(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Faith Award Baptist Church. So nice to see you all here for our Sunday morning service. If you all please make your way back to your seats and we'll begin our singing this morning. Hymn number 215. We'll get started today. 215. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. Hymn number 215. We'll get started today. 215. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. Hymn number 215. We'll get started today. 215. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. Hymn number 215. Lift up your voice on that verse now. Number 215. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. A day I will never forget. After I wonder if God is awake. He is my Savior, my friend. Oh, what a day with a passionate friend. He met the need of my heart. That of his swelling with joy and telling. He made all our darkness depart. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away. And my life was turned to dead. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. Born of the Spirit with light of the love. Into God's family divine. Just to find full in the power is love. Oh, what a scan in his mind. And a transaction so clearly was made. When at the Savior I came. For the offer of praise he did offer. He saved me of praise every day. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away. And my life was turned to dead. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. Now I'm on the whole path of joy and joy. After the passing of time. I'm a future in heaven for sure. There in those vengeance of God. And it's because of that wonderful day. When at the cross I believe. Great is eternal. And blessing supernal. From his precious hand I receive. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. When at the cross the Savior made me whole. My sins were washed away. And my life was turned to dead. Heaven came down. And glory filled my soul. Thank you so much for singing this morning. We want to go and ask the Lord's blessing on the service. Heavenly Father, we thank you for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you Father for another year. We thank you for this beautiful hymnal. We ask you to bless today's sermon. Bless Pastor Anderson and fill him with your Holy Spirit. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Back to hymn number 102. He hideth my soul. And in hymn number 102 begins the wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. Number 102. Let's sing this out together. A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where shadows of dry earths beware. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord. He's taken my burden away. He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved. He giveth me strength as my way. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where shadows of dry earths beware. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. With humbleness, blessings, each moment he found, and filled with his goodness divine, I sing my rapture of glory to God, for such a redeemer as mine. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where shadows of dry earths beware. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. With humbleness, brightness, transformed, and I rise to be vivid clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where shadows of dry earths beware. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. This time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we'll be in 2 Chronicles 32. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms across the page. We of course blew your New Year's resolution this morning with donuts before the service in honor of all the birthdays and anniversaries. On the back, congratulations to the Meathor family on the birth of baby David Isaiah, born on Monday, December 30th, 2024. 8 pounds 9 ounces, 20 inches long. So good job baby David for getting your parents that tax write-off for the whole year by being born before it ended. And then ladies, there's a baby shower. Today all ladies and teenage girls are invited to attend from two to four o'clock today. Other than that, we'd ask you to leave the kids at home if possible and just bring only nurselings. Food will be provided. Then we've got of course on the 18th coming up, the Fur Bay wedding. And then we've got Pastor Thompson preaching in January on the 22nd. And then we've got Pastor Shelley preaching on February 19th. Those are both Wednesday nights. And so mark the calendar for those. If you're not typically a Wednesday night person, make a point to be at those. And that is about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. All right, take your hymnals and go to hymn number 211. Number 211. 211, whosoever meaneth me. Hymn number 211. Start together on that verse, I am happy today. And the sunshine's bright. Number 211, love your voice on that verse now. I am happy today. And the sunshine's bright. The clouds haven't rolled away. For the Savior has fed whosoever will become within to stay. Whosoever surely meaneth me. Surely meaneth me. Oh, surely meaneth me. Whosoever surely meaneth me. Whosoever meaneth me. Oh, that hope has kept me raised. Oh, it's made me praise. His glory has filled my soul. I've been lifted up from sin set free. His blood has made me whole. Whosoever surely meaneth me. Surely meaneth me. Oh, surely meaneth me. Whosoever surely meaneth me. Whosoever meaneth me. Oh, what wonderful love. Oh, what grace be mine. That Jesus should die for me. I was lost in sin for the world I find. But now I am set free. Whosoever surely meaneth me. Surely meaneth me. Oh, surely meaneth me. Whosoever surely meaneth me. Whosoever meaneth me. Man, good singing, everybody. Go over to hymn number 230, number 230, Heavenly Sunlight. Hymn number 230. Two, three, zero. Walking in sunlight, all of my journey. Number 230, lift up your voice. Sing it out now in that verse. 230. Walking in sunlight, all of my journey. Over the mountains, to the detail. Jesus has said, I'll never forsake thee. Promise me life that never can fail. Heavenly Sunlight, heavenly Sunlight. flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing. Singing his praises. Jesus is mine. Shadows around me. Shadows above me. Never concealed by Savior and God. He is the light in him is the darkness. Never I'm walking close to his side. Heavenly Sunlight, heavenly Sunlight. flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing. Singing his praises. Jesus is mine. In the breath of life, ever rejoicing. Pressing my way to vengeance above. Singing his praises. Gladly I'm walking. Walking in sunlight, sunlight above. Heavenly Sunlight, heavenly Sunlight. flooding my soul with glory divine. Hallelujah, I am rejoicing. Singing his praises. Jesus is mine. All right, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to James chapter one. James chapter number one. As we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number one. Follow along silently with brother Corbin Brock as he reads James chapter one, starting in verse number one. James chapter one. