Jim Class - Part 1
by Kevin Allen
April 15, 2026 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: James 1, James 1:2, John 9, Hebrews 12:2

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--jim-class-part-1
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I was going to I told my wife this, a couple other of staff that I started to put on a big pair of those old school sweatpants and a big sweatshirt and a headband and a couple of those little wristbands, you know, go old school for gym class tonight. But then I thought about how hot and sweaty I'd get, so I discounted that idea. But we're going to start a new series tonight called Gym Class. Everybody excited? >> Yeah. Well, that was weak. >> Anybody excited about gym class? There we go. There we go. Launching into a new series tonight. In case you don't know, the book of James is what we're going to be studying. Probably one of my favorite books in the Bible. Book of James. It's all the way back towards the end of the Bible. And I love it because to me it's uniquely practical and very direct in how we should live our lives.

And in a world where I feel like so many things are hinted at and things can be misunderstood. I don't think it's possible for you to read the book of James and misunderstand him. If you do, I I would really question whether or not you really read it because he's he's pretty straight straight to the point. point. He doesn't pull a lot of punches. Uh James was the brother of Jesus and he didn't just hear Jesus teach his sermons. He watched him live his life from the earliest of his days. He saw how he how he lived. And you can feel it in the book when you read it. It's someone who I feel like is calling you and I to live a life of intent and purpose. So, as we go through this for the next six Wednesday nights, uh, what I want us to do is to number one, keep an open heart, open mind, and and and do it from this respect.

I feel like we should always do this when coming to the house of God. Lord, what do you have for me in this message? Because none of us have arrived, right? As far as I know, we're all still here. This isn't heaven. If this is heaven, I'm really disappointed. So since we're not in heaven, that means we haven't ar we haven't arrived. So there's probably still something for us to learn. So what if we did that for the next six weeks? We just took time to say, "God, what is it that you have for me in my life that I can learn, that I can glean from this tonight?" I feel like if we go into that, we're going to see where there's some areas where we can make some changes and live with intent and purpose. But we're going to talk about some questions like, "How do you deal with anger?

How do how do you deal with a relational mess? How do you find healing or hope in difficult situations? And what I would encourage you to do is on your own, take one chapter and spend a week in a chapter. What I mean by that is just take the chapter and read it once a day or twice a day. They're not hard. It's really five minutes is all it takes to read the chapter, but do it repeatedly. That's what I often do for myself in my own personal time of study. Not for learning sermons or preparing to teach you guys. I do that usually when I'm here, but at in at my home, in my own private time, if I like to just, as I've said before, I like to just kind of sit down in a verse or sit down in a chapter because I've discovered that by me being intentional with it, often times the Lord has a way of just highlighting a verse that really just stands out in a way I've never thought about it before.

Anybody know what I'm talking? Like we we will many of us in this room have read this book many many times. But isn't it great that every time you read it something new pops out? I mean there's been times I'm like is that word always been there? How have I not seen that? But because it's the living word of God and it meets us where we are. And I love that about God. He meets us where we are. So that's what we're going to be doing. I want I want to encourage us to do that. And uh tonight I want to start with this question and I I've invented a word. My wife's always nervous when I invent words, but I didn't find a word in the English language that fit it. So, sometimes you just get a word from Kevin's vocabulary. So, here's here's a word for you tonight.

How do you get through what feels ungetthroughable? How do you get through what feels like ungetthroughable? Anybody felt that way? All right, let's let's just be serious tonight for just a minute. I'm going to have some fun and you know, I'm going to mix some humor in this. That's just my style. But for just a moment, have you ever asked yourself, "How do I get through what feels like it's ungetable?" Because life sometimes brings us those type of things to where we look at it and like, "God, you've brought me a long way and you've done a lot, but this this is hard. This is tough. This is difficult. This is this is extreme or this is complex or whatever you need to put in there as your descriptor for it." And I know in this room that there's many who are facing some things right now in your life.

And maybe this is going to speak to you. Now, here's what I want to say is is I want to qualify James a little bit. And in qualifying James, I want to qualify Kevin just a little bit. Some of these situations that you're going through, they're very close to your heart. And if I say something in a direct way or as we read through James, you read something in a direct way and it feels like it stings or hurts a little bit or maybe it's it's it's you're not being sympathetic or empathetic to where I am. I would I would caution you before you turn it off or dismiss it to just just say, "God, don't let me miss because of my hurt and my pain. Don't let me miss what it is maybe you're trying to say to me." Because it's it's easy for every human being, every one of us in this room, every one of us that's listening online, it's easy sometimes if we're so in a moment.

