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00:02 to preach without powerpoints, uh without a mic. Um it was very
00:08 challenging. As you can see, I'm compensating right now. I've got my iPad. I've got my iPhone. Um I've got a
00:14 clicker. Uh just just just in case anything should fail again. Um it was it
00:19 was it was it was a really interesting experience for me and it's it's fitting because um the topic of today is trials
00:27 and temptations. Um so uh we had some trials this morning and I think the Lord spoke to me and
00:33 said Masimo you have placed your heart on electronics you know and and um you you you should
00:39 you should place your heart on me and not electronics and focus on my word and and not your PowerPoint presentations
00:45 and uh so from now on I'm emailing my powerpoints to myself and I'm keeping them on an iPad uh just in case that
00:52 should happen again. Um anyway so today we are we find ourselves in in the book of James again. And it's the second week
00:59 uh that we are in the book of James. Um last week um David Adams um took us
01:05 through um the first uh eight uh verses and uh he mentioned and and James
01:10 mentions that trials are inevitable, right? Trials will come. The text says
01:17 not if trials comes but when trials come. Trials will come. What what are
01:22 trials? Well, it's kind of what I mentioned just now. Trials are when you have placed your heart on something that
01:28 fades and then when it fades you fade with it. So when we place our heart on
01:34 on things that do not last and then they fade away we fade with them and that's when when trials come. So what we're
01:42 going to do today is we're going to look at uh three things. We're going to look
01:47 at two kinds of troubles. We're going to look at perseverance and we're going to look at the anatomy of sin. We're going
01:52 to go just a little bit further than the text we read today. Last minute uh yesterday, I decided to do three extra
01:58 verses. So, I'll I'll read them to you as we uh go through, but we're going to do something bit different. We're going
02:04 to go uh in reverse order, right? We're going to we're going to start with um
02:09 the anatomy of sin from 13 to 18. Then we're going to go to perseverance. And then we will go in two kinds of
02:15 troubles. And we we kind of see James having a little case study uh uh for us on how to deal with two kinds of
02:23 troubles. But before we do that, let us commit this time to the Lord in prayer. Um Father Lord, we just thank you for
02:28 this morning. We thank you that you are a good God. We thank you for right now that you're going to pour your grace
02:34 onto us. Father, I ask for your grace to speak clearly and faithfully and boldly your word. And father I ask that you
02:41 give grace to everybody here to hear your word and it may may it convict hearts and change lives. I pray all this
02:47 in Jesus name. Amen. So the first thing we're going to look at is the anatomy of
02:54 sin. Okay. Before we understand how sin or works, the workings of sin, we have
03:00 to understand where does sin and desire come from. Well, James in his text
03:06 teaches us this. He says this, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be
03:12 tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one." So it's not God who gives you
03:18 temptation or desires, right? Because God is a good God. That's what he says in verse uh 17. He says, "Every good
03:25 gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation
03:32 or shadow due to change." So, so God is a good God. He does not tempt you. And
03:39 there's kind of three things that we can learn about God's character from the
03:44 text which I decided to include. And the main thing that we can learn is that God
03:49 is perpetually, constantly, consistently good. He never changes for the worse or
03:56 for the better. If something is perfect, it cannot become better. Right? But God
04:01 also doesn't get worse. He doesn't have an off day. He doesn't have a bad mood day. He's always good. So there's three
04:08 things that we can learn about God's character from verse 17 and 18. And it
04:13 says here the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. That means he gives us good and
04:21 perfect gifts and he never changes. So that's one thing we learn. God's
04:27 goodness is unchanging. All right. The second thing that we can
04:32 learn, it says here of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.