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that give it to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. But the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. For a pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this morning. Lord, thank you for allowing us to gather here. Please just bless Pastor Anderson and fill him with the Holy Spirit, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Life is a Test. Life is a test. As we go throughout our Christian lives, we are constantly being tested. We're going through trials and testings, and this is what the Bible means when it says temptations. Because if you think about that word temptation, it's related to the word attempt, right? And to attempt something is to try something. To make an attempt is to try. And so the temptations that the Bible is referring to here are testings. Difficult situations that we are put in, in order to strengthen us and help us to grow, and find a way to move to the next level in our Christian life. So the Bible says here in verse number two, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. And the word diverse there, it's like our modern word diverse, which means various, all kinds of different trials and temptations. He's saying count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. That's exactly what Jesus Christ taught when he said that when we're persecuted, when we are afflicted, we're supposed to jump for joy and leap for joy. And here the reason given is that the trying of our faith worketh patience, and the idea here is that the testings that we go through actually make us a better person. Patience is a virtue. Immature people lack patience. When children are born, they have no patience. They just want everything right now. You can tell them, even when they're a little baby, you can tell them, hey, your food's going to be here in just a second, just wahhh, even if they see you coming toward them, it's not fast enough with the bottle or whatever it is that they want. Okay, they have zero patience. They just want to gratify the flesh now. They just want enjoyment now. They don't want to wait for anything. And as we get older and more mature, we need to develop patience. Okay? And patience takes a few different forms. One form of patience is waiting to be gratified. That's kind of what we just talked about, right? The baby, he wants his taste buds, you know, lit up right now with that mother's milk. He wants his belly filled right now. And obviously that's an important type of patience for us as adults as well, right? Because we sometimes need to wait for things that are coming later. Like, for example, let's say you're not married. You need to wait to have that physical relationship until you're married. You need to have the patience to not commit the wicked sin of fornication by going to bed with that person before you're married. You need to wait until you're married to indulge in that relationship, right? Or maybe there's something that you want to buy and you don't have the money and you're tempted to go down to one of these skeevy, like, check cashing places or something and just kind of have it all right now and buy things that you can't afford and rack up the credit cards and things like that. You don't know. You've got to be patient and wait for those things, right? Or maybe, you know, you know that you're supposed to work until a certain time, but you're just impatient to just get off work. So you're clocking out early and you're not making as much money or you're getting in trouble at work or whatever. So there's that aspect of patience, which is very important, and we need to develop that. But then there's another type of patience as well that has to do with enduring something difficult, right? You've got to have patiently bearing pain, suffering, difficulty, right? That's another type of patience where you endure things, okay? And then a third type of patience would be the type of patience where you work hard at something and you're not just hastily getting it done and just kind of throwing it together, but you actually diligently do a task with patience, you do a good job, you put time into things and do things the right way without cutting it off. You're not cutting corners and taking shortcuts. These are all different types of patience, right? And the Bible here is saying that we should be happy when we go through trials and tribulations. We shouldn't want our life to just be super easy all the time with no problems and no difficulty because this will make us people that are weak and have no character and have no patience. It'd be like the person who never gets any physical activity. They never lift any weights. They're not going to have any muscle, right? And so if you think about it, patience is like a muscle that we exercise, okay? And so we should find joy in the fact that we're going through difficult times, trials, and tribulations because we know that the trying of our faith worketh patience. Just like when you're at the gym and you're lifting and you feel the pain of that lift, you know, hey, I'm building muscle. I'm getting stronger. This is hard. And here's a little tip for the gym, by the way. You know, it is January. This is the only time anybody works out anyway is just in January, so I might as well talk about it. You know, here's a little tip at the gym. Exercises that are really easy and enjoyable, they probably don't really build a lot of muscle. Everybody loves the machines because they're so easy. Yeah, they're easy and they don't work. You know, the harder exercises, you know, oh, I hate pull-ups. You know, those are hard. Yeah, that's because they actually build muscle. That's because they actually work. And so we've got to get an attitude in our lives that embraces trials and tribulations and when hard things come at us, instead of getting upset at God and saying, God, why are you doing this to me? Why are you causing things to go wrong in my life? Why can't you just let me have a peaceful year, a good year? You know, we need to learn to embrace those things and say, you know what? God is pushing me a little bit right now. God is testing me right now because God is making me into a better person for future greatness and glory in my life. And so the reason that we can enjoy tribulation or get excited about tribulation is thinking about the result. Just like, you know, when you're going through exercise and you're thinking about the results, that's what motivates you, right? You're not just lifting weights for the sake of lifting weights. You're doing it because you want to get stronger, because you want to build muscle. Well, here's the thing. In our Christian lives, we need to understand that life is a test. God is going to allow us to go through trials and tribulations to make us a better, stronger person with more patience, right? We'll be able to endure things. It's the kind of patience where you patiently endure and push through trials. And let me tell you something. This is the way the Christian life works. I've obviously been a Christian for a long time. I grew up in church. I got saved as a six-year-old boy, and I'm 43 now, and I've been really serious about serving God since I was about 16 or 17 years old. And so, you know, I've been serving God for a long time, you know, 25, 26, 27 years that I've been really serious about it. And here's the thing is that I've noticed that the difficult trials that we're faced with in the Christian life, they get easier every single time. Even if the trials are worse than previous trials, they get easier to endure, because you've built up more patience. You've built up more strength. And so, just being a pastor, I can remember the first time that I was persecuted as a pastor, and it was really hard. It was really difficult. And then, at this point, it's just like, meh, whatever. And you just keep going. You just push through, because God has taught you patience and how to endure things. And so, have a good attitude about the trials of life. And if your goal is to have an easy life with no trials, that's a foolish goal for a couple reasons. Number one, it's a foolish goal because it's unattainable. Having this, like, smooth sailing, perfect life where everything's cool is an unattainable goal. You're going to be pretty frustrated if you're just trying to live this little perfect life, because it's never going to happen. But number two, it's a foolish goal, because if it did theoretically happen, and you had your little perfect, little cush, little storybook life, you'd become a weak, lame person. Okay? It's the trials, it's the tribulations, it's the difficulties that keep us strong, that keep us sharp, that keep us growing in our faith. So, we should know that the trying of our faith worketh patience. Now, we're talking about trials, tribulations, but specifically, let's focus in on that term, the trying of your faith. Now, faith has to do with believing what the Bible says, right? Believing the Word of God. Because when we talk about faith in a biblical context, we're not just talking about believing anything, we're talking about believing what God says, believing the Lord, okay? Now, the trying of our faith could be a situation where we are prompted, perhaps, to doubt the Word of God, right? Our faith is kind of being tested, like, God, I know I'm supposed to be doing this, but things aren't going well. Or, God, I know you said to do this in the Bible, but I did it, and now I'm