We're so caught up in our circumstances and they can feel overwhelming because of the the the the situation. We we can feel very vulnerable. And in our vulnerability, sometimes we put up walls. And by doing that, we can we can we can sometimes we can limit what God can do in us because of what we're doing. So I would just I would just say that very prayerfully, very respectfully. I'm not trying to to dismiss anybody's pain or hurt because I feel like knowing what I'm going to talk about tonight, you could you could take Well, hey, Pastor Kevin, you just don't know. And you know what? I probably don't know. There's there's more than likely some scenarios and circumstances in this room that that that I would have a hard time sympathizing with you on.

I may could try to empathize, but I don't know that I because I've never experienced that. I've never I've never I've never went down that path. I've never felt that loss or that hurt, that pain. I hope that makes sense. I know when we deal with these kind of things, I try to always be respectful and I always ask God, will you please give me the right words to say because you know who I'm going to be talking to tonight. So, because of what I'm going to deal with tonight, I wanted to give that as a as a front end side to say before you allow this thing to hurt you, just say, "God, help me." Is that okay? I feel the Holy Ghost right now. I don't know why I just, but I feel like I need to pray. Can I pray again? Will you pray with me right now?

Jesus, Lord, you know every situation in this room right now. Lord, we want to be sensitive to you. Lord, I'm going to be teaching your word for your church. I pray tonight that we could all be sensitive to what it is you have to say to us in Jesus name. Amen. You know, we have things we go through in life that cause us to feel like we need to give up. Anybody ever just wanted to give up? I remember when I was 30 years old, I was fat. It's okay to laugh at that. I was I was a big boy. I weigh 260bs. I was 30 years old. We just had our second daughter and uh you know I had just let myself get into a place that I shouldn't have let myself get to. Not that I'm a super skinny boy now, but if you could have seen my pictures then I've come a long way, baby.

Now here's the deal. I like to eat and I don't want to really give that up. Just feel like confession is good for the soul. So what I decided is I have to, you know, weight loss for the most part within reason. There's always the outliers and exceptions, but weight weight loss is really simple. It's a P&L sheet, profits and loss. So, you can just view it that way. What what you bring in and what you what you let out. If you if you keep that stuff balanced, you can maintain your weight. If you get overweight, you need to have you need to have more loss than you have profit. That make sense? Bad business model, but it's good for keeping your body where it needs to be. So, I started walking, got to jogging, decided I was running. And before long, I was starting to drop weight pretty quick.

And let's be honest, guys have a way of dropping weight quicker than women. I don't know why that is. If you get upset without taking it up with God, he did it. I didn't know. Don't blame Gary. It's not Gary's fault. Give me high five, Gary. So, I dropped off drinking regular Cokes and, you know, and got got a little bit in that. And and here's my point is I I felt pretty good about myself. son. I decided, you know, hey, I'm a runner. Wrong. I stand here at 50, 20 years later. I'm going to tell you a secret. I am not a runner. I'm not. I'm some guy who who doesn't mind jogging, but I'm not a runner. And I say that because I I I I got a little bit I got a bit a little bit confident in myself and I signed up for the Chick-fil-A 10K. So, which is a 6 point was that 6.2 I think it six six point something.

Six miles and some change. Yeah. So I I I I decide I had ran the distance before and thought I was doing pretty good, Hank. I really did. So I get over there and it was at uh over there at Gayway Park is where it started. And this this was early on the years before we had a group of runners at the church. I was me just me myself. I get out there and I got my bib on. I'm looking around and when you done something before, you know, you always about you instead of doing research, you just like I'm observant. I can watch. I'm I'm I'm a sharp guy. I can I can operate Velcro shoes. I'm good. So, I was watching what was going on. So, they they started the race and and if you've never been in a race like that before, no one's told you, you can get really caught up in the pack.

Any anybody in here has run a race before willing to admit to that. Yeah. And before I know it, I was running at a pace that I was not used to. Now, now Randy, for the first quarter mile, I felt good. I felt real good. I mean, I'm up there with like the Kenyons and I'm like, "Hey, you know, look at me." Like, we're we're running real good. I'm looking like like I got this. I got this. And then I get that half mile and all of a sudden I started to d Wayne a little bit. Started to breathe a little heavy. About the mile mark, I started asking myself, you got to do this five more times. Are you sure you're into this? So, I started looking around and then I figured I got to I got to fix something because with the clip I'm going I'm not going to make it.

This is harder than I imagined it to be. Why is it this hard? Like I've done this distance before. I've done this before. Why is this hard? Now, I had not experienced that specific set of circumstances. Now, long story medium, I was determined. And there was this little fella about this tall who passed me. And I was determined I was going to catch him. I don't know why. I don't know why that young boy, he didn't do anything to me. He didn't make He didn't make fun of me. He didn't say, "Come on, fat boy." He didn't say, "Hey, get out of the way, old man." He do. But I was determined I was going to beat him. And it's like every time I got close to him, he could sense it. He sped up. Then I had to speed up. And I remember I was dying again. And I'm dragging this out.