04:38 So it's not by our works, it's by God's will. It's not because you have done something great. It's because God is
04:44 great. Out of his own will, he chose to bring you forth. So something we can
04:49 learn about God's character is that God's goodness is undeserving. It's called grace. And grace is unmmerited
04:54 favor poured upon us. And the third thing that we can learn it says that we
04:60 should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Now what does that mean when he says that our salvation and we are
05:07 kind of first fruits? What what what James means by that that there is an eternity to come. If salvation is just a
05:14 foretaste, just a first fruit, then he's saying that means there's an eternity of
05:19 goodness to follow. And um that means that God's goodness is unending. So
05:27 there's three things that we can learn about God's character. God's goodness is unchanging. God's goodness is
05:32 undeserving. And God's goodness is unending. And that's the kind of God
05:38 that will never tempt you. and sin does not come from him but much rather James tells us this. He says but each person
05:45 is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
05:51 So it's ourselves who have that desire. Now if you if you want want to know how
05:56 how that happens is is we learned that in Genesis right Adam and Eve apple or
06:02 fruit right we we they consumed it we became sinful in nature and if you have more questions about that and how that
06:09 works I recommend you Alpha um Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. Uh we're starting the intro night. I think that's
06:16 a fantastic time to come uh and where they will explain you the basics of Christianity, the basic of human
06:23 sinfulness and and how God saves us through that. So, Alpha is the right place uh to come and find out more about
06:29 that. So, ultimately what James is saying here is that sinfulness and sinful desire does not come from God, it
06:36 comes from us. So, how does it work? How does sin work? How does desire work? How
06:42 does temptation work? And um to show you this, I would like to show you a little
06:48 video. Could we play the video on the marshmallow test? Now, when you look at this video, I want you to pay attention
06:54 to the children and how they're reacting. What's going to happen is there are children who going to have a marshmallow place in front of them,
07:01 right? And they're going to be asked to not eat it. And if they don't eat it for a couple of for a while, then they will
07:08 get a reward. Now, pay attention how different kids react differently when that happens.
07:20 Okay, sitting that chair. All right, here's the deal. Marshmallow for you.
07:26 You can either wait and I'll give you another one if you wait or you can eat it now. When I come back, I'll give you
07:33 another one. So then you'll have two. But stay in here and stay in the chair till I come back. Okay. All right.
07:53 Praying. Praying is good. I'm going to go do something and then I'll come back. It smells yummy.
08:02 It smells really good.
08:19 Not looking at it.
08:42 All right. So, it's up to you. You can have it now or you can wait. Okay.
08:51 I'll be back. Stay in the chair. Okay. Okay.
09:23 All
09:42 right. So, I'm going to leave and then I'll come back. Okay. So, you can either eat it right now or you can wait. Either
09:48 way. Okay. Okay.
10:02 How'd you do? Did you do good? You did good. Yeah.
10:07 You wanted to eat it, didn't you? Yeah. So, did I tell you to give you another one? Okay. Now you can have both.
10:13 You need them.
10:25 All right. As you can see, um the different kids, they had different kind of reactions. Some of them were like trying not to look at it and and some of
10:31 them were distracting themselves by by keeping themselves busy. And the study shows that actually those kids who
10:38 started smelling it, who started tasting it and touching it were the ones who couldn't persevere true. They're the
10:44 ones who actually ended up eating it. And and that's kind of how sin and temptation works very similar in our
10:50 lives as well, right? And James says that there's a process uh that happens,
10:56 right? First uh each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire. So we are being tempted. A
11:01 suggestion comes and the next thing is when that temptation when that desire is
11:06 conceived gives birth to sin then we sin. And then the next step is when sin
11:12 is fully grown. When we sin all the time, when we give consent to sin, when we say sin is okay, then ultimately it
11:19 will lead to spiritual death. It's kind of like leaning into a chair. Have you
11:26 guys ever leaned into a chair so much until you fell over? Um, it happened to me a couple of times. Um, so um the
11:34 process of sin is kind of like leaning into a chair. If you have a look at this, it says, "But each person is
11:40 tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire." So, it's kind of leaning into a chair. So, when you are
11:47 being tempted by by various things, it's kind of like you're leaning more. And then if you spend more time uh in that
11:53 temptation or more time around that desire, you're leaning in further and
11:58 further. And eventually, eventually, when you lean far enough, you're going to hit the tipping point.
12:06 Now, everybody's tipping point is different, right? For for different situations, you
12:12 might have different tipping points. Just just look at this picture. I mean, Michael Jackson, he can lean that far.
12:19 If I try to do that, I'm I'm I'm about here, and I I'm going to fall over because my center of gravity is a bit
12:24 different than Michael Jackson's, right? And and I don't have that kind of muscle strength in the legs as well. So, his tipping point is very different than my
12:31 tipping point. And everybody's tipping point is different. We cannot look at somebody and say, "Oh, he's able to lean
12:36 in that far and he's not falling and he's not sinning." No, we got to figure out our own tipping points. Let's say
12:42 very practically, let's look at boy girl relationships, right? The number one questions that
12:47 people want to know is how far is too far, right? How far can I go before it's
12:53 considered sin? How far until I do it? Well, first of all, it's it's a bad question. Okay, the right question will
12:59 be how can I most glorify God with my relationship? Right? But we know in back of your mind you still want to know how
13:04 far is too far. Well, put it that way. If you touch your girlfriend's hand and
13:11 all you can think about is undressing her, that is too far.
