April 23, 2020
Online study in James, Jeff Hicks
James 5: 7-12 Stand Firm #1
Kyle Idleman called, “The End of Me”…
His introduction starts out:
[“I was returning a call to a man named Brian. I read in my notes that his 18 month old son had died a few weeks earlier…I didn’t know the details, but as a father of 4, I can’t imagine such a loss. I said a prayer as I dialed his number. Brian answered with a monotone “Hello.” Having had many conversations like this over the past 20 years, I knew there was not much I could say. So, after expressing my heartbreak for his loss, I allowed silence to settle into our conversation. After a few moments, Brian spoke 4 words that I was not prepared for.
“I backed over him.”
He went on…to explain that they didn’t know their son had walked outside…In fact they didn’t even know he was capable of opening the door to go outside.]
After describing this horrible experience he went on to describe how he’s discovered Jesus in a way he never had before His faith had gone from attending church once in a while as tradition to running into God’s arms in complete desperation.
Brian then said this:
“I feel like I’d reached this point in my life when I had absolutely nothing left, and it turns
out that for the first time in my life, Jesus has become real. Do you know what I mean? Is
that unusual?”
No, it’s not unusual…when he reached the end of himself he discovered Jesus.
Most of us try to live our lives depending on our own resources…our intellect, our strength, our money, our endurace…but what happens when that resource runs out? What happens when that bank account is empty?
James 5: 7-12
2 Corinthians 1:8-10
Let me ask you a question: How do you view God in your troubles?
I. CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE AND YOU WILL CHANGE YOUR MINISTRY
In the midst of pain and suffering, grief and confusion, fill our souls…it’s not fun to be laying on the floor filled with such hurt all you can do is moan and cry out. Why did you let this happen God? Why didn’t you intervene? comes from David the Psalmist’s lips and they’ve come from yours and mine! And if they haven’t yet, they will.
It’s that place Paul describes “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to
endure, so that we despaired at life itself…we felt like we’d received a death sentence.”
The Apostle Paul then answers the why is this happening question.
“This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.”
This is exactly what Jesus, God’s Son meant, when He said, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit
for theirs is the Kingdom of God.”
Poor means “bankrupt.” Without the resources to pay.
How can we think we’re blessed when we’re at this place? I’d ask Abraham as the knife was
raised…Daniel as he stood before the lions den…Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as they
stood in front of the furnace…I’d look to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s a matter of faith for God’s children…Do we believe God is for us or against us? Can we trust He has a plan when we can’t, see beyond the immediate circumstances because of our pain? Can we believe “he has delivered us from such deadly peril and He will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us.
Do you know the sacrifices God desires more than any other sacrifice? More than our
time, money and talents? Psalm 51:17 tells us… “The sacrifice God desires is a broken
Spirit…God will not reject a broken and repentant heart.”
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
God’s Church doesn’t primarily exist for those who are already in it…it exists for those who aren’t…many of them are hurting through the same things we go through…looking for answers…and poor in Spirit people have the answer.
II. OUR COMFORT ABOUNDS THROUGH CHRIST
Not through Vicodin, not through Jim Beam or Jack Daniels…not through sexual conquests or an abundance of possessions…our comfort abounds through Christ!