I mean, it was really only it it really was just a six mile run, but I was dead. I remember when I crossed the finish line, I was gasping for air, and I was thinking to myself, I I just barely made it. Why was it so hard? Why was it so difficult? Sometimes life puts us in things that we think we we we know how to navigate. We we feel like we got it under control, but then a new set of a new set of variables comes in that we're not we haven't planned for. Before we know it, sometimes we can find ourselves spiritually gasping for air, wondering what's going on. Has anybody ever felt like that? Yeah. And I feel like that's what James starts off. Now, this is not something unfamiliar. James for the first century church, for the first century Jew, this this is interesting how he starts this.

I want to go to James chapter 1. If you have your Bible, the scripture will be on the wall. If you don't, I want you to listen to how he starts this off. I I find it very interesting. He says this. James, the bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. Greetings. Now, as oftent times happens in scripture, he said a whole lot without saying a whole lot. One translation says to the 12 tribes that are scattered, the kingdom come. And and the language is there if you study it out that he's saying we're not together. We're not unified, but I'm writing to the church that is dispersed everywhere so that you can know scattered. You see, for the first century Jew, a sign that they believed kingdoms, the kingdom of God was at hand with them being united, not not scattered.

So he he's speaking to something that is their reality. He's meeting them in their situation to try to address the reality of their world. And I love that about God. But here's where I feel like it gets very interesting because James pins these amazing words and I'm going to spend some time in this. Okay, verse number two. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Interesting, interesting language. Every time I read that, I smile because that makes absolutely no sense. Nobody that's honest that reads that verse of scripture says to themselves, "Well, that makes complete sense." Because nobody in their right mind says, "I am happy when I'm going through a trial." But James says that, "Hey, to everybody who scattered the kingdom come, count it happy time, joyful, rejoice.

Be exceedingly happy when you're going through a trial. Can you imagine for just a minute to go to one of the people that you love and say, "You know what? I'm so happy that you got that bad diagnosis from the doctor. I'm just so happy you got a tumor. I'm happy for you. How good God is you got a tumor." Or, "I'm so happy that you you guys are getting a divorce. What a good God there is." Or whatever it is. You lost I'm happy you lost your job. I'm happy you wrecked your car. I'm happy your dog died. That's what he's saying. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. In other words, pain is coming your way whether you like it or not. So, you might as well be happy about it. It's kind of like your mama said, "Sit down and be happy or I'm going to give you something to be happy about."

James grew up in poverty. More than likely, he's more than likely since he was a brother of Jesus. He understood this firsthand. He's probably one, the best we can tell by studying out one of seven children. Many scholars believe that his father, Joseph, died early in his life, leaving Mary with seven kids and a family in great distress and probably some financial crisis. Plus, how would you like to grow up with Jesus being your brother? How many times did he hear, "Why can't you be more like Jesus?" And we still say that today, right? Why can't you be more like Jesus? That was that was James's life. So, he he has firsthand working knowledge of this. Now, why would you start off your book this way? To everybody who scattered the kingdom come, be happy that you're going through trials.

I don't I don't think he asked Mrs. James about how he wanted to start his book because I'm pretty sure Mrs. James would have been like, "Honey, I don't I don't know that we want to right off the bat hit them in the mouth. Maybe we ease our way into it because that doesn't sound like this going to be a page turner." Pretty sure people are going to tune you out pretty pretty quickly there. So, what's he doing? What's he saying? What's he saying? I think it's important that we pick up on the very beginning when he says this. When he says this word, a brethren, count it all joy. He he's basically the translation is saying there, can you just consider consider what? I have a thought for you. I have an idea. In other words, I have a new way to try to frame reference how you view when things don't go right in your life.

Now, you're going to have to give me a few minutes to unpack this. Are you willing to give me a few minutes to let me unpack this before you tune me out? Don't base life on how you feel in one moment. Because we all have moments when life isn't good. But the vast majority of us in the room, and I I I'll give a couple of rows over here a pass. for just a minute. But the vast majority of us in the room have lived enough life to know that often times it's not as bad as it feels in a moment. How many of us would be willing to raise a hand and say, "I checked out way too soon sometimes in my life." Yeah. I wrote things off way before I should have written them off because it didn't turn out to be quite as bad as I had imagined it was going to be when I first got the news.

I'm guilty. Yeah. So, I think for all of us who agreed with that and for everybody else that should have agreed to it, there's some validity to what he says when he says, "Count it all joy." So, let me let me go a little further. How do we interpret every moment? Because it really really matters because what you believe about your adversity will determine how you respond to it. What you believe about the adversity you face will determine how you respond to it. I'll say that one more time because it's worth notes. What you believe about the adversity you face will determine how you respond to it. What do you think your framework for how you see it in a world that sees adversity as something that is based purely out of your feelings and however you feel is completely fine.

