How do we live out our faith when life gets tough?

all right happy sunday bridgepoint how we doing everybody feeling good awesome welcome in to week one of a brand new series called out called toward called up we are gonna be working through the biblical book of james for the next five weeks it's gonna be a little bit like a going to the gym or the weight room for your soul it's the type of thing that you know is good for you it hurts a little bit it feels good later but you know you got to keep pushing because it's going to be worthwhile okay that's what's at stake don't quit on me don't give up i'm in it with you we're going to explore how james in his writings in the biblical book of james calls us out calls us toward and called us up i hope that this will be an encouragement to your soul if you're a new believer and you're saying what does it look like how do i live in a way that honors god you are in the right place if you've been following jesus for a long long time and want to be challenged in your face to faith uh to look more like jesus and to live more of what he's called us to live you are in the right place if you are unsure if you're a bit of a skeptic this is the perfect time to tune in to the book of james i'm excited about that i'll tell you why we're going to jump right in because i want us to together explore how james is going to call us out call toward called up a series on the book of james here's what i mean let me give you a little background on this book okay the book of james why it was written it was written by james it's where it's got his name here's what that here's why that's important james was the half-brother of jesus it's a very interesting perspective think about that jesus was conceived of a virgin right we know that story that's his mother mary mary ended up going on to mary get married to joseph so jesus had an earthly father but uh he was not born by joseph's bloodline james on the other hand jesus's brother was so james was the son of joseph and mary now here's why i think this is wild what would it take for you to believe that your sibling was the son of god right what would it take for you to believe that your sibling was the son of god i have a two and a half year younger brother all right he's the worst between us all right it's just because he's the youngest uh he currently lives in papua new guinea works for the u.s state department still has a full head of hair he's a little bit taller and makes more than i do but he's the worst all right i'm telling you if he came and said big news tyler i think i'm god i can't tell you how fast i would be like hard pass you are not god you're a computer nerd that grew up in north alabama in the room right next to me i know you and you are not the messiah right what would it take for you to believe it because james on the other hand james james ended up giving his life because he believed that his brother was the messiah james gave his life because he believed that what jesus taught what jesus did that when jesus predicted and executed both the death and his own resurrection from the grave james was changed by it if you're a skeptic of the faith to me this is one of the most convincing arguments to the reality of jesus being exactly who jesus said that he was when his own brother that grew up right next to him in his life gave his life because of who his brother was that's james that's the perspective of this story that's why i'm excited that we're going to walk through this especially for some of you that are unsure about faith you're in the right place a little more perspective on why james wrote this letter that we called the book of james it was written in the early 40s a.d to scattered early jewish followers of jesus that's important because early 40s so between 40 and 45 a.d most scholars most historians believe that jesus's death and resurrection was in the year 33 a.d at least thereabouts so this is written between 10 and 15 years after what his brother had done okay that's that's a helpful for perspective because enough time had gone by that people were starting to live in the reality of what jesus had done his own brother again was wanting to encourage people about what his brother had done this was kind of the reminder of saying hey guys remember what my brother said remember how he taught remember how he lived remember what his death but especially his resurrection means to us today and to take it one step further this was a setting in which there wasn't necessarily a church on every corner right like we're accustomed to this was a setting in which people couldn't just show up to a church gathering the church's people not the building people couldn't join a church gathering be a part of a church gathering without feeling some level of persecution in fact many were still living fearing their lives knowing that to believe and follow jesus could very well cost them their literal lies this is the followers early jewish followers they grew up in faith they recognized that jesus knew way new covenant new promise was the real deal and they were scattered taking not only the message around this part of the globe but also scattered making sure they were literally running for their life so james is also writing an encouragement to people that are going through tough times like life and death times like we hope that by following this we'll stay alive can i take a moment and acknowledge the fact that in america we ought to be grateful that i'm assuming most of us didn't give a second thought to whether we'd show up for church and walk out of it still living and breathing but i also want to acknowledge that around the world there are brothers and sisters in the faith that don't have that type of grace that they know that the next church gathering they attend could be their last because someone will attempt to kill them someone will attempt to squelch this message even if it means taking their life and i hope we never take for granted gatherings like