You well know, thank you Amanda, I am sore. If you have ever worked out before, you are sore. And usually you are sore in places that you never knew existed on your body. And part of the reason for that is because you are working those parts of the body like you never have before. And so that's an important concept, especially in sports. As I grew up playing sports, all sorts of sports, especially football, we lifted a lot of weights. And what we would intentionally do in sports such as football or any amount where you're going to be doing a lot of physical laborious activity is you want to train specific muscles. And within the body, not to go into too much detail, there's what's known as fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles. Your slow twitch muscle fibers are the big muscles that basically push and pull. And then the small are kind of the quickness and agility type muscles. And so we would learn in football to target specific muscle groups so that we can receive a good growth in those areas. And the fascinating way the body works is you essentially, when you're lifting heavy weights, you're training your body to realize, wow, I can't lift this. I need to get some muscle growth in that area of the body so your muscles are tearing and growing in a good, healthy way. So that concept, I want to apply with our text in James this morning. In James 1, verses 2 through 4 is where we will be. James 1, verses 2 through 4. And the idea is bringing about a deep faith. Bringing about a deep faith. What we're gonna see this morning is how God uses trials in our life to hone in or focus on a specific thing in our life that he's wanting to grow. And so in the same way in weight training where we're focusing on a certain part of the body to get that certain part of the body to grow, God uses trials to grow our faith. So I want to start by just reading our text and we'll open in prayer. So in James chapter 1 verse 2, Says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you this morning for an opportunity to sing praises to you and how each and every song really fits well into this text this morning. And I pray, Lord, that you would humble our hearts, that you would speak to our hearts, and that you would show us areas that you want to improve upon, our faith, that we would trust in you and be prepared to trust in you through even greater difficulties still. And we thank you that most of all you are with us in the face of suffering and that you love us and nothing can separate us from the love of God that you have poured out into our hearts. So we just pray that you would teach us this morning as we read and study your word and we pray that you'd bless that in Jesus name. Amen. So what I want to do this morning is I want to get into the text first, and then we will look at the outline or the general summarization of what we're looking at. And then I want to look at those three application questions, if you remember from the last time I was here preaching where I introduced the book of James. There's three specific questions that God had seemed to be working into my heart, and I want to not only to challenge myself, but I want to invite you into that challenge. And I think the book of James will really challenge our hearts as we dig into it. But this morning, we're focusing in on bringing about a deep faith. And so just that alone, we see that God wants his people to have a deep faith. He doesn't want his children to be a mile wide and an inch deep, if you will. He wants them to be intensely deep in knowledge of what He has communicated in His Word. And so just some review from last time. We focused in on who wrote the book and who He was writing to and some of the historical things that were happening in those days. We talked about how James was the brother of Jesus Christ. And one of the things I pointed out, if you have read the Gospels, is that James and the rest of his brothers did not believe in Jesus while He was alive. In fact, it took Jesus dying and then seeing the risen brother of theirs to cause them to say, wow, we were wrong. That's the Messiah, my own brother, the one I was raised with. And so we see an intense transformation happen in James's life to where not only did he become a believer in his brother and the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, but he became a leader in the Jerusalem church, which at that time was the headquarters of the church, if you will. We talked about how this was the very first written letter of the New Testament. So Malachi was the last one of the Old Testament. James was the first person to write, and that's the key word is write, because of course John the Baptist was ministering well before James. But James wrote the first letter as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so this was the first letter and it would have been relatively 45 AD, just 10 years, 12 years after Jesus died and was risen. And so at this point in the church, it was predominantly, in fact, I would say mainly Jewish. We would see later in the book of Acts that Peter went and he preached the gospel to Cornelius, who was a Gentile centurion, who had believed in God, but was incomplete in his knowledge of Jesus and what Jesus did. And so God called Peter to preach to Cornelius. And then from there, it was an outbreak of Gentiles coming to Christ. And they had to deal with that in Acts 15. We saw the Jerusalem Council, where