Your feelings can validate everything that you do. I just want to stay. Do we really understand what it is? Do we do we really process what James is saying to us? Uh there's a a cognitive psychologist named Albert Ellis who came up with a model. It's called the ABC model. If you're a notetaker, A is for activating. He says there's always an activating event or a situation or a struggle that comes your way. So there's an event. Activating B belief. What do you believe about what happened to you in that event? What do you make of it? How do you interpret it? and C consequences. There are consequences based on the belief and those consequences lead you to make a choice. ABC activating belief and consequences. James is saying whenever you face difficulty, whenever you face a trial, I want you to consider not just the negative because our minds automatically go there, but could there be a positive you don't see in the moment?

Could there be? Let me give you another gym example. How many of you have ever experienced this? I'm going to get in shape and then you go to the gym and you exercise and then the next morning you wake up and you have never prayed like that before in your life. Oh God, please help me. Father, I have sinned. The lactic acid in your body is at a 12 and everything hurts. Every every every movement you have brings with it pain. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Now, in that moment, based off of how you feel, you tell yourself only crazy people exercise. But how many you know you got to push through because there eventually comes a other side of that. If you those of you who gave up, I will tell you there's another side. And to whoever I was talking to earlier, it is unfair how quickly it goes away when you stop.

That's why you have to stay at it. So to all of my individuals who raised hands while ago, how many of you have been through a trial or tribulation, but on the other side of it, you were a better person? Not all, but you don't know. That's why it's important in the moment to stop and ask ourel the question, what does it mean? What am I why am I going through this? Why am I going through this pain and suffering? Does this mean that God wants us to go through difficult things? Am I supposed to just always enjoy struggles? No. I don't think anyone naturally enjoys a struggle. Nor do I think that that James is saying that that God's happy when we struggle. The Bible doesn't teach that. That's not what it teaches. But more importantly, the way James describes joy is not that you should experience only joy or the exclusivity of joy, but it's more about the intensity of joy.

Let me explain. In other words, you could be experiencing pain or frustration and still experience the joy that he's talking about at the heart that God is doing something in my life. And I don't always see. There have been things happen in my life that in the moment I was somewhat convinced that God had forgotten me only to realize on the other side how merciful God really was. Some of those things you can't see until it's long gone past. Some of those things you can only say after it's long gone past and you stay close to God and then he reveals to you more of the story you didn't see in the moment because you were so immersed in your feelings, so caught up in why it did not go the way you wanted it to go. And James is saying, "Hang on just a minute.

There's another way to look at it. DON'T WRITE IT OFF JUST because you don't feel it in the moment. Count it all joy. Because here's what I want to do. And I got I got four parts I want to go through with this tonight. I want to walk through four different ways that I feel like James is inviting you and I to frame up this understanding of why we sometimes go through struggles and trials. Number one, character revealed. The first one is trials and tribulations have a way of revealing our true character. Have you ever noticed that? Consider it joy when you go through the struggle because that struggle can reveal your true character. In fact, the word James uses for trial, that Greek word literally means a situation, a struggle, an adversity that will reveal one's true character.

It's like how a stress test can reveal the state of your heart. And let's be honest for just a minute. Let's be transparent with each other. Let's do this together. Listen to this. Listen to a couple of scenarios and just ask yourself this question. When you have been through these same scenarios, what did it reveal about you? Have you ever found yourself where someone cuts you off in traffic and you say things to them inside of the safety of your car that you would never say to their face? Now, there better be a bunch of hands glove right now or we're fixing to have some mass repentance. Yes. Yes. Have you ever stopped in a moment and asked yourself, "What did that just say about me? Now, I'm not saying you can't be frustrated. We all get frustrated.

But then when your frustration leads you down to talking bad about their mom or their dog or whatever it was that you said, whatever whatever thing you did to them, what does that say about you? That moment revealed something about your character. You know, anybody ever been surprised by what comes out of your mouth? Yeah. That's a true indicator that you are out of tune and out of touch because out of the abundance of the the or how about this? Somebody gossips behind your back. How do you receive that? Do you in turn gossip about them? And then maybe find there's a lot more vengeance and venom in you than you really realized. Or you find out about it and maybe you don't say anything about them, but in your mind you run through every scenario of how you can cruy hurt them.

Well, Pastor Kevin, I didn't do it. But yet you thought it. You thought it right. Jesus said it wasn't just about committing adultery, but as he thinkketh. So, I'm going to tell you, I I'm I've been mad and there's been some times that I've caught myself thinking through some things and be like, Kevin, where are you at right now? You should not be thinking those thoughts. The test, the aggravation, the adversity is revealing something about me that I need to work on. And this is where I feel like we need it's important for us to frame up the narrative of what I'm going through because does it reveal something about me that maybe I'm needing to work on inside myself? What about when you don't get the promotion that you applied for and you knew that you were better than the person who got it?