13:16 If you can kiss your girlfriend on the cheek and nothing happens and you're okay, then that's okay. But if you kiss
13:22 her on the cheek and you think you cannot hold yourself back anymore, then that's your tipping point, right? So
13:28 everybody, you got to figure out what's your own tipping point because understand that thinking about lustful things, committing adultery in the heart
13:34 is already sin, right? And there's a fine line between leaning in and tipping
13:40 point. Let's let's again I'm a man. You see a beautiful woman, right? Beautiful woman. Is that sin already? No, it's
13:48 just I'm realizing my sinful desire realizes. But when I look at her and then suddenly I do this
13:53 and I'm addressing her with every degree of my head turn, that's sin. So there's a very there's a very fine line between,
14:00 you know, leaning in and tipping point. And we got to figure out our own tipping points because eventually when we when
14:06 we lean too far, when we tip in, we will fall. And when sin is fully grown, it
14:13 brings forth death. The landing place is spiritual death. If you look at it in a
14:19 in in a chart, look at it this way. The leaning part is entertaining desire. And
14:25 that's when suggestions come in. The tipping point as we when we start committing sins, that's kind of
14:31 experimenting and experiencing it. And ultimately the landing place will be spiritual death. And that is when we
14:38 start giving consent. When we're saying, hey, it's okay for me to click on a website. At least I'm not going out and
14:44 having sex. Right? So when once we start giving consent to sin, that's when we are
14:51 heading for spiritual death. Now, now what why what what do we do in return?
14:56 What what do you do? Well, we counterlean, right? We counterlean to other things like and the text says here
15:02 in 16, 17 and 18, the text that we didn't read just now, um it says, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers."
15:09 So, if you're not being deceived, what are you doing? You are acknowledging truth.
15:15 Right? So, you're supposed to acknowledge truth. So, what does acknowledge truth means? Acknowledging
15:21 is not if I if I want to acknowledge somebody, I don't say, "Hey, I see you over there." No, I acknowledge him by going there and shaking that person's
15:28 hand. If I want to acknowledge a community, I go there and I hang out with that community. That's how I
15:33 acknowledge a community. It's not just a a noticing of, it's also an active interaction uh with a person. So, how do
15:41 we acknowledge truth? Well, right now, you're sitting here and you're acknowledging truth.
15:46 When we go to Bible studies and fellowships, we are acknowledging truth. When we read God's word, we are
15:52 acknowledging truth. So the counterlean is praying, praying. It's it's reading
15:57 God's word. It's hanging out in Christian communities. It's listening to sermons. That is counterleaning.
16:03 And eventually when you counterlean enough, you will start receiving every good and perfect gift God has prepared
16:11 for you. The number one good and perfect gift is what? It's the Holy Spirit. It's salvation.
16:17 So eventually when when you counterly enough and you acknowledge enough truth, you will see receive good and perfect
16:24 gifts and then your landing place will be eternal life. So if you look at it
16:31 again in a in a chart format, it's the leaning part is acknowledging truth which is suggestion. Uh the tipping
16:37 point is receiving God's good gift which is experimenting. And once you start experiencing those things like community
16:43 and and brothers and sisters loving on you and praying for you and then you receive the Holy Spirit, then your
16:49 landing place will surely be eternal life and you get consent from God. But I
16:56 know it's it's not easy. It's it's it's difficult to do that. That's why the
17:02 text talks about perseverance. It's asks us to be steadfast to
17:08 persevere. And you might ask this question, why do I have to persevere?
17:14 Why is God putting these trials and temptations in my life? Doesn't he want me to be happy?