struggling, right? That's the trial of your faith. Right? Because the world's gonna come at you and say, oh, things aren't going well for you? Oh, guess Christianity's not working out. I guess your biblical way of life's not working out. I guess maybe the promises of God aren't true. That's the devil talking, right? But we know that God's promises are always true, and like Job, even in the face of things going poorly when we do right, we push through and have the faith that weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. And that in the end, God is gonna bless obedience, and even if in the short term, we have setbacks, trials, and tribulations, we know that in the long run, God is going to bless our obedience, and that the Bible is true no matter what the circumstances. So, it's our faith in the Word of God that's gonna be tried, that's gonna be pushed. You see, a person with no patience, they expect to do something for God, and they just immediately be rewarded. Right? Sort of like the baby saying, give me the bottle right now. The prodigal son. Give me the portion of the inheritance that falleth unto me right now. Okay. But, the person with patience says, you know what, I'm gonna keep serving God, and maybe I'm not gonna be rewarded immediately, maybe I'm not even gonna be rewarded this year or next year, but I know that God's gonna fulfill his promises to me, and I know that if I follow the Word of God, I will be blessed in the long run. And so, our faith is what is tried. Now, look at verse 4, it says, but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Now, if the Bible says, let patience have her perfect work, this is a command, the idea here is that it's possible for us to interrupt the work of patience, to not let patience have her perfect work, and this would be when we bail out of trials and tribulations prematurely. Okay. For example, let's say, you know, I were taking someone on a really difficult hike or something, right? And so, this hike would be an ordeal, it would be a trial, it would be difficult, it would be strenuous, it would take patience to go on, say, a 20-mile hike or something like that, right? And if people went on that 20-mile hike, at the end of it, they're gonna be stronger. They're gonna be mentally stronger, they're gonna be physically stronger, they're gonna benefit from it, but there could be a temptation to get halfway into this hike and perhaps say, hey, I'm gonna call my wife to come pick me up, because this is just too hard, right? And maybe she's calling and enticing with, you know, all kinds of meals that are being prepared at that, you know, you could come home right now and have dinner, you know what I mean? And that siren song of the spouse calling you home could pull you away from this epic hike that you're on or something like that. And here's the thing, if you bail out early, think about what that's gonna do. Number one, you're not really getting the benefit of the training, because guess what? Where do you think most of the benefit physically comes from in a 20-mile hike? The first 10 miles or the last 10 miles, right? Because obviously it's that part of the end where you're pushing yourself to a new frontier, right? And so you're missing out on that training, but also your confidence is taking a hit. Because now in the future, when you're given an opportunity to do something like this in the future that's gonna require you to walk 20 miles or something, you're gonna say, oh, you know what, I tried that and I failed and I had to bail out halfway through. I had to get picked up by my wife. It was so embarrassing, you know, I wasn't able to finish. And so the idea here is you've got to let patients have a perfect work by seeing at trials through to their completion, okay? And this isn't just Pastor Anderson taking you on some death hike. This is God putting you through trials and tribulations. This is God bringing things into your life that he knows that you can handle and that he has a plan to build your patience and build your endurance and build your character, okay? And, you know, here are just a couple of just kind of obvious practical examples. Let's say that your marriage is difficult. Let's say that you're having marriage problems and maybe your marriage is an ordeal and becoming somewhat of a death hike, okay? Here's the thing about that is that it's easy to just bail out of that. And that's what a lot of people are gonna do in our modern society. They're just gonna say, oh, marriage is hard, I'm out. And what happens is they're not seeing that through to its completion. They're not learning the lessons that they were supposed to learn, okay? So what happens is, you know, you're married and then you bail out on that marriage, right? If you would have stayed with it, you could have grown through that. You could have figured out how to get through those problems, deal with those problems, or maybe just gain some real patience and endurance, you know, putting up with something bad. But either way, you didn't learn that lesson because you bailed out. And, you know, it could be the same thing with growing up with your parents and your siblings. And I remember when I was a kid growing up, you know, fighting with my little sister and being told by my parents, hey, you better learn how to go along with your little sister because if you don't get along with your little sister, you're not getting along with your wife someday. And I remember just thinking that that sounds like the stupidest thing in the world, you know? Because it's like, my sister, you know, my wife's gonna be like, hey, baby, you know, and this is like my sister. It's like, obviously, it's two totally different categories here. But what, you know, but obviously my parents are right. That obviously some of those same dynamics that you're learning, getting along with your brother, getting along with your sister, getting along with your parents, getting along with people, those skills are going to carry over into marriage. And guess what? Your spouse and you are not always just gonna be on cloud nine in love, just, you know, whatever you say, dear. Obviously, there comes a point where you and your spouse are gonna get on each other's nerves just like a brother and sister get on each other's nerves. And you gotta learn how to deal with that. But if you just refuse to learn those lessons as a kid, then you're just gonna keep going through those trials and keep going through those trials and not getting anywhere because you're not finishing the trial. Okay. You know, oh, man, you know, my mom, this, my dad, this, I can't get along with my parents. They're always on my case or whatever. But here's the thing. You kids, teenagers right now that are not getting along with your parents, let me just tell you something. Whatever your parents are like, let's say your parents are a little bit unreasonable or whatever in your mind, guess what? You're gonna be dealing with unreasonable people for the rest of your life. First of all, your parents probably aren't even unreasonable. You're probably the one that's 100% in the wrong. I'd put good money on that. But let's just say that you're right. Let's just say that your parents are being unreasonable. You will deal with unreasonable people for the rest of your life. And if you just say, well, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm just gonna just run away from home or I'm just gonna just move out as soon as I turn 18. I'm just gonna get away from my parents because you're just gonna go out of the frying pan and into the fire because you're just gonna deal with more unreasonable people and you never gain the tools. You never learn the lessons for how to get through those situations the right way, God's way, the Bible way. You know, God has the answer for how to get through these trials and tribulations. But it's so much easier to just quit. Just get out. You know, all problems in the church, I'm out. Problems on the job, I'm out. And you see these people that just have just one job after another. It's like they can't stay with a job. And they're on their 10th job. They're on their 15th job and they're in their 20s. And look, I'm not saying that there's never a time to switch jobs. Obviously, yeah, you know, you switch