and all the people said amen. What a great and tremendous reminder from the pen of the Apostle Paul that God's grace is sufficient for all our needs. That's a hymn that fits into the subject that God has placed upon my heart to share with you today. And that is upon the subject of patience under affliction. Patience under affliction. If you have your Bibles, please open them with us to the fifth chapter of the book of James. James chapter 5. I'm reminded this morning of a story I read several years ago about a circus that came into Buffalo and New York, and if you are aware or acquainted with the Niagara Falls, it's right in that vicinity, and the beautiful falls. were above the city and the manager of the circus failed to sell very many tickets. And it was a kind of a gloomy day for the circus industry in that part of the world at that period of time. And a man came to the manager of the circus and he says, I'll get you as many people as you want. He inquired how he would go about that, and you see the man was a high-wire walker, and he had walked between major buildings in many of the cities of America, well-known man, a trapeze man, a high walker, and he said, you stretch me a two-inch cable across the Niagara Falls, and I'll walk it for you. So they did. They did that very thing and it wasn't no time at all. There were thousands of people on both sides, the Canada side as well as the American side of the Niagara Falls and they were watching this very talented, very strong, high wire walker. And he took the pole in his hands and he looked at the large crowd on one side and he says, do you believe I can walk across? this very dangerous body of water. And the people were looking at the rushing water, they were looking at the craggy rocks 300 feet below, and they saw the high wire and they says, you know, we believe that you can do that. He got up on the wire and he walked across. And he asked the people on the other side, he says, do you believe I can make my way back across the Niagara Falls? And they says, oh yes, we believe. We've seen you walk this way, we know that you can walk that way. And he took his pole in his hand, walked across safely to the other side. Not just one time, but he did it six times. Back and forth, a half mile. of cable over the Niagara Falls without even hesitating. Then he did something. He took the inner tube off of a wheelbarrow, and the hub, the metal hub of the wheelbarrow fit perfectly on that cable. And he took 200 pounds of sand, put it in the wheelbarrow, And he looked at the people and he says, do you think I can walk across safely to the other side? And they says, oh, we believe, we believe. And he did. He took the wheelbarrow full of sand, walked across on one side, turned around, walked across on the other side. Then he looked at that crowd of people and he says, do you believe that I can do it again? Based upon the evidence that he had done so many times across the Niagara Falls, I says, we believe, we believe. He took the sand out of the wheelbarrow and he looked at the same group of people and said, now can I have a volunteer to get in the wheelbarrow? He did that on both sides of the Niagara Falls and not one person volunteered to get in the wheelbarrow. You see, in that story, there's a lesson for us. To say we believe God and believe His power and His ability to carry us over whatever affliction or suffering or struggle that may come our way is one thing, but to actually get in His wheelbarrow by faith is quite another. I believe that that's the main reason the Apostle James wrote this epistle. This is one of the earliest epistles that we know of that was divinely inspired by the Spirit of God, by James who came to be the pastor or the spiritual leader of the church of Jerusalem after all the other apostles had left the city of Jerusalem. And this, according to historians, occurred in 44 AD. So he would write these words that I'm going to share with you to mainly Jewish readers, Jewish background Christians. We would call them messianic Jews today. Those who confessed a belief in Jesus Christ and a trust in him and his ability, his power to deliver, his power to redeem. And these individuals would be under persecution from fellow Jews, uh, who were like Saul of Tarsus before his conversion that would go about and incarcerate and persecute Christ, Christian believers and, and those that, that were followers of the lamb. He would write with that in mind. And he would write it in such a way as would capture our attention, especially to a word that not only he, but also Peter, as in the Apostle Paul would use, the word is patience. And we need to be careful to define patience this morning. And we would also like to understand the results of patience, the fruit that patience bears in the life of a believer. So James, who would be martyred, by the way, in 62 AD, we know that from Josephus, we know that particular date, 62 AD, at the beginning of the Jewish revolution against Rome, and he would be actually martyred in Jerusalem. He would write these words to a people calling upon them not only to believe in the power of Jesus Christ, but to get into his wheelbarrow. Read with me in James chapter 5, verses 7 through 12. Here is the body of our text, our study this morning. James writes, Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord it draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, But let your yea