How do you handle that? Do you discover that maybe there's some greed or some envy or some some other things, some jealousy inside yourself? You see, the challenges we face in this life test us. they reveal us. This is so often true that in my own heart, in my own life, there's been things that pop up and realize, hey, I gota I gotta got to work on that. I can't let that go unchecked. I can't just dismiss it because it's not right. If if if someone came to me and was seeking counsel and they revealed these thoughts or these these these these behavior patterns, I would be giving them instruction and how they need to change those things. Well, I'm not above it myself. It reveals things. Sometimes our trials reveal that we have anger issues and other problems or struggles and sense of resentment or or greed or jealousy or envy or strife.

Whatever it is, we need to work on those. Sometimes our trials reveal that we just believe that the world should really revolve around me. Isn't it interesting how selffocused we become so quickly that even the best of us can find ourselves being very selfish when things don't go according to our plan. I love how the philosopher Paul Tillik describes this. He says, "Suffering takes people beneath the busyiness of life and reminds them that they are not who they thought they were." I'll say that again because I thought it was good. Suffering takes people beneath the busyiness of life and reminds them they're not who they thought they were. Isn't that just true? Isn't it interesting when we discover the real truth about us and it surprises us?

See, trials we face don't just test us, they reveal us. And in many ways, they're almost a way of God working mercifully in our lives to show us that there's still some places that we need to spend some time working on it. As I said before, none of us are there yet. We're still in the process of being sanctified. And in this walk with him every day, I need to make sure that my eyes are wide open and I'm not deaf to the fact that I probably still need to be listening to where God is talking to me in my life. Ladies and gentlemen, every one of us in this room, every one of us in this room breathing air right now has a blind side. trials, tribulations, these these struggles we face sometimes have a way of revealing what you couldn't see in the moment.

You're so blinded by everything else that was going on. So that was number one. Trials can reveal that true character. Number two, they can make you stronger. James is saying consider it something to be positive about even if it's difficult when you go through the trial because it can make you stronger. Now let's go back to to James. We're going to verse number two. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing, listen to this, verse number three, that the testing of your faith produces patience. Man, testing. I don't ever like taking a test. Anybody here like test? I don't like test. Here we go. The testing of your faith. That word test mean the purifying, the redeeming of your faith. It's producing something. It produces patience.

Now, only rookie Christians pray for patience, right? Every season, every season, man and woman of God, when somebody say, "I'm praying for patience." We're like, "We immediately back away from like they're always like, "What?" Like, "Well, you know what God's going to do for you? He's going to take you through the ringer to give you some patience." Like, don't pray that prayer. That one's on the do not pray list. But James says, "Count it all joy when you fall into the various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." In other words, you gain something that you would not have otherwise gained without going through the struggle. You gain the ability to go through what is ungoable. Wouldn't that be a good thing? Now, this is important for a number of reasons.

First, first and foremost, and almost and I'm almost the worst at this. We often have a very low adversity threshold, low pain meter. If my wife is here, she would say, "Amen." I think she's here somewhere. I don't know. Where is Chastity? Call her out. She's still there. I'm not I'm not a good patient. Thankfully, I don't get sick that much, but I'm not a good patient. You I have man fever, which is 99. And they say that's as close as a man can get is experiencing labor pains. That way I just make half the room mad already, right? This is going to be an ungoable message. I get upset when I go to Trader Joe's and they don't have my version of salsa that I want. And I'm just like, are you kidding me right now? I mean, never mind that the majority of the world doesn't even know what Trader Joe's is, much less knows where their next meal is going to come from.

But hey, they didn't have my salsa. How many of us have been around and witnessed and seen when people seemingly lose their mind over things they should never lose their mind over because we become very selffocused when things don't go the way we want them to. We got to be careful about this because we're trying to be stronger. We're trying to be wetter. patient better patience comes from the Greek word that means pure definition the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith. So much of life is remaining under stress and burden and weight and the challenge that we feel like we just have to keep carrying and carrying and carrying. And to me, when I was thinking about this and praying for direction in this message tonight, I feel like sometimes the best picture of faith is just you got to hang in there.

But it can be frustrating when you feel like you've done everything right and you're still having to hang in there. Anybody a witness to that? God, I have been good. I have been doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel like I've done everything just exactly the way that I've read for you and how you've wanted me to do it. And yet, I'm still having to carry this. God, why am I having to do this? Have you ever asked that? You did everything right. I'm faithful. I did everything. Lord, why? What's interesting is sometimes we fail to see that that very thing you're trying to pray away is really making you the person you need to be. It's God working on you. See, there are moments and we we have so many moments in our life and we got to be careful because a lot of times we just want to give up.