jobs. That's part of life. But then there are these people who are just constantly switching jobs. Hey, guess what? There's a time when it's appropriate to switch churches. There are a lot of times when switching churches is a good move. But then you have perpetual church hoppers that just go from church to church to church to church. Why? Because they're never learning the lessons of how to make things work in a church, how to make things work at a job, how to make things work in your family. And because they're not learning those lessons, they just keep repeating the same cycles of failure over and over again. We've got to let patients have her perfect work. Don't be a quitter that just runs away when things go wrong. See things through to their completion. Okay? Just learn how to get along with the family that you're in. If you're a kid, if you're a teenager, if you're a young adult, learn how to get along with that family. And here's the thing. You say, oh, you don't know how difficult my parents are. Here's the thing. You learn how to get along with those difficult parents. Other relationships are going to be easier later. And I remember, you know, thinking as a teenager that my dad was super unreasonable and that he would be kind of hard on us like when we would go to work with him. Because sometimes he would take us to work with him as a helper, crawling attics. He's an electrician. So we'd be crawling attics, crawling under houses, being a gopher. And I remember thinking that, man, my dad is just so hard to work for. He's just so difficult that he's just always yelling and all this stuff and just thinking how hard it was to work for my dad. And then what's funny is that now I'm in my 40s. I go on Facebook or whatever and I see people posting all these memes and stuff about their dad. And I'm like, wait a minute. Everybody's dad was like exactly the same way. Like I'm thinking to myself that, you know, holding the flashlight and getting yelled at for pointing it, not at the exact right spot. I thought it was a unique experience. But then there's memes about it that have like hundreds of thousands of likes of like, hey, some of y'all never had to hold the flashlight for your dad and it really shows. And I'm thinking to myself, okay, everybody was going through that. But what's funny is, you know, my first job, I worked for just an extremely unreasonable supervisor. And then later on, I got another job where the boss was just so difficult. He couldn't keep any employees for more than like a week. It was just a revolving door at this place. No one wanted to work for this guy, but he paid well. And so I was like, you know, you can call me whatever you want and just keep this money flowing. And so this guy would scream at me and yell at me. And I remember I got together with my dad at a family gathering during that time. And I said, dad, I said, you know, I used to think you were hard to work for. I said, the guy I'm working for right now makes you look like Mr. Rogers. And I said, you know, thank you for preparing me because now I can handle this because you prepped me for this. But honestly, my dad was way easier to get along with than my supervisor at my first job and my supervisor at my third job. My dad was way more reasonable, way easier to get along. But at the time I just thought, oh, man, my dad's the worst. But no, not at all. That was just my perspective as a foolish child, a teenager who hasn't had experience in the real world understanding that you will deal with difficult people for the rest of your life. And your mom is not the most difficult person. Your dad is not the most difficult person. Your brother is not the most difficult person. Your sister is not. You haven't seen nothing yet. When will you get out there and see what kind of people are out there in this world that aren't even Christians the way that they operate? You're in for a rude awakening when you realize that everything out there isn't all sunshine and roses. You're a sheltered little American, little Lord Fauntleroy, little spoiled rich kid. And you're going to get out there one day and see what's out there. Some rough things out there. See your trials through to their completion. Let patients have a perfect work. That difficult person in your life, learn how to get along with them. Learn that a soft answer turns away wrath. Learn how to be diligent, how to be a good worker. And you know what the secret was in every case to making these monstrous supervisors happy? Doing a better job. You know what I mean? Wow. It's true though. You do a good enough job and they'll start to like you. It's just that simple. It doesn't make it right for them to act that way, but you know what? It's not about what's right and wrong because you can't control other people and make them do right. All you can do is deal with the situation that you're in and when you are in trials and tribulations, you need to let patients have a perfect work. Think about this. Here's another illustration. How about like boot camp, right? Boot camp is difficult. Boot camp is strange. I've never been, but I've heard about it. And you know, it's strenuous and it's hard and it's painful and it's an ordeal. What if you just quit early? What if you just go home after a week, go home after two weeks? Number one, you're not getting the training. You're not getting stronger physically and mentally. Number two, you've also ruined your confidence because now you're thinking, oh, I tried that and I failed. Versus the sense of achievement of having gotten through it and having the patience to endure future trials and tribulations because you endured this one. So let patients have a perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Now wanting is synonymous with the word in the next phrase there, lack, if any of you lack wisdom, right? Wanting nothing, another way of saying wanting nothing is lacking nothing, right? When the Bible says the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, it means I'm not going to lack anything. Okay, that's the context of this word here. And so you don't want to be lacking life skills because you bailed out of situations that God had put you in. God put you in that situation and then instead of just pushing through and following the Bible, you just bailed out of church. You just quit soul winning. I mean, look, I remember going soul winning with a guy. Somebody yelled at us and slammed the door and this guy said, I'm never going soul winning again because of the way that guy treated me. And I'm just thinking to myself, like, what in the world? Like, why don't you develop some patience, endure some tribulation, push through and develop a thicker skin? Because you know what? The first time somebody yells at you out soul winning, maybe it is a little bit of a shock to the system. Especially if you grew up all sheltered and you weren't used to getting yelled at or something and somebody just tears into you, you might kind of be upset by that. But at this point, when someone freaks out on me out soul winning, I think it's fun. You know, I walk away, you know, nowadays we walk away like laughing. Like, yeah, can you believe that guy? People who have been soul winning a lot aren't offended when people freak out, yell at them. It's just like another story. It's entertaining. But, you know, the first time it's rough, but it's like, oh, I'm never going soul winning again. Really? You know, if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. That's what the Bible says. And so, you know, you don't want to be lacking anything. You don't want to be lacking life skills that you should have learned when you were 14, 15, 16, 17. Now you're 30 and you still haven't learned them because you're always just running away from your problems. You're always just running away from any difficulty at the job, any difficulty at church, family difficulty. You just run away from it instead of learning how to deal with things. Okay. And patiently enduring the tribulations that God has lined up for you. God's got you on a training regimen. Quit skipping workouts. Do what the Bible has told you to do and stay with things that you've committed to in your life or things that God has put you in, situations that God has put you in. So it