be yea and your nay, nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. May the Lord Jesus bless the reading of his word this morning. Patience. What a, what a wonderful virtue. And, and, and, and a term that often is misunderstood. We know that in our studies of the vocabulary of the Bible, the word patience in the English is actually derived from two words in the Greek. The first is hupomone. Hupomone is a compound word, hupo and mene. Hupo means under and mene means to abide. So hupomeno means to abide under, to abide under a weight, to abide under pressure, to be able to sustain a great responsibility. This is conveyed with the word hupomeno. And it's a very important word because all through the New Testament you read it, even in the language of Christ himself. Jesus himself would say in Luke chapter 21, verse 19, in your patience, possess you your souls. So it's a very important word. It's a very important activity. It is a very important understanding that James is calling our attention to. He says, I want you to follow the example of Christ and I want you in patience to possess your souls. Not to be a give up artist. Not to give up too easily. Sometimes in our prayer walk, isn't that true? We find, we pray for something, and then we stop. Because we don't see the evident answer to that prayer, at least in our own understanding and from our own perspective. So we stop praying for it. But the Bible continually exhorts the Christ believer, the follower of the Lamb, to never give up. Don't give up your walk. Don't give up your prayers. Don't give up your faithfulness. Persevere in your walking after the Lord. Hupomeno. Hupomeni. Also, I find a reference in Romans chapter 12 verse 12 where Paul says, We should rejoice in hope and be patient in tribulation. And the word tribulation there is hollipitous in the Greek language and it means to be in a tight place. I wonder if I'm speaking to anybody this morning that's ever been in a tight place. Whether it be financial, economical, political. What kind of a tight place? Physical? Spiritual? I wonder if I'm speaking to anybody that's ever had that kind of experience before where we WONDER what's around the next corner, what we WONDER what's following the next step in life's little journey. Paul says, I want you to be patient in all of those tight places as Christ's followers. Our well-known verse in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 where the Apostle Paul writes this, Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and run with patience the race that is set before us." You see, James is following the same line of thought. He's saying every Christian has their own race to run. Every one of us have a race to run. Every one of us are going to face our Niagara Fall experience at one point or another. If you are not in a storm in your walk in this broken and wicked world this morning, you're getting ready to go into one. That's just the way it is in this wicked old world. But the call of the scripture to the Christian is you need to look beyond the present day struggle that you are in, the present day tension that you have in your life, the pressure of the unknown that is before you today, you need to look beyond that and understand that there's a sovereign God sitting upon His throne and He has everything well at hand. And Christian, it is your responsibility to live hand to mouth, His hand, your mouth. Not your hand, your mouth, His hand, your mouth. I love that, don't you? I love to think about what the Apostle Paul prayed for in Colossians chapter 1. Have you ever studied that prayer, the prayer of Paul for the Colossian church? Notice what he said in Colossians chapter 1 verses 10 and 11. He says, I'm praying that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness." In other words, even in the extremity of your suffering, I want you to experience the joy of the Lord. Here's the other word that I need to define for you that is often translated patience, and it's macro fumeo. It's long suffering. It's also translated patience in the book of James. It is the ability to suffer long to, using an athletic term, endure. You know, what are those two-a-days all about? What are those long practices all about? What are those long runs all about? It's about building endurance. I know when I was a pitcher in school, I spent most of my time running, and I kept, you know, I love to play baseball, but I would be out running, and I would ask the coach, why in the world would you have me run the whole practice? Because you need endurance. You need to build your endurance. Same way in two a days with football. What is that about? It's endurance. It's getting in shape, if you will. Well, brothers and sisters, I'm telling you that American Christianity is in need of two a days. American Christianity, we've grown soft. We're too prone to give up. When I think about one of the brothers, Brother Kevin mentioned in his prayer, and I'm so thankful for that, the persecuted Christians in so many parts of our world, Nigeria, Niger, Sudan, Somalia, the southeastern part of Syria, many parts of communist China, are experiencing, our Christian brothers and sisters are experiencing tremendous Persecution, even the loss of life. Even today, I'm not talking about a thousand years ago. I'm talking about in today's newspaper. Christians suffering, suffering, suffering, suffering. And here in America, we struggle