we're a part of in a moment like this because i want you to understand something i think our perspective the grace and the blessing that we enjoy to just show up for a church and get out of it what we might numbs us to the reality that this isn't just a feel-good thing we're not here to get our weekly dose of encouragement though i hope it is that we're not here to gather in a space that makes us feel better about ourselves or better about what god wants for us so i hope that you experience that this is we are in the room online all campuses a part of a global movement that is not ours but instead is our gods that god came in human flesh as the king to rescue a broken fallen sinful people like us and this is a movement in which the king will advance his kingdom and ironically enough the fastest growing segments of christianity around the world are growing in the spaces where those people may not have their lives after their worship services because this isn't a feel-good message this is a king advancing his kingdom in and through us this is real and it matters but as a side note if you're going through tough times if you're in a tough season if it's a heavy season if the doctor's report didn't come out the way you wanted if the relationship isn't where you wanted it to be if your kids aren't living the way you would hope them to live if circumstances aren't how you would pick them i also want you to know i think the book of james will encourage you because he's writing to people that in the real pers grand perspective of things have it much worse than probably most of us one more thing i want you to know about the book of james and why i'm excited to work through it is james is exploring the relationship between faith what we believe about god and works how we flesh that faith out he's exploring the relationship between faith and works and how that should impact life in our city and the world now make no mistake about it james wasn't writing to the believers of pinellas county but james was writing in such a way that come hard times or good times the way we follow jesus the way we follow this king who is advancing his kingdom and nothing in this world can stop it ought to impact our city it ought to impact our workplace it ought to impact our families and it ought to impact our homes and just for clarity i mean impact in a positive way so get ready for a little spiritual training all right james is going to respectfully kick our butts a little bit as he as we get called out called toward and called up i want you to hear it directly from him maybe starting with a better question than even my own perspective but let's start here how do we live out our faith when life gets tough and maybe for some of us why does it matter how do we live out our faith when life gets tough and why does that matter maybe the bigger question you need to ask yourself piggybacking with this is does the way you exercise your faith does your belief in jesus impact other people maybe that's the place to start because for some of us this faith thing doesn't express itself in a way that looks different in our lives than uh compared our life compared to anybody else so why would it matter how we navigate hard times i don't want you to take my perspective on it i want you to hear from the brother of jesus about what his brother's life death and resurrection could mean for you and i and how it could change our home our city where we live and what we're a part of because i think the temptation for a lot of us is when the relationship gets difficult we we hopefully turn to god but our prayer becomes god here i am again and i need you to fix them because they are a hot mess god this relationship isn't working out and i'm going to leave if you don't show up on their behalf god my job is tough the boss is insane it's ridiculous he's mean she's a she's abusive it feels like god the work is hard so god if you don't fix that i'm out god finances i'm here again god if you don't give me the right number so i hit the grand jackpot which by the way i'll give some back to you i don't know what i'll do god god if this prognosis doesn't come back from the doctor the way that i'm hoping it i don't know what my next step will be god if you don't give me enough wisdom to come up with such a great comeback to post on that post that i know is a sub tweet about me then i'm gonna block them forever god you know i think for a lot of us we're comfortable with the idea of taking our problems to god but when we take those problems to god i think where it tends to stop is we say god can you fix all of that never approaching god as if god might be wanting to do something in us because god didn't sign up to be your personal mr fix-it god is a god of deep heart transformation to take the sin and brokenness in us and make it right because the blood that his son shed on the cross how do we live out our faith when it gets tough and why does that matter let's hear the brother of jesus's very perspective the second sentence he writes in the very first chapter of his book verse 2 says this count it all joy my brothers and sisters he's writing to the whole church count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds let me check it again that can't be right counted all joy my brothers and sisters when you meet trials of various kinds i told you some of this is not going to land really well because what it seems like is james is commanding us to be joyful when things don't go our way and that's not the feel-good message i came to hear i don't know about you right and i kid you not as a pastor to wrestle with some of these scriptures before we present them our whole teaching team is like this i'm very grateful for the godly folks that are part of this church but but we wrestle with these things to make sure god's doing the work in us so that when we're standing up here we're leading from a place of of wanting god to grow us before we even present this to anyone not that we get it all right all