17:21 And I'm saying, no, God's foremost goal for you right now is not to make you happy. His foremost goal right now is to
17:28 make you holy. That is his goal. Not because he doesn't
17:34 want you to be happy. He wants you to be eternally happy. Now just imagine just imagine you will be allowed to enter
17:40 heaven not holy. Now I'm not saying that you have to work
17:46 out your own holiness here and just work on holiness. I I no God will work in the holiness in you and whatever he begins
17:51 he will bring to final completions and none of us will be perfectly holy. No, God will do that last work before he
17:57 brings us into heaven. Definitely God will will do that work. But just imagine
18:02 God will let you go into heaven, the most holy place, and you have never experienced holiness. And you don't like
18:09 holy things, and you don't like being holy, and you don't like hanging around holy people,
18:15 and then you enter into heaven. You will be the most miserable person in
18:20 heaven. If you don't like hanging around Christian community, you will not enjoy
18:27 heaven. If you don't enjoy worshiping God, you will not enjoy heaven.
18:33 If you don't enjoy talking to God and praising him and singing songs to him, you will not enjoy heaven. And if you do
18:39 not enjoy heaven, maybe consider for yourself, is heaven for you?
18:45 See, the Puritans, they considered the earth as a gymnasium where you work out your holiness muscles so that you get
18:52 prepared for heaven.
18:57 So God is not in the business of recreation. He's not here to just make
19:02 us happy. He's here in the business of restoration. He's here to make us holy
19:11 because then when we enter heaven, we have an eternity of happiness. We will enjoy praising God. We will enjoy
19:18 worshiping God. We will enjoy being around believers.
19:24 And right now as we work on our holiness, we get foretastes of what heaven will be like.
19:31 So yes, he will give us trials and he will give us tribulations to changes in that into that character of person that
19:38 he wants us to be. So what does it say here? It says this, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial. For
19:46 when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. So
19:52 there's three things that we can learn about perseverance from this text. Where perseverance will lead, what does it
19:58 prove? And how it is motivated. Now there was a similar test done similar to
20:05 the marshmallow test that we looked at just now. Um it was a ch 36 children were given a chocolate chip and then
20:12 they were given big prize right next to it. And they were saying when you if you do not eat that chocolate chip you will
20:18 receive that big prize. Now in that test 34 out of the 36 children were able to
20:25 persevere. Why? Because they knew that a greater reward
20:31 was coming. And that's exactly where perseverance will lead. The text says we
20:36 will receive the crown of life. Where where will perseverance lead? It will lead to an eternal reward.
20:45 Next thing is what does it prove? Well, it says here, blessed is the man who
20:50 stands the test. So, if you stand the test, that means you are proven genuine and genuine faith. Blessed also means
20:57 approved. So, you are proven to be approved by God. So, blessed is the man who stands the test. So, what it means
21:03 that perseverance will prove your genuine faith or let me say it differently, a genuine faith is a faith
21:10 that perseveres. And the third thing we can learn here is
21:16 how is perseverance motivated? Well, it's motivated by the love for
21:21 God. Those who love him are able to persevere.
21:28 It's our love for God that helps us to persevere. Our focus on the eternal reward which is God that helps us to
21:37 persevere. So, how do we experience that that love for God? while again in community
21:43 again in reading his word and praying and meditating on his word. You know another great way on experiencing God's
21:49 love the eword evangelism when we go out and share the good news
21:56 with people and then suddenly we see those people's life transform and change we will experience the love of God. It's
22:03 an amazing thing when you share the gospel with somebody and see their life change. you will truly feel the love of
22:09 God. So now that we have learned three things
22:15 about perseverance that it will lead to eternal reward, that it proves genuine faith and it's motivated by by the love
22:23 for God. We can look at the two case studies we have today.
22:30 We have two basic kind of troubles. Now we're looking at verse 9 to 11.
22:37 There's two basic kind of troubles that James has prepared for us. And the first
22:43 one is this, the trouble of lack. The trouble of not having. It says here,
22:50 let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation.
22:55 What does lowly mean? Well, you have to understand back then James was probably writing to a community of of Jewish
23:01 believers. A lot of them who might have been exiled from their families because they have become Christians.
23:07 So they didn't have a a social support. They were lowly. They were of low socioeconomic status.