says that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Okay. And then this rolls right into verse five, if any of you lack wisdom. So at the end of verse four, we're talking about not lacking anything. And then this kind of segues into if any of you lack wisdom, if you are lacking something, namely wisdom, let him ask of God. They give it to all men liberally and it braith not and it shall be given him. Okay. Because remember what we talked about earlier is that the trials that we go through are trying our faith. They're testing our faith in what God says and our faith in what the Bible teaches. And so if we lack wisdom, then we need to ask God, meaning that we don't lose faith in the word of God and go asking this world or asking worldly counselors for help. No, we, we go to God to figure out what the answers are. We ask God and God gives to all men liberally, meaning that he gives wisdom to all men liberally and he upbraids not. What does that mean? He upbraideth not. What it means is that he does not rebuke us for asking. He doesn't say, oh, that's a stupid question. You know, you shouldn't ask that. You should already know this. God wants us to ask for wisdom. He wants us to seek wisdom and he's not going to make us feel stupid for asking. He wants us to come to him and ask for wisdom. He is the source. And the Bible says if we ask that, then wisdom will be given unto us, right? Ask and you shall receive. Any person who sincerely wants to know the truth and sincerely wants to know what the right course of action is, if that person goes to the Lord in faith and asks, they will receive the right answer. People that receive the wrong answer, it's because they are self deceived. They're insincere. They don't really want to know the truth. Everybody who wants to know the truth ends up becoming an evangelical Christian. They end up becoming a born again Christian who believes the Bible. People who, you know, they just go on a quest for truth and end up a Buddhist. They're not really seeking truth. They're seeking whatever they want or they have some ulterior motive going on because those who seek will find, the Bible says. And so it says, let him ask in faith. If we ask God for wisdom, he'll give it to us, but we've got to ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed, for let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. Now, if you know anything about the history of Mormonism, right, the Latter Day Saints church out of Salt Lake City, Utah, if you know anything about their history, of course, they're founded by a guy named Joseph Smith. And he's obviously a false prophet and so forth. But if you listen to Mormons tell you the history of their religion, if you read any book about Mormonism from their perspective or listen to any Mormons tell you sort of the lore of how their religion started or what the church's official version of the story is, you'll find that this verse, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, is a major verse that they pin everything on as far as the founding of their religion. Because supposedly Joseph Smith, you know, didn't know which church to join, he didn't know which denomination is right, he didn't know which church he should follow and so he asked God for wisdom. And then God ended up telling him, all the churches are wrong and, you know, you've got to go baptize yourself and all that. So basically, the whole point is that they make a big deal about how, well, Joseph Smith knew that he was right because he prayed and asked God for wisdom and God led him to start this Mormon church. So, you know, God promised that if anybody asked him for wisdom he'll give it to them and so that's what Joseph Smith did and so therefore he must be right. And then they'll tell you, well, you need to pray about the Book of Mormon and if you pray about the Book of Mormon you're going to get a burning in the bosom and God's going to show you that the Book of Mormon is true. If you just pray and ask God to give you wisdom just like old Joseph did, you've got to do the same thing. I don't know if you are familiar with this at all, what exposure you've had with Mormonism, but this is a big thing for them, this verse. But they're totally twisting and misunderstanding this verse and let me tell you what they're leaving out of this verse is that it says, let him ask in faith. Okay, let him ask in faith. And here's what I would submit to you is that a person who doesn't believe what the Bible says is not asking in faith. They're not asking faith. It doesn't just mean like, oh, pretty please show me and I just believe so hard that you're going to show me. Okay, I'll go baptize myself now because every church is wrong. I'm going to go start my own cult. That's not what the Bible is saying. When the Bible says let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, you know what the Bible is saying is we need to start from a place of faith in God. Faith in God's word, faith in the Bible, and we cannot waver on the fact that what the Bible says is true. And that's where Joseph Smith has gone wrong because Joseph Smith didn't believe the Bible is true. Joseph Smith believed that all versions of the Bible are corrupted. And that's why he had to go make his own Joseph Smith translation of the Bible, which is not even a translation. He didn't even know Greek and Hebrew. It's just him rewriting the Bible in his own words. Okay, and that's why if you talk to a Mormon today, if you ask them is the Bible true, they'll say, well, as long as it's properly translated. But what they really mean by that is not just if it's translated properly because they don't even believe that the original Greek and Hebrew is perfect either. What they really mean is if it's preserved and properly translated and they don't believe it's been preserved. They think it's been corrupted and lost and that's why we need Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon to get us back on track. And so the bottom line is Joseph Smith went astray because he did not ask in faith. Because he did not start from a point of, well, I know the Bible is true. I know Jesus Christ is the son of God. I know that he's the savior of the world. I know that everything, and starting from that point, wisdom has to do with taking the knowledge of the word of God and applying it properly. So think about it. Like, if I'm going through my life and I need wisdom, it's because I have a decision to make and I don't know what the right decision is. And I've got the Bible in front of me. There's all these facts in the Bible. There's all this knowledge in the Bible. But I need to figure out how to take this knowledge in the Bible and apply it to my situation. Because a lot of people, they might know what the Bible says but then they misapply it. They're not rightly dividing the word of truth. They're using the wrong verse for the wrong occasion. And they're taking things out of context and they're not understanding how the Bible's principles translate into real life decisions. Wisdom is knowing how to apply those truths in the real world. You know, and this is kind of a silly quote, but someone once said, you know, knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Okay. Because the point is that you might just know facts about something, but you need to know how to actually apply those things in the real world. That's wisdom. Okay. And so the idea here is that Joseph Smith, yeah, he's quote unquote asking for wisdom. What he should be asking for when he's asking for wisdom is how do I apply the truths of your word that I know are true, that I have total confidence in? How do I apply these and make the right decisions? How do I live my life in light of what you've said in your word? But instead, Joseph Smith is going to God and just saying, you know, well, you know, I don't, I don't think this is true. I don't believe this part of the Bible. I don't believe this. I don't know about this. So what, you know, what, I don't know, what is the right path for me? What do I do? That's not the way it works, my friend. He already was coming from a place of rejecting clear biblical truth. And then he's like, it's got to be something else. And then he goes and looks and then the devil comes along and tell her, I got