James was the head of the church. And they were talking about how, what do these Gentiles who are trusting Christ need to do? And so the Judaizers are saying they must become Jews in order to fully be saved, if you will. And Paul and Barnabas and some others gave testimony to how all they preached was the gospel, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins, and that when the Gentiles believed that, the Spirit came on them as the Jews did in the beginning, or as the Holy Spirit came on the Jews in Acts chapter 2. So we see that he was writing to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. I mentioned how that was after Stephen's death, his martyrdom, as the church was spreading. Basically what happened was the ones that killed Jesus wanted to kill those who were following Jesus. And so we see where John and Peter were called into the Jewish leaders and they said, stop preaching in the name of Jesus. And they said, no, we're not gonna do that. And so they eventually did kill those two, but the first one to be killed for his faith was Stephen. And after Stephen was killed, the church was scattered from Jerusalem. They were dispersed from Jerusalem into the surrounding communities. And so there gave rise a need for James, the leader of the church at that point, to write to those that were scattered abroad. And so this is the audience that we're dealing with. And so we come to verse two, where he says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. I talked about how brethren could have two meanings. The word brethren literally means born out of the same womb. So that's the literal definition of the word brethren. And so we have two options here. James is either talking to his fellow Jews, who are, you know, descendants of Abraham, and so in that way they are physical kin. Or, as John often used, brethren was a term for spiritual kinship. So spiritual brethren. You and I are brothers and sisters in Christ, because we both trusted in Christ, we are spiritually connected in that regard. I mentioned it last week, but I'll say it again, that I think that he really has both in mind. Of course he's talking to Jewish brethren, but it's more specific than that. It's Jews who have also trusted in Christ. And so they are Jewish believers, or the modern term is Messianic Jews, ones who have believed on their Messiah. And so what is his message to the brethren, or my brethren? And he says in verse 2, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. So how many by a raise of hands, when you face intense difficulty or suffering, your first and most natural inclination is just to celebrate? No, that's strange, right? That's a very odd response to a difficult circumstance. No one in their right mind would do that. Well, thankfully God has given us a word, so we don't have to be in our right mind. We can be in the biblical mind. And God says in Romans 12, 2, that, be not conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind, which comes from the word of God. And so I want to talk about joy for a moment. In fact, there in this short three verse passage, there's two imperatives, which an imperative is a verb in the imperative form literally means that it's a command. It's an authoritative command from God for us to do certain things. The first one we come across is count it all joy. And then we'll talk about it in a moment, but the second one is let patients have. That's the second command essentially that James is getting his point across. And so also along with that, not to get too deep, but just to explain what James is saying, the word consider is in the aorist tense, which means it's a snapshot. It's a decision that is made at one point in time and the effects last into the perfect sense, so to speak. And so essentially what James is saying here is right behavior comes from right thinking. So if you think, you're going to act upon that thinking in the way that you think, whether it be good or bad. So if you are thinking biblically, you're going to respond biblically. And in fact, this is exactly what we talked about in our week of counseling, where we talked about how different emotional wounds that happen to our life can shape our thinking and we can in fact believe lies during those times. And when we believe those lies, our core belief system is shaped by those lies and we will act upon them in wrong ways or hurtful ways or damaged ways. And so part of our counseling process was going back to the lies that we had believed and essentially giving those to God and replacing them with God's truth. And so I find it interesting that James points out, count it or consider it all joy. It's a thinking. And in fact, I believe that's what he's saying here is, when we set ourselves to know sound doctrine and to do it, we will be living sound lives. And that just, again, comes from that, what you believe will determine what you do and what you act upon. And I think the important point to mention here is that thinking is greater than feeling. And so that doesn't mean that feeling isn't important because God created emotions. He created us in his image, which includes being emotional creatures. And emotional beings enhances our relationship with one another. We have the ability to feel and to sense and those sort of things. But the most important thing is thinking. What we think will oftentimes determine how we feel. And I think the important thing is balance in those two areas. If you're only thinking and no feeling, well then you're going to be a very blocked up person. And if you're only feeling and not thinking, then you're going to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. And so we must think rightly in order to feel rightly about circumstances. Moving on, he says, count it all joy when. And so the word there, when, is talking about a certainty. This is going to happen. Trials will happen. It's not a question of if they'll happen, it's when they happen. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. And so when he says you fall into various trials, you fall into speaking to the fact that these trials are not self-induced. They occur to us. So in other words, we can face trials, but it's our own fault that we're facing those trials. And so that's not necessarily what James is talking about. He's talking about the trials and suffering that we can't help. Certain things in our lives that there's nothing we can do except endure what is happening to us. And then he says various trials, again, talking to a multitude of trials, not just one specific trial. Any difficulty we face can be lumped into this category, as long as it's not the self-induced trials that we can inflict upon ourselves. So, this being the first writing of the New Testament, and James is dealing with the suffering of the early Jews, Jewish people faced persecution from those that killed Christ. So again, those who had Christ crucified wanted to root out all Christians. They wanted to eliminate the followers of Jesus. So persecution was very high in these days. In fact, it wasn't just name-calling or saying, this is illegal, you can't do this, you can't do that. It was actually putting to death Christians in these days. And of course, we see this happen with Stephen as he was martyred for his faith, for preaching the gospel to the Jews. And so he says, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, verse three, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And so he talks again about knowledge. It's an intellectual understanding of what God has said. Knowledge is a prerequisite for enduring trials with joy. And this again is specific knowledge of God's word. It's not just knowledge of general knowledge. It's specific knowledge of God's word. And then the word testing. So he says, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And so the word testing there literally means examination or proofing is the literal rendering of that word. And so this examination with the way that it's worded is specifically testing for impurities or weak spots. And so the idea here is it's looking for whether something is fake or counterfeit. And so what would happen in the ancient world is they had clay pots. And so they would make these pots out of clay and then they would put it in the oven to burn and cause that to solidify and harden. But what would happen is when that pot was under pressure, it would oftentimes crack or burst. And so when that pot would crack or burst, an honest or a potter with integrity would throw it away and start over and do a brand new pot and make sure that it's solid. Well, I think in the same way of today, there were less than honest potters that would take the pieces and put wax in between the cracks and then paint over it. And so they would sell it like it's a complete and whole thing. And of course it wasn't. So literally the word sincere, which is one of my favorite Greek words, means without wax. So if you are sincere, you are someone without wax. You're not trying to put something that's not there, there. And so the word testing here has that in mind. It's testing that clay pot, if you will, to make sure it's authentic, able to hold water, able to withstand pressure or hardship. This is the function of trials in the life of a believer, to test our faith. Not to see whether it is existent or not, but whether it will hold up to difficulties. Because again, he's talking to believers. So knowing this, that the testing of your faith produces patience. Or your translation might have endurance. The literal word is steadfastness. The ability to stand fast under trials is what is being communicated there. And so the testing of your faith. And so your faith is the thing that is being tested. And so what I think, there's a few things that are significant about James mentioning your faith. Number one, I think that's the primary reason why I'd take him to be talking to believers. They have faith. It's their present reality. The testing of your faith. So these folks that he is writing to are believers in Jesus Christ. And then furthermore, the other point to be made is that their faith is meant to grow deeper, to grow stronger. The testing of your faith produces something, namely steadfastness. A few more things I want to point out as we continue on is Producing patience, again, is the steadfastness or endurance, literally meaning the power to withstand hardship or stress, especially the inward fortitude necessary. So if something was to be stressed upon it, then if it was patient or steadfast, it would endure that pressure. It reminds me of an assignment I had in wood shop when I was in about seventh grade. We had these wooden sticks and I think glue, wood glue, and we were to fashion a bridge that would be tested by the end of the semester where our teacher had a vice where he would put the bridge in the vice