if the church has uncomfortable pews, or the wrong color of carpet, or maybe we sing the wrong songs, or maybe somebody might think it's strange if we would actually attend two or three worship services a week. We're extremists. You see, I believe that we've grown soft, and we need the two-a-days, and that's exactly what I believe America is about to face. I believe those days are coming, fast and furious. Oh, I know we've got a little reprieve right now politically, but that's just a short-term fix. Brothers and sisters, when we see a Muslim communist elected mayor of America's largest city, you better take notice. You better pay attention to the times because brothers and sisters, Christians are going to be persecuted here before too long. Are you ready? It's easy to sit here in this wonderful place with people that love us and people that we love and say, yes, we believe. But when it comes to crossing the Niagara in the Lord's wheelbarrow, am I willing to get in it? There's the question. And James is gonna answer that question for us. If you notice something, you know, Pastor Nathan mentioned a moment ago the bookends on Psalm 118 being, and we're gonna look at some Psalms in just a moment, but those bookends are very important. Give thanks to the Lord for all things. We need to be a thankful and grateful people. Well, did you know that the book of James, or the letter that James has written has two bookends? and both of them involve patience. Back up to chapter 1 and read it with me if you don't mind. In James chapter 1 and verse 2, listen to this. He says, My brethren, my fellow Christians, count it all joy when you fall into divers or different temptations, knowing this, and this is something you better know, you better get a grasp on, that the trying of your faith is what produces patience. The trying of your faith is what produces patience. And then he says, let patience have her perfect work result that ye may be perfect and entire, complete, wanting nothing. God is the potter who works through various circumstances to bring about his perfect result of maturity and completeness in the lives of his people. That's what God is up to, especially in the element of affliction, in the element of tribulation, in the element of suffering. to bring us closer and closer to the image of Christ our Lord. After all, that's the main objective of salvation. The main objective of salvation is not so that you and I would be comfortable, but the main objective of salvation, the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, is to conform us to His image. In Ephesians 1 verse 3, According as he, the Father, hath chosen us, the elect, in Christ before the foundation of the world, why? That we should stand holy and without blame before him in love. You see, that's his purpose, is to conform us to that wonderful image of the Lord Jesus Christ. How is he going to do it? Can I submit to you this morning? It is by virtue of Him working in us patience. Not only hypomany, but macrothumeo, long-suffering. We find these references in Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 12, where Paul said, Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit The promises that word patience is, is, is macro to male. It is, it is a, it, it, it, it, it is a term that means literally to suffer long or to long suffer, to be willing to endure, to endure whatever Um, whatever God brings in to our life in Hebrews chapter six, verse 15, he's talking about Abraham's faith. And he says, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. The word endured there is macro the mail. It is, it is, it is something connected to. Patience. It's connected to our focus as Christians while we live in a broken world. Much more could be said on that, but go with me, Tora. Now I've finished my introduction. I've got four points that I want to make, and I promise not to spend over 40 minutes on each point. But James has this ideal that he's setting before us, and he's writing it during a time of great persecution against Christians. And he's saying, I don't want you Christians to give up. I don't want you Christians to be lily-livered, to be yellow, to be marshmallow Christians. I want you Christians to use the hardness and the difficulty and the struggles of this world to bring glory to the name of God. Now let's unpack it. He says in chapter 5 verse 7, Be patient therefore, brethren, be patient therefore, be patient because of who God is. Be patient because of the sufficiency of God's grace. God said in 2 Corinthians 12 and 9, My grace is sufficient for you, whatever you're going to go through. It may be a very difficult time. It may be a phone call that you never thought you'd ever receive. A phone call that tells you that you have terminal cancer. A phone call that tells you that one of your children has perished in a terrible car accident. A phone call, perhaps, that tells you that all of the money that you have in the bank has been taken away. The stocks, the stock market that so many Americans trust in for retirement has been bankrupt. That actually has happened several times in American history. Have you ever heard of the Great Depression? I even read an article that said that there were people that jumped out of windows to their death when the stock market crashed. Why? Because all of their hope was in what they had attained and what they had planned on. What's going to happen when