the time you can confirm that with my wife i don't either but i do pray that god's working in me to prepare me to lead from a place of experience with this stuff and i kid you not counting all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds that i got in my truck this morning to head to church and the batteries dead you can't plan for this and i'll be completely honest that when my truck went my first response wasn't yeah i got problems i'm about to preach on james look at me go because that's how i felt and just to make sure i'm really really clear i don't think that's what james means either that when hard times come suddenly we fake a happiness that's not based in reality or even in truth as if we're some sort of sadistic creatures that love pain inflicted to us but let's be real for a moment some of us know the weight of life that's much more significant than just a dead battery some of us know the weight when the relationship isn't working out or when the divorce papers have come some of us know the weight of seeing kids walk away from a faith that you believed they were growing into some of us know the weight of the difficulties at work and the strain of the finances and the difficulty in relationship with family members count it joy joy like when i deal with that again or when i wake up six months into the same trial that i've been navigating that i'm supposed to look in the mirror and smile and say i'm counting it joy because james said to that's not what james is suggesting because joy is the in spite of feeling joy is this deep inside sense in us that is more than what a happiness emotion can be because of happiness is because of something joy is in spite of and what james is reminding us is he's saying guys remember what my brother remember what his life meant remember what his teachings were about remember what his death and resurrection has implications for us for because then when trials come then we can choose joy because we know that god is with us god's presence can bring us joy even when trials can't don't fake this until you make this choose this because we can have this the temptation for all of us as human beings is that when we're met with difficulty we have one of two psychological responses fight where we say i'm gonna beat this problem into submission or flight we got an issue and i'm out of here but james is suggesting a third opportunity because of the power of god and the truth of his resurrection that when when life's problems come and they will because faith doesn't take those away we live in a broken painful hurting world that when trials come and we see the size and scope of the financial stress and the relational strains and the difficulties we're facing in the confusion of the world and the the conflict and tensions in our politics and the size of our mountains there is an easy temptation to look at those and say my god they're going to overtake me but james reminds us that when we shift our perspective that when we see the size of the mountains because that's real when we see the size and scope of the trials those are real that in those moments we don't remind ourselves of the size of the trials we remind ourselves that those trials pale in comparison to the size of our god and it's in the space that when life gets difficult we can say i will count it joy because these trials don't hold a candle to the size scope and power of the living breathing god that is at work in me and imagine imagine if we truly lived from that place saying this hurts i wouldn't have picked this i wouldn't choose this for myself but god i know that you are with me i can't run from this i can't wrestle this problem to fix the way i want to so god i will face it because you're here this is a half-brother of jesus saying guys don't forget the power the resurrection power that my brother demonstrated and it now lives in you because the very next thing james wrote as he was writing to people that were scattered in their faith new believers figuring this thing out was this for you know you know like believe it hold tightly to it that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness some translations say perseverance that you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect or some translation say mature and complete lacking in nothing you see there will never be a circumstance that you and i will find ourselves in that's beyond the scope of our sovereign all-knowing all-in-control god is ready to handle so sometimes what we simply need is the perspective shift that says god don't let me focus on the size of my trial but instead let me walk through this the trials focus on the size of my god and in that moment it produces that perspective shift produces an experience in us where we get to walk with god and god walks with us and that will change us it can't but change us that's part of it but see the growth won't come from running from a problem and the growth won't come from trying to fix it the way we want it growth comes when we walk through it and that's the beauty of what james is reminding us that when we walk through those problems we get to do do so stead fast persevering in other words with unwavering faith it's the difference between when difficulties come and we see people naturally reacting to them of bouncing between god help me i'm going down to i've got to fix this and do this myself bouncing between truth and doubt bouncing between i can do this to i can't do this bouncing between i don't know what to do bouncing from i don't know what the next step is bouncing from the hopelessness and despair that comes from not knowing what the right response is instead saying if he's done it before then he can do it again and he'll do it with and in me this is the weight room stuff that there's no promises that where suddenly all of our problems just disappear it's a problem it's a promise that we get to navigate life's problems with the very presence of god by changing our perspective we learn what it's