23:15 And his wisdom that he gives to people there, it says, "Let the lowly brother, those person, the person who doesn't
23:20 have much, boast in his exaltation, take pride in his exaltation, be comforted by
23:27 the fact that he has been exalted with Christ. that Christ has died on the cross for
23:34 him and raised him up. I think the best text uh or my favorite text that that proclaims that is in
23:40 Ephesians and we read this. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love for which he loved us even when we
23:47 were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raises raised us up
23:55 with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages he might show that
24:02 the immeasurable riches what riches imaginable riches of his grace in
24:08 kindness towards us in Jesus Christ. So when we are low when we are lowly when
24:14 we have lack we are supposed to remember that we have been raised with Christ. He
24:20 has exalted us to heavenly places that imaginable riches of grace and kindness
24:27 will be poured onto us. So that is the advice which is given to
24:34 the lowly brother. Let's see what he says to the other.
24:40 The trouble of prosperity. It says, "And let the rich boast in his
24:45 humiliation because like a flower of the grass, he will pass away."
24:52 Now you might ask me, "Wow, h how can prosperity be a trouble?" I mean, we
24:57 thought prosperity was good. Well, remember when I said that trials
25:03 are when you have put your heart on fading things and when they fade, your
25:08 heart fades with it. The rich and the poor, they equally put their hearts on fading things. The Bible does not tell
25:14 you it's bad to be rich or good to be poor. No, no such things. Um, but the rich brother and the poor brother, they
25:20 both put their hearts on fading thing equally. What trials do like this morning I was it was God let me know
25:28 that I put my hearts on electronics. Why? Because this trial reveals to me
25:34 what fading thing I've put my heart on. Now if you have plenty, if you have
25:39 prosperity, you will never lack and it will not reveal to you what fading things you
25:47 have put your heart on. You see, John Fll, he's a uh 16th
25:52 century writer. Uh he wrote this, he wrote a book, it's called How to Keep Your Heart in Difficult Spiritual Times.
26:01 And he has um 12 points he makes. And some of the how to keep your heart in times of adversity, how to keep your
26:06 heart in public distraction, how to keep your heart in a time of duty, uh when you meet great trials, uh when sickness
26:13 warns and death is approaching, when you have doubting and spiritual darkness, how to keep your heart. The number one
26:19 reason that John Favll wrote, the biggest trial is the trial of
26:26 prosperity. He says, the biggest trial is to have no trial. The biggest trouble is to have no trouble. The biggest
26:33 spiritual danger to have is to have no danger.
26:39 St. Bernard um wrote this to see a man humble in prosperity is one of the greatest
26:46 rarities in the world. It is rare. And
26:51 then he says this, James says this, boast or take pride or take comfort in
26:58 your humiliation. What does it mean? Why should I boast in the fact that I'll be humiliated?
27:05 Well, the text reads this. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass, its flower falls and
27:12 its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his
27:18 pursuit. What he's trying to say here is whatever you have acquired,
27:23 whatever riches you have gathered, they are futile. You will lose them anyways.
27:31 So if you're having trouble to let go of your riches and place your heart on God rather than your finance, be comforted
27:39 by the fact that you're going to lose it anyways. There's no point holding on to it.
27:45 There's no point placing great importance on it because you are going to lose it anyways. Nobody takes his
27:51 money into heaven. Eventually, we will all lose it. And
27:58 that's what James is trying to tell us. Take comfort, brother, in the fact that
28:04 you will lose it. Anyways, there were two men and there was one man who was
28:09 lowly and he was his his his dream was to have a bungalow, a bungalow in
28:15 Saojana, right? And he was working for it. And suddenly the Lord came to him and says, "Brother, son, you have placed your
28:22 heart on failing things. The bungalow, your dream is not the most important thing. focus on me. I am the most
28:29 important thing. And he was able to change his life. I mean, how difficult is it to change your dream? It's difficult, but but he was able to do it.
28:36 But imagine now the rich brother who owns that bungalow.
28:41 Imagine Jesus comes to him and says, "Son, you have put your life on failing things. Give up that bungalow."
28:51 To give up that bungalow is a lot more difficult.
28:56 than to give up your dream for that bungalow. Prosperity can be a great trial. And the
29:04 only way that we can overcome this trial is by realizing that whatever we have is futile.
29:11 It's not going to last. See, there was this man, he was hanging from a cliff and he was holding on to a
29:17 branch and it was the only thing that he thought will support his life and he cried out to God, "God, help me." And
29:25 God said, "Will you do whatever it takes?" Says, "Yes, I will do." And God says, "Let go of that branch."