We want to give up because we believe God, if you don't get here and change my circumstances, I feel like it's a sign that you don't care. Then don't act like you haven't had that thought. God, do you even hear me anymore? I've asked that question before. I can be the lone read in the room. I got both my hands up. I' I've said that to God. Do you even hear me? Because I don't feel like you're hearing me right now. Like if you if you were really aware of what I'm having to go through right now, you would be here with me. And I would I would feel I could I would see and sense and know because I know you love me and if you love me you would not to be allowing me to go through this only to realize I was praying away the very thing God was using to make me a better man.

See here's the thing. Here's here's your note for you notetakers. God is more concerned with your character than with your circumstances. God is more concerned with your character than he is with your circumstances. Which is why God may allow us to struggle. Why he may allow us to have difficulty. Why he may even allow us to fail. It's not a sign that he doesn't care, but it's a sign that he does so so that he can preserve us, so that we can grow, so we can be stronger. I find it somewhat interesting when I look back at my situations in life and the struggles that were there. Often times those are the things that are most memorable to me. Have you noticed that you talk to people about life, especially people who have lived who've lived a little bit life who people probably mid20s or above and you talk with them about, you know, where they are and what's led them to to the life that they have now.

More often than not, the thing they'll talk to you about is the struggle that they overcome, the adversity that they came through. They'll tell it and say, 'You know, if if you'd have known me before I went through this, if you didn't know me, they look back on that with with a fondness. Why? Because they realize the value after they've gone through it. In the moment, they didn't want that. In the moment, they didn't ask for it. They couldn't even see it, sense it, or feel it. They were praying it away. But now that they've come through and they're on the other side of it, they learned the value of why they went through what they went through. It's hard to see that, isn't it? In the moment, we don't always get it. We don't always comprehend or understand.

Like, why? But on the other side brings clarity, as some of the old-timers say, hindsight's 2020. We see with clarity where God's brought us through. I love how a writer named David Brooks, he kind of frames it up this way. He says, "When most people think about the future, they dream up ways they might live happier lives. But I've noticed this phenomenon. When people remember the crucial events that formed them, they don't usually talk about happiness. It is usually the ordeals that seem to be the most significant. Most people shoot for happiness, but feel formed through suffering. Formed through suffering. We aim for happiness, but we grow when we face the challenge. James says, "Consider it a joyful thing." I don't know about that, James.

I don't know if I can if I can frame it into being a good thing for me. I don't like it. I'm not happy about it. But he says in your life, you should consider it joyful because that means God's not finished with you. Have you ever thought about it that way? Are you so caught in your feelings and your disappointments and your frustrations that you can't sense that and know? Maybe maybe that's something you need to put a reminder somewhere in your life, a post-it note on the car dash or by the mirror in the morning when you rest and just remind yourself, God's not finished with me. So, I may not like what I'm going through right now. I may not have scripted this out for my life, but even though I'm going through this, I need to always remember God's not finished with me.

I'm still drawing breath. Therefore, I am a work in progress. That should bring somebody hope. >> God's not finished with me. Number three, it'll help you draw closer to Jesus. If if for no other reason, consider it a good thing when you go through struggle because you can draw closer to God in those moments. To me, I think it's a great insight into how we oftent times don't understand what we consider suffering. We get a little glimpse of this in in in the Gospel of John. John chapter number nine. We we see this. The disciples encounter a man who's struggling. A man who's been born blind. And they are struggling. They have some difficult questions to ask. They say this in verse number one of chapter nine. Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who was blind from birth.

And his disciples asked him saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents? That he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sin, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." Now, that just flies in the face of he's a good God, doesn't it? With human logic and understanding because we see the disciples frame the question up in the exact same way that you and I often view things we don't understand. Somebody sinned. This man's been blind his whole life. So, who sinned? How do it was his mom and dad's fault? And and because of that the offspring had to suffer or was it his fault? I mean I mean he was he was a child but did he sin and and because of that right we always have to justify why something doesn't fit our narrative because it helps us become some we can it's more palatable to us if I can justify it and and what was Jesus's response because this is a tough one.

What was his response? Neither one of them sin. It wasn't his parents and it wasn't him. It says so that God could get glory. Now, what do you do with that? How do you process that one? How many of you feel like that one's fair? Let's be honest. Feel like the only way we grow is if we're honest. How many of you feel like that's fair? How many of you maybe better? How many you feel like that's unfair? Yeah, I got my hand in the air. You see it right here? Cuz I'm like, well, how is that fair to him? How's that fair to the guy? I mean, let's forget his parents for a minute. I'm sure they were disappointed, but they're not the blind one. Let's talk about the poor boy's blind. And did he know that? Or did he hear that in that moment? And then how did he receive it in that moment when he first heard the news?