like to experience trials with god my six-year-old son judah is in the middle of a rash of teeth falling out i think the tooth fairy i should charge her rent because she's at my house so often i'm also going broke thanks to the tooth fairy the first time uh his teeth started falling out i'll never forget like there's just so much anxiety at what's on the other side of this tooth pull right it's anxious is it going to hurt is it going to bleed what's going to happen and judah he's a lot like his dad that he's way too dramatic for any one human being so when that those tooth were about to be pulled the first time man he threw a fit just just like blowing up and we knew it had to come out because it was like dangling by a thread and we were already swallow it while he was sleeping so we finally got that one out and moved on to the next one a few days later another tooth is coming out same thing i don't want my teeth pulled i can't do this don't touch it stay away this is the worst day of my life and so his mom's like all right just let me wiggle it and she grabs the paper towel and she's she's wiggling a little bit right in the midst of a a great dramatic expression boy i can't do this i'm watching it happen and i was i started laughing judah judah why are you afraid cause mom's gonna pull my tooth and i said judah she's holding your tooth it came out when you flailed back and he's like [Applause] it was the cutest thing the poor little guy a couple days later another tooth is loose it's time to pull it it's dangling by a thread and i loved how he progressed in his steadfastness this was still a trial it was still uncertain there's still the unknown of it he's still just six years old but this time when mom came close he was a little bit more ready that instead of flailing he was mom's reaching for it and he's going to take a big deep breath and he just happened to lean forward a little bit and he finished the breath and tiffany was like oh it came out already and he learned a very micro example that the more i trust my mom in those moments the more my mom comes through for me and i don't have to fear and i wonder how often james being the very brother of jesus who was god in human flesh i wonder how often god's even looking at us saying hey hold tightly to what james says because our god is not a god of chaos confusion anxiety and uncertainty he's a god of peace but we have to be willing to stand and trust god i'm scared god it hurts god i wouldn't pick this but god i want to trust you steadfastness that will mature us and better complete us to live out our faith imagine as believers if we really got good at living through difficult times because as followers of jesus knowing that the power of god is at work in and through us we ought to be the best in the world at navigating hard times i didn't say as believers we ought to be the best in the world at not crying and not feeling pain and not being hurt disappointed or confused and scared i said as believers we ought to be the best at navigating them because we don't spend time dwelling on the size of our problems we spend time finding comfort in the size of our god at work in us how would that change the world if they saw people that had a peace that was beyond understanding and i think that's part of why james wanted to not only call us out consider it joy call us toward holding tight in steadfastness perseverance unwavering faith but he was also willing to call us up and here's the very next thing james wrote in this passage if any of you lacks wisdom ask god who gives generously to all without reproach meaning you don't have to be afraid of it ask god who gives generously to all without approach and it will be given him in other words james is saying difficult times will come count at joy call out i'm calling you out don't don't panic don't stress joy choose joy he's calling us towards remember stay steadfast in the purposes that god to which god has called you but he's calling us up saying remember god wants to walk with you so in the hurt in the doubt in the chaos and confusion remind yourself that's not god so god would you give me wisdom to take just the next step god would you give me wisdom about how to handle this relational situation god would you give me wisdom with my finances so i'm not here again next month god would you give me wisdom and how to have this conversation and how to move forward with this prognosis god would you give me wisdom because see god's not sitting off in heaven spinning the world saying well i hope they figure it out god's saying hey can i walk with you can i talk with you can i give you wisdom for these moments to remind you that yes sometimes it'll hurt yes sometimes it's scary but i'm bigger than that and still hold the whole world in my hands he's calling us up but see wisdom it takes time it's not just to download fast food you order it and it's handed out a window and suddenly you're wiser it's in the journey of doing life walking life trusting god through life that you recognize that god is still at work in you and me that's a powerful comfort that this world can't offer i kind of wonder if this big idea would be true we need to spend less time trying to change our circumstances and more time allowing god to change us god can you fix them god can you fix this account can you give me the right lotto numbers god could you fix my boss could you fix my co-workers could you fix my spouse or you fix my kids will you fix the crazy uncle god will you fix all these things instead of saying god it hurts i don't understand it it's a little bit scary but god would you do something in me that helps me grow that would you do something in me that changes me that grows me because i gotta be honest with you the circumstances the trials in life trials don't always get fixed or at least trials don't always get fixed the way we want them to so we really have two choices when trials come is we can get frustrated we can we could we get stuck god how could you