these crashes come in the future? James tells us something about this. James tells us to be patient, to be patient under seasons of trial and affliction. To be patient, to endure, to persevere, to abide faithful under the pressure of the moment. And he's going to use an illustration, isn't he? And some of you that have a farm background, Brother Bobby can tell you more about this than I can, but here he's going to use the farmer. He says, behold, the husbandman waits. for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it. That's Macrothumeo. Hath long patience for it until he received the early and the latter rain. What he's saying here, he's saying the farmer goes out and he plows that field. The farmer takes the seed. Brother Don's done some of this. takes the seed and he plants it in the ground that he's plowed. And then he does something. He waits. He waits for sufficient water to come into that field so that that seed will germinate and produce the crop. And he's not only waiting then, But also there's a latter rain, there's an after rain that is necessary to nurture the growing plant that it would bring forth abundant fruit. Jesus used that illustration several times, didn't he? 30, 60, 100 fold. Because it depends a lot upon the rain. It depends a lot upon the amount of water that comes upon that plant for it to mature and produce abundant fruit. James is capturing that picture, that metaphor to describe the Christian life. So many Christians today are saying that they believe in Jesus Christ, but they're not preparing the field. I believe in Jesus Christ, but I'm not going to go into the field and plant the seed. I believe in Jesus Christ. But I'm not going to wait for his timing, his reign. You see, it's one thing to say we believe something in a person or a principle. It's another thing altogether to act on it, to get in the wheelbarrow, you see. James is calling on the church to do that very thing. to get in God's wheelbarrow, no matter what circumstances you're gonna face, no matter what surgeries we're gonna have to go through, no matter what trauma we might have to go through in this broken and ungodly world, we need to trust in the one that called us by his grace, don't we? Be patient under all seasons of trial and affliction Remembering something What are we going to remember Christian in verse 8? Be also patient establish their hearts Establish your heart in the Word of God for the coming of the Lord draws near He's going to remind us of the motivation of for us to keep on pressing on. That's why we love John Bunyan's book on the Pilgrim's Progress so much, because it describes that struggle, doesn't it? See, we can relate to the pictures of John Bunyan's description of the Pilgrim's Progress. It's not all easy. There are many difficulties and disappointments and discouragements along the way. There are those lions that are roaring that scare the daylights out of us. There are so many things that make life scary in this wicked world. But old Pilgrim has to realize that those lions that are threatening are bound with a chain. They can only go so far. So the Christian pilgrim has to just keep one step after another, just keep one, one step, keep going. Even though you don't feel like it, even though it doesn't always make sense, I'm just gonna keep going in my faith and in my trust of the living God because I know at the end of this age, my master is coming again and he's gonna make everything right. You see, I believe what Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 3 when he refers to the new heavens and the new earth, I believe that's literal. I believe that there's a day coming when the Lord Jesus is going to come a second time without sin unto salvation and He is going to create a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells nothing but righteousness. I'm looking forward to that day. You see, there's not going to be any more death there. There's not going to be any more tears. There's not going to be any more disease. There's not going to be any more devil. And there's not going to be any more brokenness in that day. I believe that's literal. The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 8 and verse 18, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that SHALL BE REVEALED IN US. You see, we are WAITING for that day, but we're not just twiddling our thumbs. We're waiting for that day, but we're plowing the field. We're waiting for that day, but we're planting seeds in the lives, especially of our children and grandchildren and those in our sphere of influence. We're planting those seeds all along life's way, trusting in the one that sends the rain to make those seeds germinate and bear fruit to the glory of God our Father. The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 5 beginning with verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access into this grace wherein we now stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience. and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because of the love of God, shed abroad in our hearts abundantly by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. My question is, when did He give you the Holy Spirit? Are you gonna have to wait till you get to glory to get the Holy Spirit? Oh no. No, no friends. If you are born of the Spirit of the mighty God, the Spirit of God lives in you. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit today. Through the Holy Spirit, we have been given the ability to persevere, the ability to endure, the ability to suffer long, the ability to get in God's wheelbarrow. You see? It's all about God. Now, James, all he's doing is reminding us of what Jesus taught us all along. that he is going to win. See, I don't know everything about the Book of Revelation. I love the Book of Revelation. I've studied many, many years. I've studied the Book of Revelation, and I believe it's literally true, but I believe it's also a book of signs and metaphors, and in some places, it's difficult to understand, and I certainly don't claim to know all of those mysteries in the Book of Revelation, but I'll tell you what I do know. I do know how the story ends. And we're the winners. We're the victors. Always remember that. James is pointing us to that. He says, I want you to remember. I want you to remember the fact that we're living near to the coming of the Lord. It's drawing near. It's drawing not. Now this was 2,000 years ago. If it was coming near in the day of the Apostle James, how much nearer is it to us today? I want you to be patient under seasons of trial and affliction, remembering the second coming. I want you to underscore this. He says, I want you to establish your hearts. What does that mean to you? What does that mean to establish your hearts? It means responding to the trial that you're going through with emotional fortitude, The inner life of the soul is what's under consideration here. How are you going to establish your hearts if you're not reading your Bible? If you're not treasuring the word of God, how are you going to establish? How are you going to be rooted in the storm? How are you going to not only believe, but obey when Jesus says, follow me? You see, brothers and sisters, the truth is what the Puritan Thomas Brooks said. God has only one son without sin, but no sons without suffering. If you're here and you're earnest, and I believe you are, and you really want to follow Jesus, why would you ever think that you can follow Jesus without suffering? Because Jesus suffered. In fact, the greatest degree of glory that we'll ever experience is because of the greatest degree of suffering that the world's ever known. Because when Jesus died on that cross, he died in full holy innocence. You see, We take that out of the gospel, don't we? We're living in a day where the gospel is supposed to make everybody feel good. That's what I go to church for. I go to church to hear a message that makes me feel better, makes me feel good. It's a self-help generation of religion today. But what we've forgotten. is that the greatest degree of glory comes from the greatest degree of suffering. And James doesn't want us to forget that. He says, I want you to be established. I told you I was going to go back to the Psalms of David. Go back with me just for two minutes. And Psalm, one of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 37. I've been really feasting on this Psalm this whole week. In Psalm 37, most of you are very acquainted with it, but listen to what David says. And I'm going to, I'm going to show you something and there's no prize. There's, there's no charge for it at all. This is totally free, but you know what he says, um, in, in, uh, uh, Psalm 37, he says in verse one, fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Don't join ranks with the wicked. For they shall soon be cut down like grass. This is what he said, wither and wither as the green herb. Here, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. And here's the part I want you to underscore in verse four, delight. Are you delighting in the Lord today? Delight thyself also in the Lord for he and he shall give you thee the desires of thine heart. Watch, watch, watch this. Commit. That word commit is in the New Testament Greek is the same root word for establish. Make up your mind. Don't be wishy-washy. Don't make one claim and do something else. Be consistent. in your Christian life. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring to pass, now watch what, watch what, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noon day. Rest in the Lord and what? Wait patiently. You see it? Wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked device to pass. You know, sometimes, you know, we focus on the wrong thing. Sometimes we focus on, and fret, worry, be anxious about the rise of wickedness in our time, in our day. But you know, the Bible speaks to that. And James reminds us that the reason the world is acting like the devil is because they don't know the Lord. They don't know Jesus. So when a person doesn't know Jesus, he's going to act like he doesn't know Jesus. He's going to behave like he doesn't know Jesus, you see. So the call of the scripture, the call of James is for us to be established in order to be like Jesus. We are desiring to be like Jesus. Now I'm gonna give you something and this is so precious to me. We're in Psalms, turn over to Psalms chapter 55. You talk about a hard time. David was being betrayed by one of his own sons. Who can give me his name? Absalom. And by his most trusted counselor. Who can give me his name? Ahithophel. Ahithophel sided with Absalom to overthrow David. And when I say overthrow, I mean kill him. That was the plan, to kill King David, his trusted friend, and one of his own sons. To my mind, that's unimaginable, in betrayal. David wrote Psalm 55 as a result of that affliction. Listen to what he says. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make a noise." He's being honest with God. I'm hurting. He's saying to God, I don't understand. I can't explain why this has come against me, Lord. Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for they cast iniquity upon me and in wrath they hate me. My heart is sore pain within me and the tears of death are falling upon me. Have you ever been here? You talk about Niagara Falls, brother. Here it is. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me. Horror. hath overwhelmed me." Have you ever been overwhelmed by affliction, by trials and afflictions? David was. Listen to what he said. And I said, oh, had I wings like a dove for then would I fly away and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off and remain in the wilderness, Selah. In fact, he did. Remember, he left the city. Do you remember? He went into the wilderness, running away from his own son. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and from the tempest, from the Niagara Falls. Destroy, O Lord! and divide their tongues, their counsel. For I have seen violence and strife in the city day and night. They go about it upon the walls thereof. Mischief also and sorrow in the midst of it. Wickedness is in the midst thereof. Deceit and guile depart not from her streets." Drop down for time's sake, verse 22. See what he did. He got into God's wheelbarrow. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. Imagine that. And he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Even in the extremity of his trial, David came to the conclusion, he was saying, I don't understand this. I haven't done anything to cause this. I can't explain why this misery and this sorrow has happened to me at this time in life. But I'm going to cast my burden. And that word cast there means to roll over, to roll my burden. In fact, Peter used this, didn't he? In 1 Peter 5, 7, remember what he said? Cast thy burdens upon the Lord. Remember, he tells us to roll our burdens onto the Lord. Why? Why? Why would you do that? Because He cares for you. Do you know that this morning? Do you know that God really does care for you? And he knows what's best for you and me. And what we have to do is understand that when my life needs rain, when my life needs a hardship, affliction, trials, God in heaven loves me so much that he's not gonna send sunshine when I need rain. I love what Calper said on that occasion. He said, trials make the promise sweet. Trials bring new life to prayer. Trials lay us at Christ's feet. Lay us low and keep us there. See, that's what it's about. It's about God's glory. It's about your good. It's about His praise. James is reminding us of the same things that David reminded us of, the same things that Job reminded us of. Job, remember what he said in chapter 17 of Job, he says, Yea, though He slay me, yet will I walk. Trust in him. No, I'm telling you that's getting in God's wheelbarrow, isn't it? Well, James is saying the same thing as Job and David and so many others that we could refer to. He's saying that we need to bear up under that pressure. We need to suffer long under that pressure. We need to be long tempered. Somebody says, well, I've got a short temper. I was raised up with a short temper. Well, if you're a Christian, God says, I don't care if you've been raised with a short temper. You need to be long tempered when it comes to struggles and suffering. Because that's what's going to bring me glory. That's what's going to bring me God says he's going to bring me the praise that I deserve. Now, go quickly back. You know, I spent too much time on my introduction. But let's go back to the book of James very quickly. There's so much in this. You know, James is talking about patience under affliction. He says, I want you to be patient, waiting for the early rain that softens the soil to receive and germinate the seed. I want you to be patient for the latter rain, waiting for the latter rain that nurtures and brings crops to maturity. I want you to remember. I want you to be established through the Word of God and the promises of God that will never fail. I want you to be established in that. And I want you to remember the best day for the Christian is yet to come when Jesus Christ will come a second time without salvation and create the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And then he gets really practical. You know, that's what I kind of feel mad at my wife sometimes. Sometimes my wife uses my preaching against me. She'll say, that's what you preached. Oh my. Well, that's kind of what I feel like the reader is doing here with James. You know, the reader is saying, amen, amen, amen thus far, but then he starts getting personal. He says in verse 9, grudge not one against another, brethren. Why lest you be condemned? Behold, the judge is at the door. You know what he's saying? If you want to be patient in the midst of your trials, not only do I want you to be established, not only do I want you to strengthen your hearts through the word, but I don't want you to be in the mulligrubs. I don't want you to be a murmur, a complainer. I want you to rely on God's promise of ultimate reward and blessing in the present, but also in the future. Now this is going to be, this is, this is going to hurt a little bit. This is going to sting a little bit. It