'm
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: receiving all kinds of letters and sympathy cards and all
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: kinds of things, he says, this is not going to
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: be about me.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: It's going to be about them.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: And then I want to skip number five and come
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: back to it. Number six on the list was this.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I will let people love on me.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: Now I asked him about this. When I said, what
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: is that about?
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: He said, well, he said, my whole life when people
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: wanna do things for me, I'm like, no, I'm fine,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: I'm fine, I'm fine.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: And I could relate to that. Maybe you can relate
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: to that.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: And he said, I decided here at the end, if
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: people wanna bring us food, I'm gonna let them bring
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: us food. If people wanna love on us, I'm gonna
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: let them love on us. If people wanna love on
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: my family, that's just my pride. I just wanna allow
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: people to love on us. Now that was a pretty
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: powerful list, but I tell you, number five, is the
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: one that got to me. Number five goes right to
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the heart of what James 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
  Speaker 1: I will not give up and run out the clock.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: This was his version of, to use James' words, I
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: will let perseverance finish its work to my last breath.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I'm going to lean in rather than sit it out.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Here's the thing, Reggie's faith did not reverse the consequences
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: of life in a fallen world and he was wide
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: open to that. We all prayed for a miracle. You
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: should pray for a miracle. But Reggie's faith did not
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: reverse the consequences of life in a fallen world and
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: he did not expect it to because he understood what
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: faith is.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Faith is not a superpower.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Faith is not how we get God to do something
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: God doesn't wanna do. Faith is a respond to the
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: faithfulness of our heavenly Father. Reggie's faith actually produced, his
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: faith produced perseverance and courage in the midst of a
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: fallen world. And my friends, it's why I'm telling his story.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: It's the people who get a yes from God that
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: we forget so easily. It's the people who get a
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: no from God, but whose faith is rock solid that
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: change our lives and change the world. And this was
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: James' goal for his first century audience. And it's his
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: goal for you and it's his goal for me. In
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: the first century, in James' world, honestly, things did not
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: get much better. In fact, they never got really good.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: But their unwavering faith and their unwavering confidence in their
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Savior literally changed the world. And so we're reminded that
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: God will use this, that God will use this until
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: God chooses us.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: To remove this.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: And this is kind of the bottom line, that God
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: will use whatever he chooses not to remove. Reggie understood this.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: You know people who understand that. And James' words, James'
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: instructions are an invitation for all of us to step
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: into this, to say, God, use this until you choose
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: to remove this. Use this until you choose to remove
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: this or life chooses.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: To remove this.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: But use this to remind me that you're faithful. Use
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: this so that I understand my confidence.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: In you is real.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: So if we lean in, and when we're confused, if
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: we ask for wisdom, and if we live with open
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: hands and an open heart, then you will experience and
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: I will experience the amazing faithfulness of God through trials
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: that we did not choose, that chose us, but that
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: God has chosen to use in us. Now, here's how
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: James finishes this section of his letter. Listen to what
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: he writes. He says, blessed is the one who perseveres
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: under trial. That's Reggie.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's gonna be you. Hopefully that'll be me.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, not prays
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: it away, obeys it away, or faiths it away. Blessed
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the test and having discovered that their faith is real,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: that person, listen to what he promises, that person will
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: to those who love him. And do you know what
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: the crown of life is?
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Me neither. I have no idea, but it sounds good,
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: doesn't it? The point is simply this.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: That God values, God values and uses persevering faith, that
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: God values and God uses persevering faith. And God has
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: invited you and God has invited me to step into
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: this realm and to begin to see the trials that
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: we're facing every single day in this life. Because here's
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: what we know with confidence, persevering faith leaves its mark
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: on the world and it leaves its mark on the
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: people around us. We don't choose the trials, the trials
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: choose us. We don't choose the trials, we simply choose
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: our response to these trials. And James, this is so powerful,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: James invites us to lean in and to allow God
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: to purify and strengthen our faith in the midst of
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: what we would never choose. Now here's the thing, these
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: current events that we're all experiencing, they're impacting all of
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: us differently, but they present all of us with the
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: same opportunity They present us with the opportunity to allow
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: perseverance to finish its work so that we may be
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: mature and complete, not lacking anything. So with that in mind,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: I want to invite you to incorporate the following little
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: prayer into your prayer life. In fact, you may pray
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: every single day and you may wanna tack this on. Again,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: you may not have prayed in a long time and
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: you're praying for the first time in a long time.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: I wanna give you words to pray.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Perhaps you've never prayed because you're not sure you know how.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: This is a great time to start and this prayer
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: is a great place to start.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: I wanna encourage you to begin praying this.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, use this until you choose to remove this.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, use this until you choose to remove this.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: And if you cannot imagine how God could possibly use
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: what you're facing right now, then I want you to
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: do what James tells us to do. I want you
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: to ask God for wisdom because James says that is
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: a prayer that God will answer every single time. So
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: one more time, I want to put it all together
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: and we'll close with James' words.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Here's what he said.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Consider it pure joy reframe it in such a way
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: that you can see the joy in it, my brothers
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: and sisters, whenever you.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: Face trials of many kinds.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: And here's why, because you know, once you catch your breath,
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: you know that it's simply a test of your faith
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: and a test of your faith produces perseverance if you
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: let it. So let perseverance finish its work so that
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: you may be mature and complete and not lack anything.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: But if you just aren't sure you can get there,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: If any of you lacks wisdom or perspective, you should
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: and it will be given
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: To you.