god what's your problem god why am i dealing with this god why aren't you fixing them god why aren't you at work in this or or we can get stuck or you say god would you do something in me that changes me i told you a little bit of this is going to be like heading to the gym spiritually i've been going to the gym now for four years believe it or not i know at first glance it may not look that way all right the diet's not good that's a separate issue don't judge me but who i am in the gym today is so different than who i was four years ago when i first showed up shout out to matt and steven that had been coaching me and training me showing up for me and with me being a part of that journey but what wouldn't work in the gym is for me to show up and see how much they wanted me to lift and say man that seems heavy i'm not interested it wouldn't work for me to see the workout and say man i think that's going to make me sweat i don't i don't want to do that i can't show up and say oh that sounds really hard that's going to push me that's too much i don't want all these things that be like trying to pray away problems but instead trusting the process trusting those that are walking with me trusting those that are showing up with me instead i've put in the work and dare i say i kind of like going to the gym does it hurt sometimes yes sometimes for days but who i am today is different than who i was four years ago because i've trusted the process i think some of us need to spend less time trying to pray away circumstances and more time trusting the work of god in us and while i'm in the neighborhood simply because i am one too hey parents some of us need to spend less time trying to mow down the problems in our kids life less time trying to remove our kids from the problem or fix a problem for them and more time celebrating the opportunities for growth that come their way we need to do that with our friends we need to do that with our family members we need to do that with co-workers where we don't get afraid of problems but instead celebrate the growth that could come with them if we'll allow god to work so real quick let me wrap it up what do i do in a trial all right note takers you're gonna love me five things write these down so when they come you can remember them what do i do in a trial the first thing is this don't quit and some of you that's the message you need to hear from god today don't quit the only way that you forfeit the work of god that he's trying to do in your life is when you quit and run from the problem and don't allow him to work don't quit don't quit second thing be present be present in the problem in other words it's okay some days for you to simply say today was not a good day today hurt today was heavy it was scary it was concerning be present what i mean by that is it's a very real temptation to fight to turn to substances to turn to other things to try to escape from pain to try to escape from situations and escape from those things be present because it's in that space that god will do his work the third thing ask god for wisdom please note that i said ask god not google i think a lot of us turn to the internet to find wisdom in life as if everything on the internet is true but google doesn't want to walk with you god does that he's bigger than the size of the trials that we were faced number four stay focused stay focused when it hurts stay focused when it's scary stay focused when you want to give up stay focused in those moments because you remind yourself the perspective shift that we need is to not see trials as the overwhelming thing but instead to see god as overwhelmingly larger than our trials because to put it the other way around will cause us to lose hope and i'm begging you don't lose hope because if you give up on god when he hasn't given up on you you take away the opportunity for god to do some of his best most life transforming work in you skeptical don't take my word off for it this is the word of the very brother of jesus new to faith count it joy hold tight steadfast and talk to god about it been a believer for a while called out called toward called up it's got to go back to what we do when life gets difficult and whether or not that's going to impact people now make no mistake about it this is not a magic formula this is not something i can offer you these are simply the words from jesus's brother that said hey guys hey guys hey guys remember my brother died but he's alive and he wants to be at work and you and me that's why even in moments where we're called out called toward and called up we live with hope because god is alive and loves us deeply do you pray with me jesus thank you thank you the depth of your love for each person receiving this message because it was enough love that it cost your life but even death couldn't stop you and you rose again god sometimes as a follower i know at least me i need to be called out and reminded of things because god i'm just as tempted as everybody else to see my trials as overwhelming instead of seeing my god as being so much bigger so god would you make us a people that counts at joy when trials come that hold tight and steadfast and and desire to walk with you god because we can because you loved us enough to die for us thank you jesus that it's true it's in your name we pray amen you

Channel: BridgePoint Church

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Keywords: faith, bridgepoint, bridgepoint church, bridgepointfl, bridgepoint florida, bridgepoint church florida, How do we live out our faith?, how do we live out our faith when things get tough?, living out our faith, living out my faith, Book of James, online church service, church service online, worship service, faith in hard times, faith in tough times, How do I live out my faith?, How do I live out my faith in tough times?, How do I live out my faith when things get tough?

Id: _zrtDyqW13g

Length: 36min 32sec (2192 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021