does me. when he says to grudge not, to murmur or not complain, does that mean that I'm not supposed to share my sincere concerns about my health or my condition or my circumstances? No, that's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about here is the murmuring against God, to question God's right to sin reign into my life. I can't do that. As a Christian man or woman, I've got to say, Lord, I don't know what you're up to, but I'm asking you right now on my bended knees, what are you teaching me through this experience? What am I supposed to learn from this circumstance? Because Lord, I want to be able to praise you and glorify you. I know that you have said all things work together for my good because I love you, Lord. I love you, Lord. So I know that you're working good out of this bad circumstance. And I just want to know what I'm supposed to learn from it. See, that's the attitude that we should approach our afflictions and our struggles, our trials. Lord you're in charge and father in glory I know that you love me and I know that you want my ultimate good and my eventual good and your ultimate glory I know that Romans 8 28 I know that's true We come to the place of Job, when he said in Job chapter 23 verse 7 and 14, Job said this, he knows the way that I take. And when I'm sufficiently tried, I shall come forth as what? Gold. See, he's working that purifying element in the life of every believer. And sometimes, brothers and sisters, we say, ouch. You know, I was thinking about this, I read a deal about Michelangelo when he was doing the tremendous masterpiece, a sculpture of David, King David. You can look it up in an encyclopedia, it's beautiful. I mean, it's so beautiful, the way he did that. And you know, they came to him and they said, Michael, How in the world, just tell us, how do you take this big clump of granite hard stone, and how do you make something as beautiful as this image of King David? And he said, oh, it's really simple. He said, I take a hammer, and I take a chisel, and I go to that big ugly stone, And I take away everything that doesn't look like that. Isn't that a great response? And I think about Jesus and how he comes to our lives and how he takes afflictions and trials and tribulations. And what he's doing, he's taking away everything that doesn't look like him. That's what James is calling us to. He's saying to the Christian, remember, you're not in charge. Remember that I'm working these things for your good. Remember that there's coming a better day. In fact, the best day is a coming. Brother Kevin, it's just like the story you like to tell about the person that died that said, put the fork in my hand. Because when you finished with your meal, mama says, keep your fork, because here comes the chocolate pie. Here comes the cake. Here comes the dessert. You see, the fork symbolizes your belief that the good, the best is yet to come. So when you lay me in the casket, put the fork in my hand because I want people to know the best day is yet to come. And Jesus is coming. And brothers and sisters, then all the struggles will be gone. then all the sorrows and heartbreaks of this wicked, broken world will pass away forever. And for the first time in our whole experience of existence, we'll be able to praise the Lord the way we ought to, without sin, without impurity, without any weakness at all. James is just simply reminding us, brothers and sisters, we have something in Christ that the world or time can never take away. We can actually rejoice that God gives us patience. under the very afflicting rod that he's called us to bear. Can I close with this thought? You know, David, sometimes as a shepherd, he would refer to his experience with sheep. And we're sheep in the hand of the Lord. The Lord's our shepherd, right? The Lord is my shepherd. But David says this twice. He says, he breaketh my legs. That's such a statement. To break my legs? Doesn't that hurt? Yep. But you see, David knew that when a lamb lost its mother, we used to, out west, we called them doggies, they would lose their mother. Well, you know, without mama around, little lamb wants to run away. Little lamb wants to get in trouble. A little lamb will be in the thicket or be exposed to the dangers of the pasture or the wilderness. So what the shepherd would do was take those little legs and his rod and he would break the legs, the front legs of the lamb and then he'd bind them together. And for a period of five to six weeks, everywhere that the shepherd would go, he'd pick up that lamb and put him on his shoulder. Remember, there's several verses in the scripture that talk about being on the shoulder of the shepherd. That's what he's talking about. Put the lamb up on the shoulder. Everywhere the shepherd goes, he's carrying the lamb right with him. Five to six weeks later, the shepherd takes off that bandage, that cast on the legs. The legs are fully healed, right? And now the lamb is free. But he only wants to be close to the shepherd. It's interesting, isn't it? I don't know what suffering you've gone through. I don't know what suffering you have yet ahead, but I'm going to tell you this, upon the authority of God's word, it's your shepherd using those circumstances to prove his love for you and to have you close to him the rest of your journey. This morning I want to ask you, do you believe? Do you truly believe in Jesus? Then get in his wheelbarrow.