Wait a minute. You mean I've been suffering my entire life so that God could get glory? But do you ever frame your trial that way? Are you so caught up in your feelings that you never consider for just a moment what James is saying? You should consider it joy. I don't know, James. I don't like you very much. I don't like gym class because I have a hard time with stuff that I don't like. But James is saying before you get caught up in your emotions and your feelings and before they lead you astray, maybe you need to stop and consider there's some things that God's still doing inside of you. Maybe, just maybe, maybe, just maybe, your life, as miserable as you say it is, is not meant necessarily for you. It's meant for him. Now, we're all in when we're going to give our life to God.

When we get to do the grandiose things, right? when we can stand in front of the crowds and preach to the masses and we can see the blinded eye open the deaf ear and stop. God, sign me up for that. And he's like, "You know what? I'm gonna sign you up. You're going to be blind your whole life." Well, hang on, God. Now, that is that ain't what I what I was thinking was going to happen. Oh. Oh, it needs to be according to your plan, right? I forgot you're God. You're God, right? Or maybe, just maybe, if I go back to Genesis, that was the problem in the garden, right? Is he convinced them that they could be God? And I I want you to know, there's a little truth. It's it's it's hard. It's not palatable. But you're not God. You are valuable to him.

And he does, according to Romans, work all things together for good. But it may not be your version of good, >> but it will always be his version of good. And you may not ever get it figured out down here why that some things happen the way they happen to you in your life. And I may not be able to explain. There are some events that go there's some events that have taken place inside this room tonight that I could tell you you're living with things that I don't have a word. I don't have an explanation for it. It breaks my heart what you've had to endure. And if I'm being transparent and honest with you, there are moments when I'm praying for you and what you're going through that I ask God the same questions. God, help me process the why. And I would love to tell you that he gives me answers.

More often than not, he doesn't. He just points me back to his word. That I trust. That I walk by faith and not by sight. That I got to be obedient even when it doesn't make sense. And I have to lean into the fact that he loves me more than I can comprehend. And then maybe it doesn't feel like love in the moment, but I have to trust that it is love in the end. Our trials and mysterious ways have the power to draw us closer to God, to the person that we need the most. I can't tell you why a 25year-old gets diagnosed with brain cancer or tragic death or there's miscarriages. I don't know why people struggle with pain or loss and heartbreak. I can't I there's just there's just things I don't have answers for. And in those moments when I pray, there's times it seems like heaven is silent.

But I can tell you this. I can give I can I can give you this truth. Your pain is not where God is absent. Your pain is where he is the most present. I can tell you that the title this the sub the subtitle this is this is gym class part one no pain no gain. I can tell you in some of my lowest moments moments where if you can believe this or not your pastor just was ready to give up and walk away. I've I've I've I've shared this testimony a few times, but our first service in this building, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, 2019, I wanted to be anywhere but here. I was done. I was I was I was checked out spiritually. I was I was I was a wreck. Like I was I was not in a good place. But I remember when he met me at my lowest moment when I couldn't even put words together.

I just cried out and I moaned and he stepped into me and I felt him there. Because in the pain, in those deep moments of hurt, if you will allow yourself, you'll see he's right where he's always been. And sometimes he does have to rock us to our core to get our attention, to convince us and show us and prove to us that we're not God. And whether you believe this or not, you have limits. I have limits. But in those moments, oh those are the beautiful moments of life when you can't walk but he carries you. The true representation of that that old picture we've seen and those of us who grew up in church of the footprints in the sand. Lord, why why is there only one set of footprints? Why did you leave me? I didn't leave you. I carried you in those moments.

And if you live long enough, I promise you, there'll be times you have to let him carry you because you just can't walk. But he will. I know you may be thinking, you know, that's just the pastor in a church telling me stuff I'm supposed to believe. Our trials reveal to us, they grow us, and they will draw us closer to God. And the fourth thing is they prove this most importantly that our trials don't have the last word. Anybody thankful for that? They don't have the last word. Because of Jesus, your trial, your challenge, your struggle, your pain, it doesn't have the last word. Whatever it is, no matter how long you've carried it, there's a finish line. James frames it this way. And I want I want again, I only have seven minutes to get this across.

I think I got just enough time, but I may take me 10. Are you going to be okay? I want you to pay attention. James 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Verse four, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. See, there's something deeper going on. James doesn't describe the finish line in terms of your circumstances. Okay, listen to me. Listen to me. This is the crux. Don't miss this. Don't check out on me in the next five minutes, but please listen. James doesn't say one day your marriage will be perfect. It's not what he says. Or one day your job will be perfect or one day your kids will be perfect.