and he would keep adding pressure until it broke. And whoever's bridge lasted the longest would get extra credit. And so that's the idea of our faith. That God has trials coming to our life and he adds it gradually. Not to destroy our faith, but to strengthen it. And that's the key. Not to destroy our faith, but to strengthen it. In the same way a muscle, if you are continually adding weight, your body will just be able to lift more and more and more. And that's the idea. God wants strong, healthy Christians. So then we come to verse four, where we get into the second command that James issues. And he says, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. And so the idea there is, this is the second of the two imperatives and basically a command. And he says, let have. And so this, again, not to get too much into the Greek, but it's in the third person present, meaning that the activity is presently happening. So the activity of endurance being worked out in a believer's life is happening to the person. And so that's why it's rendered in English, let patients have. It's not up to us to cause endurance to grow in us. We are letting patients have its work in our life. We're letting God work, which again gets to our ultimate challenge. Are we humbling ourselves? Are we letting God work on our lives? In fact, a challenge that I've been thinking a lot about is a Jacobian proverb, if you will, be humble or yeah, be humble or be humiliated. And I think that's what often happens. Be humble or be humiliated. If we're proud, well then we'll quickly find ourselves laid low and humiliated rather than having the opportunity to be humble. And so I think that's kind of what's in mind there is let patience have its perfect work in us. And so he describes what this work is. And so literally that word is let patience have its perfect work. It's a completing or a maturing or perfecting work. It's an ongoing bringing about of completion that James is talking about. And that's the idea there. Trials are meant to mature a believer, to bring to completeness. And then he finishes verse four with that mindset, that you may be three things, perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. Perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. And I think that lacking nothing is in reference to our faith. So the idea is as we endure trials, we are better prepared to endure greater trials or more trials. And that's the key here is I think we fall into the habit of thinking as Christians that Once I endure this trial, then there will be peace and rest and I'll be fine for all eternity. And that's not the case. We won't reach that point until Christ comes and returns and makes all things new. And so that requires us to be needing to be made strong as we live in a fallen world. We live in a fallen creation amongst fallen people, ourselves being fallen. And even though we trust in Christ, we have that fallen nature still in us. And so we need to be made perfect in our faith to be able to endure difficulties. To endure difficulties. So if I could summarize this entire passage, it would be that James wants Jewish believers to see the trials that they go through in a joyful way. because it tests their faith and produces steadfastness. And this steadfastness leads to a believer being made perfect and not lacking anything. So in other words, tests or trials makes it so that we are made perfect, lacking nothing in our faith. And this is the ongoing process of the Christian's life. It's the process that God has called us to, and it's the process that sometimes we don't enjoy. And because we don't enjoy it, we oftentimes reject it, and we don't want God to work on our hearts. Which again, requires us to be humble. We must be humble, or else we will be humiliated. And so now I want to outline the general idea of what's being taken place here. In verse 2, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. This is the mentality when we endure trials. The mentality that we as believers need to have when we endure trials. The mentality is joy. Consider it all joy. This is, again, a command. And so there's a few reasons for this joy, ultimately coming from the knowledge of God's Word. Number one, the knowledge of who we are in God. Who we are in God. Like Rick was saying, we are in Christ. And because we are in Christ, that is not changed or altered or ruined because of our trials. So in other words, we can have joy, in facing trials because of who we are in Christ. And our trials does not change it. In fact, it cannot change it. Who we are in God isn't changed by trials. The second thing is where we will be after death. Where we will be after death, again, is not changed by trials. So again, we can have joy in facing trials because of where we know we will be. The worst possible thing that can happen to us in this life is that it would be cut short, that we would die. But that's also the best thing that can happen to us because then the suffering is over. the suffering is complete. And no matter, and this is what we've mentioned before in talking about passages dealing with suffering, the comfort that I take is that it is always temporary. Any suffering you're facing, even right now, your suffering will end. It might last the rest of your life, all likelihood is it won't, but even if it did, it will end. When your life ends, your suffering ends, and you'll be comforted by Jesus himself. And so