Trusting in God
Notes
Transcript
Good morning
Thank you for being here
Trusting in God
One of the hardest things you’ll ever do
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
You ever run into one of those people
“Oh just trust in God”
“Why don’t you trust Him”
Or
“See your problem is you’re not trust in God”
What exactly does that mean
They always say this at the worst time
Divorce
Break up
Bankruptcy
UCMJ
Oh just trust in God!
Easier said than done
Now I am out here
So I can say this
My wife
All the time
Why don’t you just trust in God
What she doesn’t realize
Maybe I just got reamed
Maybe we just had a Soldier attempt suicide
Maybe we have an event coming up
There could be many things
Easier said than done!
Am I right?
Now while its an easy thing to say
One of the hardest to accomplish
Is to put our complete trust in God
Why?
You’re putting all your trust in Him
Asking Him to take over
That’s hard to do
It’s like driving with your eyes closed
Story about TESLA
Driving with my eyes closed hands off the wheel
foot off the brake
Difficult
But James is getting to something here.
Look how James opens up this letter
Look what James does here
He willingly and openly calls himself a slave of Christ
The more you study the Bible
You will find this is a common and recurring theme
In fact you will find in many books of the New Testament
The authors calls themselves a slave to Christ.
Look what Paul says here in Acts 20:24
But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
Paul is literally willing to give up his life
Trusting in God
But do me a favor..
Take what you just heard and put that away for a moment
Lets get back to trusting in God
Because I want you to see how this theme
Trusting in God
Being a slave of Christ
Plays out in our modern day lives
You see James opens up here in verse 2 and tells us to
Consider it an opportunity for great joy when you run into troubles.
Before you look at me sideways
Here is where context is important
This is where history really makes this letter worth reading
James is writing this letter to Jews who had been conquered
Jews that were literally forced out of their land
Jews that had no place to call home
Jews that were persecuted on a daily basis
Basically exiles in a foreign land
Isn’t it interesting that we sit here today on the very land
Jews were persecuted.
just down the road is a camp that killed thousands of Jews
In my opinion, Jews have always been one of the most hated people groups
Perhaps one of the most discriminated
Its been that way since their beginnings
But what does James tell them to do?
Count it all joy when you face various trials
I am asking the same of you today.
Count your blessings
I know life isn’t perfect
Many of us have trials in our lives
Many of us feel as if our entire planet is going through trials
Race wars,
Death
Disease
Governments at each others throat
Covid
Etc…
In reality, James is writing to you!
He’s not writing to people that have perfect lives
He’s writing to people like you and I
People that struggle,
People that can honestly say, life is hard
So the question then
Why such a stupid comment
Why is he asking me to do something so ridiculous
Maturity in faith
It the point of the entire section we are talking about
Ive heard so many times
God doesn’t listen
God doesn’t answer prayers
God isn’t there for me
Yet when you ask that same individual how’s their prayer life
When was the last time you opened the Bible
Many of us don’t even understand what you’re asking for
when we pray
Are you asking for things that may not be so good for you
Thats a big mistake we make today
We always ask
Yet our requests may not be inline with God’s will
Are you asking for things that God would approve
So many pastors teach
Just ask and God will give
He’s not going to give you something that is sinful
that is bad for you
that harms your family
That’s not going to lead you to Him
You know when I was enlisted and about to retire
Tried and tried to get a job in ministry
Every door was shut
A few years later, it became obvious why
I finally saw what God was doing
When I applied to be a Chaplain
Door was wide open
Ask yourself today
is the reason your prayer is not being answered
It’s not God’s purpose for my life
It’s my will not His
Then you also have to ask
Are you trusting in God for literally everything you need
Ask yourself a question
This is critical to our faith
This is where the rubber meets the road
What do you really believe
If you believe that God is real
That your faith isn’t just a figment of your imagination
Then what do you truly have to worry about
Thats what James is saying here
Count it a blessing when you go through trials
Why?
Because you get to lean on your faith
What does that do?
Develops a deeper relationship with God
How?
It forces you to depend on Him?
just like a child does to his parents.
Trusting in God for everything
But then here is the catch,
Look at verse 5-8
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Two things here notice
If you need wisdom ask him alone,
He actually likes it when you depend on Him
What He doesn’t like is when you ask something of Him
Say inside your mind or your heart
He won’t do it
He’s not listening
He doesn’t care
Look what it says
Different version here the NKJV
I like how it puts it
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
Double minded causes chaos,
I’ve done this many times
I sit there and pray for someone
Pray for a certain situation
Ask God to do something miraculous
AND I EVEN SAY IT IN PUBLIC PRAYER
God heal this person but in my mind I’m asking God
Help them understand why you won’t do it
I am the first to acknowledge this double minded ridiculousness in my own mind
NO DOUBTING
Trusting in God
Look at what this does 4 things
Asking God to direct whatever it is in your life
Leads to dependence on God
Not doubting that His will and purpose is involved
Leads to dependence on God
Knowing that if you’re solid in your faith, that your request will line up with His will,
Leads to dependence on God
Knowing that God was just waiting for you to ask
Leads to dependence on God
What is the most important part
It forces the relationship
It forces you to focus on His sovereignty
It forces you to look to Him
Look our God sent His only Son to die for you
to die for your sins
so that you would be able to have that one on one
So that you could come to the thrown of grace
So that you can personally ask Him for whatever you need
So many others faiths don’t have that,
The deeper you go into understanding our faith and other faiths
The more you realize how special and incredible that is
How much He loves you
But now remember I told you we’d come back to the slave part
This is where it comes in
Is a slave completely dependent upon God
Yes!
Does a slave depend on His own capabilities
No!
Does a slave do anything without asking for the blessing of his master?
No!
Each one of these great men that wrote the New Testament
considered themselves to be a slave to Christ
They are giving us the answer to life
Pouring into us to focus on God and God alone
Ask yourself today
Are you ready to make that commitment
Are you ready to focus on what He wants
Are you ready to trust in God?
It’s not something I can do for you
I am here to help
I promise you this one thing
You won’t regret it
I’ve truly never heard of a dedicated Christian that has regretted anything in their life
When their life is focused on service to the Almighty
Become that slave
start depending on Him
Its a decision that not only affects this life but also guarantees eternity.
Let’s pray!