He doesn't say that. That's not what he says. What does he say? Go back and read it again. He says one day you will be perfect. whole complete mature, not lacking anything. Did you catch that? I'm a I'm trying to grab somebody today in this room. You've been struggling. You've been trying. You've been working. You've been You've been You've been doing what you can, but it feels like you're just barely keeping your head above water. I'm here to tell you, keep treading water. Something more important is going on than just that struggle. Something more important is going on than just that challenge. You are at stake. Your heart is at stake. Your eternity is at stake. I love this quote. They're going to put on the board for you. It's a great quote.

Dallaser frames it this way. He says, "The main thing God gets out of your life is not the achievements you accomplish. It's the person you become. It's who you're becoming. Sister Sue, there's enough of us in this room that can say, "I went through stuff I didn't want to go through. You did, too. But when I know where I'm at now from where I was when it all started, I'm a better person. I didn't like it. I didn't I didn't I didn't want I didn't want to go through that. I wouldn't have there's no way I would have written my story that way. But thanks be to God, he knew. He knew. He knew where I was at and he didn't leave me there. He walked with me step by step and I'm a better man for it. See, at the end of the day, that's what the challenge is that we're facing.

Is it is really it's really about you. You're trying to make it about you, but you're misunderstanding. James says, "Count it all joy. I don't want to be happy." James, nobody in their right mind is happy about a trial. No, no, no, no. You got to frame it up. Is what James is saying. and you're you're you're you're caught in your feelings. But when we go to gym class, we learn no pain, no gain. It's about you. You just misunderstood because it's about your heart. It's about your character. It's about the stuff that really matters to God. That's what God cares about. That's why he's still investing in you. That's what he's doing right now. Which means sometimes we go through struggles. Sometimes we experience pain we don't understand. Sometimes we experience challenges that might reveal us and grow us and draw us closer to him.

But it also means that every one of those trials, there's a promise embedded deep within it. And the promise is this. God still has you. He still has you. Your life matters that much. Even if you can't see it, even if you can't feel it, we sing it, right? We we we sing that song. Even when I can't see, I know you're moving. That's because he's still working on you. As I end this tonight, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you experience trials of whatever kind, because God still has you. Do you see it? Because if you can grab a hold of this first lesson in gym class, I don't know about you be excited. We're only four verses in to chapter one. This is going to be a good series. Jim's going to change us. Our life is in his hands.

So whenever you experience struggles and trials, know you can trust him. You can ask for help. Maybe you've never done that before. I think sometimes there are people who just complicate prayer. Just be real and open with him. Just like I'm talking to you. Just say, "God, I need help. I don't understand. I can't see a way out. I don't know how this is going to work, but I know you hold me. So help me, God, with this process. I can't promise you how or when he'll answer that prayer. But I can tell you this, the pain you're facing in that marriage won't have the last word. The struggle in your relationship, it won't have the last word. Your job situation, it won't have the last word. The doctor's diagnosis, it won't have the last word. The hurt in your heart, it won't have the last word.

>> He has the last word. And as long as you're drawing air, you're still being worked on. How do I know? Well, because of Jesus who endured the greatest trial that ever was, the greatest suffering of all, he went to a cross. He was nailed to it. He was placed in the tomb. Three days later, he rose again. He defeated sin. He conquered death. He finished the race. He uttered the words that mattered the most. When he says, "It is finished." That's how I know. But I love for those of you who just need more. Here you go, you needy people. The writer of Hebrews frames it up, I think maybe the best in Hebrews 12:2. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him did what? Endured the cross, despising the shame, he set down the right hand of the throne of God.

So as I end tonight, for the joy he faced every trial, for the joy he went through the suffering, for the joy of being with you and you and you and you and you and you and you and you and everyone in this room, for that joy, he went. He didn't have to. He chose to. What a love. Now, we know that, but we don't always act like we embrace it. That's why we keep believing. It's why we keep trusting. It's why we keep hanging in there. It's why we keep surrendering. It's why we keep walking by faith and not by sight. And it's why the writer of Hebrews also said, "We have to run the race which is set before us." Let us run with perseverance, our patience that's marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. One version says, "The pioneer and the perfector of our faith."

I like that. The pioneer, the guy who set it out. He was the one that forged it. He had you in the beginning and he will carry you in the end. What greater thing could I tell you tonight that stand Jesus? I know I know in this room there are those that are carrying heavy heavy things. Things that Lord they didn't ask for. They don't even understand fully. I know as I talked tonight that there was a part of them that was really struggling when we were listening to James say, "Count it all joy." Because what they're experiencing is anything but joy. God, I pray that we could learn how to frame up our situation so that we don't lose sight of who you are and what it is you're trying to do in us, through us, and around us. that we never lose this truth that you had us in the beginning and you will carry us in the end.

I pray that we could have a boldness and a confidence to trust you like never before. I pray God that we could feel you close and near. Carry us when we need it. Reveal to us all we need to change. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And amen. God bless you. Thank you for coming to gym class part two next week. You're dismissed in Jesus name.