again, the reason for this joy comes from the knowledge of God's word, who we are in God and where we will be after death. So the mentality James wants believers to have when they endure trials is joy. And so I want to talk about joy because it is such a foreign idea. When we face trials, our first inclination is not to, boy, howdy, I just sure love this. This just feels so good right now. I'll take some more. And that's not exactly what joy is. We actually, in Philippians class, well as the Boguses know, Pastor Harvest, he's the pastor there in LaGrange, but he also teaches a few classes at Frontier. And he teaches Philippians class, which deals with joy in the Christian life. And so to paraphrase the definition we came up with for joy in that class, joy is the deep-rooted peace or contentment that comes from knowing that you are rightly related to God. So again, joy is the deep-rooted peace or contentment that comes from knowing that you are rightly related to God. Also, keep in mind, joy is a fruit of the Spirit. So, in other words, when we are walking by the Spirit and controlled by Him in our day-to-day, moment-by-moment living, joy is produced. And that joy, again, is rooted in our understanding that we are rightly related to God. When we know that we are in good standing with God, we can have joy in the face of anything. And I will say that there is a big difference between joy and happiness. And happiness is not promised in the Christian life. There will be times where we're happy, to be sure. Sometimes joy will overcome us, and the overflow of that is immense happiness. But happiness will end. In fact, I think one of the greatest examples of this at work in a believer's life is King David. He was immensely happy at times, but he was also very sorrowful and depressed, wanting to die. And he would argue, literally argue, with his soul. Why are you so downcast, O my soul? So he dealt with suffering. He dealt with trials. Yet he took it joyfully, knowing who he was rightly related to. And so as I was thinking about joy, the concept of joy, I wanted to illustrate it somehow. And I think this is just a perfect illustration. Thinking of a perennial plant and of course I googled this because I don't know much about plants I know what some plants do but I had to look at the definition so I could know act like I know what I'm talking about but a perennial plant every autumn and fall or winter essentially that plant will die and shrink back to its roots and then come spring it'll blossom again and And I think that's the perfect picture of us as believers. Because trials and suffering can come upon us and we can even die on the surface, just absolutely nothing there. But in that root is life. And what I would say is that root is our faith in God. Our faith in God. So sometimes that's all we have. Sometimes the suffering can be too big or the trials are too large or the suffering just doesn't seem to want to stop picking on us. But the thing we can go back is our roots. That we are saved and it's for eternity. We are saved and it's for eternity. So because James was talking to Jewish believers, and because this again was the first writing of the New Testament, they did have a knowledge of God's Word, a very thorough knowledge of God's Word, better than I think I will ever have. They knew the Old Testament well. And so they knew this principle at work, which is, in fact, when we get to James chapter 2, the reason he brings up Abraham and Rahab, they knew well of those folks' circumstances. And so some examples of this at work, trials making faith deeper or perfect or mature. Number one, think of Abraham. Abraham was, of course, the father of the Jewish race. He was promised by God to have a son. And if you know the story, him and his wife were unable to conceive. And so a promise for a son can't be fulfilled if they're not able to have a son. And yet God promised that he would have Abraham and Sarah to have a son and conceive. And so of course we know Abraham took matters into his own hands and tried to bring it about fleshly speaking. But that wasn't the promised son. And we do know that later Isaac was born. And so one of the confusing parts of Abraham's life, or seemingly confusing, is God brings about the fulfillment. He brings about Isaac, the promised son. And then the next scene we see him say, okay, Abraham, you know that son that you couldn't have, but I worked through your wife and I opened her womb and you were able to conceive. I want you to take that son and sacrifice him. Immense trial, right? He had faith in God, but that faith was being tested in that moment. Tested beyond something I would ever want to go. And I was just thinking about that as I was preparing this week. And what if God had me do that with Titus? Because that's the same situation. He loved Isaac, and I love Titus, and I would never, ever think to sacrifice him. That would be a huge test to me. And yet look at Abraham's joy in something that he says in that moment. In Genesis 22, 5 it says, And Abraham said to his young men, so he had some servants with him, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. We will come back to you. So Abraham didn't know how it was going to happen. He didn't know what was going to take place. He knew that he was going to go to the full extent and sacrifice his son. And whether that meant God would raise him from the dead or what would happen, he knew that