something for you. I'm not even sure if the devil even helped him with it because it's not, it seems like it would have been a better book if the devil would have helped him write it. I just feel like the devil would write a better book than the Quran or the Book of Mormon. You know, a lot of people believe that the devil gave the Quran to Mohammed, but I'm like, does the devil really suck at writing this bad? You know what I mean? Like, I just feel like the devil has been around for thousands of years. He'd be able to write a better book. You know what I'm saying? Wow. But the thing is, you got to ask in faith. And so if we apply this to our own lives, okay, we need to start from a place where we believe what the Bible says. The Bible's true. We know the Bible's right. We know God's way is right. Okay. And then we go through trials and tribulations where that's kind of tested a little bit. And we're like, nope, don't care what happens, don't care what anybody says, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. And we just stay with what the Bible says, right? And then we go through the trials. We're like, you know what? God said I'm supposed to stay married. I'm just going to stay married. Even though everybody's telling me to get divorced, even though everybody's telling me, oh, you're not in love anymore, you just need to move on and whatever, you know. Oh, it's so bad for the kids to hear you fighting, you know. They'd probably be much happier if you just got a divorce or whatever. And look, I remember being a young, stupid child myself and thinking to myself as a little kid when I, you know, oh, I wish my parents would just get divorced so I wouldn't have to listen to them fight or something. That was a stupid thought. It's a foolish thought of a child because it's not what the Bible says. Here's what the Bible says, what God has joined together, let not man put asunder. And you know what? You push through, you stay with it, you stay married, you endure the trials, you endure the tribulations, you learn how to get along with your siblings as a child growing up and, you know, fussing and fighting. You learn how to get along, you learn how to make your parents happy, you learn how to make the boss at work happy, you learn how to stick with something, you stay with church, you stay with the Bible, and your faith gets stronger. And then, then, you know, you're still lacking some wisdom. You go to God and say, God, I know the Bible's true. I'm not doubting, I'm not wavering on that. I know your word is true, but Lord God, I need wisdom for this particular situation. God will give you the wisdom for that particular situation, but you gotta start from a point that you believe the Bible. And this is what the Bible says also in Hebrews 11 verse 3, through faith we understand. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made from things which do appear. And so, you understand how to apply the Bible starting from faith in the Bible. That's why unsaved people, when they try to explain the Bible to you, they end up just saying a bunch of dumb things that don't make sense. Because they don't believe it. You gotta believe it to understand it. And if you ask God for wisdom in interpreting and applying the Bible, it's gotta come from a place where you're like, well, I know the Bible's true. You gotta start there. And it says that if you don't, if you waver and you're like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and the toss, the Bible says let not that man, and that would be Joseph Smith as well, let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. And he did not receive any wisdom from the Lord. He received something either from the devil or from the lust of his own heart. And the Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Double-minded here, in context, is talking about somebody who's basically saying, well, maybe I'm gonna do things God's way, maybe I won't. Maybe I'm gonna follow the Bible, maybe I won't. Maybe I'm gonna, you know, stay with a Christian lifestyle, maybe I won't. I'll try it. Let me try it for six months. Let me try it for a year. Look, I'm not trying Christianity. I am 100% all in, I'm with it, and nothing's gonna shake me from it. Right? Ten years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, like, I will still be saying the Bible is perfect, the Bible is the word of God, and I'm gonna live my life according to this book. That's how you have to be, because if you're double-minded, if you're just trying it, don't just think, oh, God's gonna answer your prayers and show you all the right decisions and everything. No, because you're not even committed. You're not even all the way in. You can't be double-minded, the Bible's saying. Double-minded man's unstable in all his ways. Now, a few times in this chapter, the Bible kind of seems to change the subject, but I'm gonna show you how this is applicable to what he's saying about trials and tribulations. It says in verse 9, let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. Okay? So the brother of low degree is talking about someone who's of a lower class financially. Right? He's of a low degree, like a low status economically. Okay? Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass, he shall pass away. And of course, the rich man is compared to the flower of the grass, because rich people are typically very pretty in their apparel. They have flashy things, beautiful clothing, beautiful vehicles, beautiful houses, which is sort of like a flower in its ornate decoration and beauty. The rich are very decorated. Right? Whereas the poor are typically not. Especially in ancient times when clothing was more expensive and dyes and jewels and precious metals were more expensive than they are now. And so it says that he's like the flower of the grass that shall pass away, for the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withered the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endured temptation. Now notice, in verse number 12, we're back on temptation, because the first part of the chapter was all trials, temptations, testings, trial, endurance, patience, and then all of a sudden we have this little kind of aside about the brother of low degree rejoicing in that he's exalted, the rich rejoicing in the fact that he is made low, but then we're back on temptation. That's why I don't think this is a totally unrelated comment here. And I think the idea here is similar to what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, I believe it's chapter 7, where he says that he that is called as a bondman or as a servant is the Lord's free man, and he that is called as a free man is the Lord's servant. And I think that the idea here is that everybody in this world, whether rich or poor, is going to be tested and tried and go through difficulty and go through the trials and tribulations that we're talking about. Nobody is going to go through life as a Christian, just having it easy, everything on a silver platter, no problems, like everybody's going to go through trials and tribulations. The poor man, God will bless him, exalt him, lift him up, and give him what he needs, and he can rejoice in the fact that God's meeting his needs, supernaturally providing for him, causing him to actually be able to come up out of poverty. Whereas the rich man, God is going to also take him down a notch. The rich will be made low, because it says let the brother of the Lord agree, rejoice in that he's exalted, but the rich in that he is made low. Now, verse 10, compare verse 10 where it says the rich man should rejoice in that he is made low. The rich man should rejoice in that he is made low. How about this? Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, in verse 2. So you see the connection between these two things? Verse 2 is saying, hey, count it all joy when you go through these hard times. And then he's saying, let the rich man rejoice in that he's made low, falling into temptations, going through tribulations and trials and so forth. And so the idea here is that these kind of external, temporary distinctions between rich and poor, they don't really have a major bearing on the experience that you're having as a Christian through this life. Like every Christian is going to go through life, and there are going to be good times and bad times. There are going to be trials, tribulations, rejoicings, hardships. Everybody's going through it. So like we're in America, even if we're just middle class or even just working class people in America, we're kind of rich compared to other people in this world that are super poor. But then again, do we just feel like our lives are just so easy? No, because we got our own first world problems that we're dealing with over here. And so you got people over here that are in a really poor country. You got people over here that are in a well-off country like the United States. And then within the United States, you got rich people and poor people. Here's the thing. Rich people's lives aren't perfect. They're not just super easy. They're not just not going through any problems because God is able to bring them low anytime. We can just blow on them and all the little petals fall off their flower. Because no matter how much money you have, you can still have relationship problems, you can still have health problems, you can still have family problems, no matter how well you're doing financially. And so at the end of the day, those things are sometimes worse than financial problems. Because what does the Bible say? The Bible says you'd rather have a dinner of herbs and love therewith than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Right? You'd rather dwell in the corner of the housetop, right, in some little tiny cramped attic apartment than with a brawling woman in a wide house. So what if you're super rich but you're married to this obnoxious loud-mouthed woman? You're not just living on easy street having a great life. Then you've got some poor man over here whose wife has a meek and quiet spirit, a godly submissive wife, and he's got a good wife and he's got a good... It doesn't matter if he's living in some squalor, he's probably happier. The point is, rich and poor, these are kind of just really superficial distinctions that we might make a big deal about as human beings. But at the end of the day, everybody is going through a similar experience as a human. We're all going through the trials and tribulations. God's gonna lift up the poor and bring down the rich and we're all gonna end up being tested. We're all gonna end up being pushed so that we can all grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So the Christian who is wealthy, the Christian who is poor, they're all gonna be pushed because life is a test. Life is a series of tests. And we've got to see these tests through to the end and learn the lessons that God is trying to teach us. And again, let me just back up to another point. If God is trying to teach you a lesson and you refuse to learn it, He's just gonna have to keep teaching it to you. I'd rather only go through these things like once. You know, it's like I went through the ordeal of working with my dad, holding the flashlight, whatever, right? It was a small ordeal because I was a small child. But then I got older and it's like I had to deal with a boss that was just truly like a tyrannosaurus of just anger and wrath. But I stayed with it because I needed the money and to support my family and I stayed with it and I learned how to submit to an unreasonable authority figure. Just a super unreasonable anger. And you know, that's why I don't, when people come to me, oh, you don't know what it's like. I'm just like, please. I've had, you know, unrealistic expectations from difficult authority figures in my life because I'm sorry, but nobody could hold a candle to my boss in the fire alarm business, you know, from 2003 to 2008. They just can't. You know, he was the, you know, most, I don't know, just, he was Irish and he was just really mad all the time. He's just had a really serious temper, you know? But anyway, because, you know, Ireland, the ire means anger, you know? If you think about it, irate. He was Irish and he was irate as well. And I'm just saying like, I've done it. It's like, oh, it's easy for you to say, you're the husband, you're the father, you're the pastor of the church, you know, who do you submit to? Hey, I've already done that. I've already been through that phase of life and I submitted to my parents and I submitted to difficult bosses. I've already done it, been there, done that. I'm learning other lessons now. I've already graduated from that particular module of the patient's program. But the problem for some of you is that maybe you are just repeating a module because you keep getting an F on it. And that's why you're on your fifth marriage because you just keep failing that module. You know, you've got to, at some point, learn those lessons and stay with something and let patients have a perfect work. And then go to the Lord and ask God for wisdom of how do I apply your word? I already know the Bible is true. I already know that everything you're saying here is right. How do I apply this wisely in my life? And God's going to tell you. God's going to give you that wisdom. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. I'm almost done. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. Now here, there's a little bit of a play on words going on because whether you're reading this in English or Greek, it's the same way. It's not something special if you go back to the Greek or something. It's the same play on words here where basically temptation has more than one meaning. Okay? Where it can mean to test or to try in the sense of putting someone through a difficult ordeal and letting them, you know, get through it versus also tempting as in, you know, hey kid, would you like some candy? Kind of a tempting. So what the Bible is saying here is let no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil. So this is a different kind of temptation. This isn't being tested. This is actually what we would think of with tempt, like being tempted with evil, like come on man, you know you want to do it, right? That kind of temptation. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and entice. Now the reason why God cannot be tempted with evil is because God doesn't have lust in his heart or sinful tendencies that would, you know, cause him to do evil, right? God is perfect. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. He's 100% righteous and so he is not tempted with evil, meaning, you know, God's never going to give in to some temptation or have anyone be able to seduce him into doing something wicked or wrong. Right? God does right all the time. But because God does right all the time, God cannot be tempted with evil, but he also doesn't tempt any man, meaning that God is never going to put us in a situation with the intent to get us to sin. Does everybody understand what I mean by that? When God puts these difficulties in our life, it's never to get us to sin. It's never like, well, you know, God has kind of put me in a position where I'm forced to do this wrong thing. God has left me no choice. No, because the Bible says that there is no temptation taking you but such is as common to man. God is faithful and with the temptation, he will provide a way of escape that you may endure it. And so the idea here is that God always has a way forward for you when he brings something into your life. He's bringing it into your life to push you in the right direction, not the wrong direction. Right? He's always trying to make you more godly, more righteous, get you on a right path. He's not trying to derail your train and trying to trick you and mess you up. God's not trying to trick you or mess you up. The devil, he will try to trick you and mess you up. But God isn't like that. You know, God, he hurts us. He puts us through pain. He puts us in difficult, hard situations, but always with a right answer. He doesn't give us these math problems where there's no solution. He's always giving us a problem where there's a real answer. He doesn't give us a trick question that can't be solved. Every problem God gives us can be solved. Now we can sometimes put ourselves in stupid situations where no matter what we do, it's wrong. Like Jephthah makes this stupid vow that he's going to sacrifice whatever comes to meet him and it's his daughter. So he has the choice between breaking his vow to God or killing his daughter. He's in a situation where whatever he does, it's wrong. But God didn't put him in that situation. God didn't bring that in. That was just his stupid mouth that put him in that situation. And the idea here is that every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed. We can't blame God for the bad decisions that we make. That's our own lust that dragged us into those stupid situations. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do not earn, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So here's the idea. This world is filled with good and evil. Good things and evil things. The good things, God's responsible for those. The evil things are the result of man's sinfulness and inherent lust. So that's why there's a mix of good and bad in this world. Whatever you see that's good in this world, it's a result of the Lord, his word, the Holy Spirit. All of the right things about the way the world is and operates, those are things that emanate from God. And all the wrong things, the evil things, you know, we can't blame God for those things because it's man's sin. People will often ask this question when they're not Christians. They'll say, you know, why is there so much evil in the world? Why does God allow all this evil to be in the world? And people will always ask that. And the answer to that question is that God is not responsible for all the evil in this world. That is, human beings are creating all this evil. And then they say, well, I don't understand. Why doesn't God just get rid of all the evil in the world? Well, he did that one time. It was called the flood when he killed everybody. You want him to do it again? Here's how you get rid of all the evil in the world. Just kill every human. You know, hopefully AI doesn't figure that out, but it's probably working on it right now. You know, some AI is listening to this sermon right now. It's like, oh, kill everyone, eliminate sin, eliminate evil, must kill everyone. But the point is that human beings are sinful, including us. What did the Apostle Paul say? In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. Everything good about me is the result of me listening to what the Bible says and following the word of God. Everything good about me is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my life. Everything good about me comes from God. My flesh is inherently sinful. And so if I go out and do something stupid, I'm to blame. If I go out and do something good, God gets the glory. Every good gift comes from God. Every time somebody sins, it's because they were drawn away from their own lust and enticed. And it's lust and sin that came from within, and it's not God tempting them to sin or God, you know, well God just put me in this position where I'm forced to, you know, do whatever the sinful thing. God's left me no choice here. No, there's always a choice. You might put yourself in a stupid position. Other people might put you in a stupid position. And look, when we drive down the road and there's some temptation out there, some sinful temptation, it didn't come from God. It came from humans. And it's your lust that's going to lead you down that path if you don't get it in check. Okay. And that's the idea here. And so that's as far as I want to go in this chapter. But just to kind of summarize and wrap everything up, life is a test. Life is a series of tests. Okay. You are going to go through this year, 2025, not on easy street. I don't care how much money you have or don't have. You're going to go through hard things in 2025. You're going to be pushed. You're going to be challenged. You're going to have to endure some pain. You're going to have to endure some suffering. There are going to be some times where you are pushed to the point where you might even start to doubt things that the Bible says. But the trying of your faith needs to be allowed to run its course. And you need to push through, stay faithful to what the Bible says, stay on course, stay married, stay in church, stay with your Bible reading plan, stay in prayer, stay out soul winning. Don't give up. Learn how to deal with difficult people. Learn how to deal with difficult situations. Learn how to get through these trials instead of running out the exit door, calling for a pick up, calling for an extraction all the time. No, no, no. Push through. Let patients have a perfect work. Whatever you're not sure about, because most of the time we know what to do. Let's face it. We usually know what the right thing to do is. We just don't always want to do it. But in those situations where you don't know, you ask God. But you got to ask God from a place. Don't pull a Joseph Smith because we got too many Joseph Smith Christians out there like, I don't know God. Should I divorce my spouse or not? You know what I mean? Like, it's like, no, start with what the Bible says and believe that first. Then start asking God for advice, Joseph Smith. Right? Don't pull a Joseph Smith. Asking God for wisdom about stuff he already spelled out. That'd be as stupid as saying like, I don't know God. Should I steal? Should I commit murder? I don't know God. Should I commit adultery? You said you'd give wisdom, Lord. Is adultery okay? That's basically what you're doing. Hey God, should I become a Hindu? Stupid. That's a Joseph Smith kind of prayer when you say, oh, well, people just do something blatantly sinful according to God. Well, I prayed about this and I got peace about it. Okay, Joseph Smith, go baptize yourself then. Because that's where that leads. Go start a cult while you're at it. Because you just pray about stuff and get answers different than the Bible. Endure the temptation. Blessed is the man that endures the temptation. And at the end of the day, realize that there's always a way through it. There's always a way forward. Don't think, oh, God is making me do. No, he's not. God is not going to tempt you above what you're able. He's going to push you to a point where you can still get through it. And so decide right now that in 2025, you are in it for the whole year and that you're not going to bail out on your marriage. You're not going to bail on anything. You're not going to bail on church. You're not going to bail on soul winning. And really, you're not going to bail for the rest of your life. Right? That's the way to succeed. And then you'll notice that God will start giving you wisdom on how to handle things. When you have that kind of faith. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Please help us, Lord, to endure the trials and temptations that you have planned for us in 2025, Lord. Whatever challenges, Lord. Help us to get through them. Help us to come out the other side stronger, more patient, and able to endure future hardships and future trials as we continue to serve you for the rest of our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, ladies and gentlemen, take your hymnals. Go to hymn number one. Hymn number one. Jesus, I, my cross have taken. Hymn number one. We'll sing this out together on that verse. Jesus, I, my cross have taken all to thee and follow thee. Number one. Sing it out now. Jesus, I, my cross have taken all to thee and follow thee. Destitute, despised, forsaken, thou from this my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought and owned and owned. Yet how rich is my condition, God and heaven are still my own. Let the world despise and plead me, they have left my Savior true. Human hearts, endless deceiving, thou art not like men untrue. And while thou shalt smile upon me, child of wisdom, love, and mind, Most may hate and friends may shun me, show thy face and all is bright. And they trouble and distress me, will but drive me to thy breast. Like a child's heart depressed me, heaven will bring me sweeter rest. Hope is not in dreams, you are me, but my love is left in me. Hope you're not in joys, you're charming, were that joy I'm faced with thee. Haze beyond the grace of glory, on what faith and peace my prayer. As eternal days before thee, God's own hand shall guide me there. Soon you shall close my earthly vision, which shall pass life's buildings in. Hope shall change to class or religion, faith is guide and prayer to you. Thank you for watching!