29:32 So often our finances and wealth and our luxuries are that branch that we believe
29:38 that we need to hold on to and we find it so difficult to let go
29:45 even when God tells us to. That's what happened to the rich young,
29:51 the rich young ruler, right? He did everything right. He came to
29:57 Jesus, he he he followed all the commandments. He did every religious thing. But when Jesus asked him, "Give
30:03 up your wealth." He couldn't do it.
30:08 He was not able to focus on what's truly important. That's the love of Christ and a love of
30:16 God. That's why Zakius is one of the greatest gospel stories that we have. a
30:21 tax collector who had lots of riches and then Jesus came and he saw Jesus and Jesus spoke to
30:27 him and Jesus went to his house and visited him and suddenly as he received those good gifts as he acknowledged
30:32 Jesus and his truth he suddenly received eternal life and what did he do he gave up all his wealth he was able to do it
30:37 he didn't have to hold on to it anymore because he realized what was truly important
30:43 I mean what is wealth if you don't have health what is health if you don't have love.
30:51 And what is love if it's just temporary? The most important thing in our lives is
30:59 to have a relationship with God so that we can have eternal love, a love that
31:06 lasts. So the question I'm asking you today is what is important to you? Is what is
31:12 important important to you? St. Bernard also says the greatest
31:20 misery in life are false joys.
31:25 False joys are the greatest misery in life. Now as I conclude and somebody calls
31:32 back in the worship team um um I would like to um summarize
31:38 u what we went through today. Um, we learned three things about God's
31:45 character. That God's goodness is unchanging,
31:50 that God's goodness is undeserving, and that God's goodness is unending.
31:58 We also then continue to learn about the anatomy of sin, how how how sin works,
32:04 how we fall to death, and then we talked about the leaning part, entertaining sin.
32:10 And then we talk about the tipping point committing sin. And then we talk about the landing
32:15 place, spiritual death. If we start giving consent to sin all the time, our
32:21 place that we will land will be spiritual death. And then in response to that, we see how we rise to life.
32:28 The leaning part being acknowledging truth. And acknowledging is not just a passive acknowledging, it's an active
32:34 acknowledging. And then the tipping uh point will be receiving God's good gifts. And God's
32:41 gifts are all perfect and good. And some of those gifts are the Holy Spirit. Some of those gifts are eternal salvation.
32:47 Some of the gifts are are Christian community. And then the landing place will be
32:54 eternal life. But it's not always easy to do that. So we talked about perseverance and we learned three things
33:01 about perseverance. We learned that perseverance leads to eternal reward. That perseverance proves genuine faith
33:09 and that it's motivated by a love for God.
33:15 And then we looked at the two basic kinds of troubles. And we learned these two things, these
33:21 two wisdoms to apply. When we are down, we look up. We look at the fact that
33:27 that Christ has raised us, that he has exalted, we we look up. And when we are
33:32 riding high, we're able to bow down because we understand whatever we own,
33:38 whatever we have, it's futile. Nothing is as important as God's love for us.
33:44 And that's the God who raised us up. And I asked that question, what's important
33:50 to you? So, let me ask the worship team to come up as I close us in prayer.
34:00 Father Lord, we thank you that you are a good God.
34:05 We thank you that you are our rock. You are unchanging.
34:11 Your goodness is unending and it's undeserved.
34:18 Father Lord, as we we know that we temptations are everywhere and and and we always lean in, Father, help us to
34:24 counterlean. Help us to acknowledge your truth.
34:30 Help us to lean in and and receive your good gifts.
34:37 And Father, as as we as we struggle, as we persevere, as we work out our genuine
34:43 faith, Father, let us be reminded that these momentary afflictions are producing for us an eternal rate of
34:49 glory beyond all comparison. So help us look on that eternal reward.
34:56 Help us look upon that crown. Help us see the unseen
35:02 so that we don't focus on what is seen. For what is seen is transient but for what is unseen is eternal.
35:09 Help us guard our hearts for from it flows the spring of life.
35:17 Oh father when we are when we are low help us look up. Let us see that you are
35:23 a good God. That you have raised us up into great riches of grace and kindness,
35:33 Father Lord. And when we are riding high, Father, let us remember that nothing is as important as you so that
35:41 we able to bow down and bow down to your majesty.
35:48 Lord, our desire is like grass and its glory
35:54 is the flower of grass. The grass will wither and the flower will fall. But
35:60 your goodness, your kindness, your grace, your mercy, your forgiveness,
36:05 your love, and your word, it will last forever. Amen.