he will come back because He remembered the promise of God that through Isaac would come a great nation and all the promises, the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham would be made through Isaac. So whether Isaac would die and come back or something else happened, Abraham's faith was tested and he kept his faith in God. And as we know, as Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, God said, Abraham, whoa, I know you're serious. Good job. Here's a ram. Sacrifice that. And so a neat picture, ultimately, of what God would do through Jesus, but also a testing of Abraham's faith. The second person that comes to mind and would have come to mind to these Jewish believers was Joshua. Joshua, two generations later, he was the son of Israel, the son of Jacob. And Joshua was a brother that was loved by Israel. didn't know how to keep his mouth shut and would brag. And so his brothers wanted to sell him to slavery. When he did that, he was thrown into prison for doing the right thing. He was innocent. He ran in the face of temptation and yet was wrongly accused and held in prison for years and years and years. And look at the pronouncement of joy that Joshua had, the deeper understanding because of God's word to him. in what he says to his brothers in Genesis 50, 20. He said, what you intended for evil towards me, God intended for good. What work in his life needed to take place to where he could take all those rotten circumstances he was dealt and had happened to him, and he could say, God brought about good through this. He had my best in mind throughout all of this. Again, Joshua's faith was tested. Joseph. Yeah, I have Joshua here. Sorry, Joseph. Joshua had some tests himself too. But the other one I wanted to mention was Daniel. And think of Daniel and his friends. And just briefly, think of the fiery furnace. Now what was happening is Nebuchadnezzar put up a statue and said, everyone worship that. And of course, Daniel and his friends said, no, we worship the God of Israel. We're not going to do that. And so they were thrown in the fiery furnace. But I love, this is one of my favorite passages, and Daniel's not even necessarily included in this, but, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, who was about to throw them in the fire, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." Again, their faith was being tested and they put it in the right spot. They placed it in God and they were matured through that. They survived that circumstance. Think about what they were able to believe in God for after surviving the fiery furnace. You think that the next trial would have been a little bit easier? Or at least they know what their God is capable of doing? I think that's what God does in our life. And again, the other example is Daniel in the lion's den. He trusted God. It was a trial in his life. The last person I wanted to mention was Job. Job, as you well know, he lost his family. He lost all his possessions and essentially his livelihood. And he lost his health. He had boils from head to foot. And look at his response in Job 13, 15. Though he slay me, talking about God. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before him. Immense faith. All because God was testing his faith. Not to see whether it existed or not, but to strengthen it. To mature it. God doesn't want, again, a mile wide and an inch deep. He wants a mile deep. and further still. And so these are the examples that these Jewish believers would have had in mind. And so James was saying, count it all joy when you face various trials. So the second idea in the text in verse three is the purpose for our enduring trials. So we see the mentality of enduring trials, but the purpose for enduring trials in verse three, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. So that testing of your faith brings about steadfastness. So in other words, the more your faith is tested, the more you're able to withstand in facing life's trials that we know will come. And again, that picture of a weightlifter targeting specific groups, wanting to get stronger in certain areas. The third division in the text is the result of enduring trials, verse four. So in other words, if you were to let this process happen in your life, every time, your faith is being more and more and more made perfect. And so essentially the bottom line is God is bringing us to perfection. Jesus is the author and perfecter or finisher of our faith. And he wants to bring that work into our life. He wants to bring us to maturity. And the question is whether we let patience have its perfect work in us. And so the result of enduring trials again is that we will be made perfect and lack nothing. So getting as we conclude, I want to bring those applications specifically in the context of the passage we're dealing with. Those three questions I mentioned two weeks ago. Number one, ask the Holy Spirit to search you out. So as I've been speaking this morning, as we've been getting into God's word, what has the Holy Spirit been revealing in you? Maybe it's a trial you're going through now, or maybe you can recall a difficulty or a trial in your life before now. What is God revealing as far as weakness in your life? Because that's, again, the purpose of trials. He wants to expose those weaknesses, not to destroy us, but to mend them, to heal them, and to strengthen them. So ask God, what is the Holy Spirit showing you in your trials? And maybe things are good right now. Maybe you're in that wonderful blessing spot where you're not going through a trial. We'll keep that in mind when trials come. What is God wanting to show me? In fact, this is getting into the next passage that we'll deal with next week. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God. If you don't know why you're going through a trial, that's when you ask God. That's what he's talking about. God, what are you wanting to show me in this? And God will show us. The second question, humble yourself and do what God desires of his children. And so again, God is wanting to bring about maturity in our life and he does that through trials. And so sometimes we can act like Paul and kick against the goads, if you will. When Jesus revealed himself to Paul, he said, Paul, it's hard for you to kick against the goads. And so what he's talking about is essentially in ancient times, they had a stick with sharp points, basically a cattle prod. And Jesus was cattle prodding Paul. And if any of you have dealt with cows, if you keep hitting them with the prod, they're going to kick at you. And so that was Paul, figuratively speaking, kicking against God's goats. God was trying to direct him and change his life. And Paul kept kicking until finally it's hard for him to kick against the goats. So ask yourself, are you kicking against God's goads in your life? Is God wanting to reveal something, to show you something, to change something in your life and you're kicking against it? Again, consider it all joy when you face trials because He's wanting to perfect your faith. He's wanting to strengthen your faith in Him. And then number three, learn to worship God in a worthy manner. Essentially that will face the believer's judgment well. And so the focus of what I believe, the focus of the book of James is worthy worship. Worthy worship. Is your worship of God, that means your singing, your service, your ministry, your preaching, your Bible study, your love for other believers, your love for the lost. Are those things worthy of what God has called you to? Because, I think the reason is, and Paul develops this idea more, believers still face judgment. It's not judgment on whether you get into heaven or not, that was dealt with. If you trust in Christ, you're going to heaven, that's a sure thing, it's done, set in stone. But, God saved us for good works, Ephesians 2.10. We were saved for good works, we were saved to resemble Christ, to do the works after him. And we will be judged whether we did or not. We will give an account for what we did with the life that He gave us. So we want to be found faithful. We want to be found obedient. We want to be good children of God. And I think if there's any motivation for that at all, don't pass up eternal living for temporary pleasures. And that's extremely hard because we live in the temporary. We don't live in eternity now. And so it's very hard to buy into earthly things. And he's going to get into that. The reason wars and divisions happen amongst these believers is because they were earthly. They were earthly minded. They were earthly perspective. And James wants to rip that out of our hands so that we would think of eternity. Because the things we do now echoes into eternity. The faithfulness we show here will determine what God rewards us with when he rules and reigns in heaven. And we want to be found faithful. So we want to learn to worship God in a worthy manner. So I'll close with this illustration. Think of yourself as a great marble slab, a big block of marble. When you became a believer, that's when you became that marble slab. It's beautiful as is, but God wants to make it more beautiful. He wants to do a beautiful thing in your life, and He wants to chisel away things. And sometimes chiseling and hammer and chisel, it hurts. It's uncomfortable. We don't like it. But the result is beautiful, and the result is worth it. Because when we stand back at the end of our life, what are we going to see? Are we going to see just a plain marble statue that God was not able to do any work in our life because we didn't want Him to? We pushed against Him. We rejected His work in our life. Or are we going to be what God wants us to be? The fullness potential of what God wants us to be. Again, consider it all joy. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your work in our life. We thank you for trials. Even though they're not pleasant, they do bring about good things. And we trust that your word is true in that regard. We know that you love us and nothing can separate us from that love. And we pray that we would draw near to you in the face of those difficulties and trials and ask for wisdom in facing them, in what you're wanting to bring about. And if there's anyone here today that has never trusted Christ as their Savior, I want to invite you to do that now. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but through me. And He did that when He died on the cross for our sins. And if we believe that that is true and we believe on Him, He gives us the gift of eternal life. So in the quietness of your own heart, would you receive Christ as your Savior? And Lord, we thank you for your work in our lives. And we pray that that would continue and that you would humble us before potentially humiliating us. But we thank you all the same when you show us the right way. In Jesus' name, amen.