In James 1:1-18, the message centers on trials, temptation, wisdom, and god’s goodness. Explore James 1:1–18 and discover how faith responds to trials, temptation, wisdom, and the unchanging goodness of God. Rather than treating the passage as abstract theology, the sermon traces what these truths reveal about God, the gospel, and the way followers of Jesus are called to live.
The message presses toward an active response to the gospel. Faith is presented as something that reshapes priorities, decisions, character, and obedience, not simply something we affirm intellectually. Listeners are challenged to examine whether their lives are increasingly aligned with what they say they believe and to respond to God's grace with courage, humility, and faithful action.
Along the way, the message engages themes including James 1:1-18, trials, temptation, wisdom. These ideas help place the primary passage within the larger story of Scripture and show how its theology speaks to real spiritual formation. At its heart, the sermon helps answer questions such as: What does James 1:1-18 teach about trials, temptation, wisdom, and god’s goodness? It also considers how should trials, temptation, wisdom, and god’s goodness shape the way Christians live?
For someone studying this passage, exploring the Christian faith, or looking for practical biblical teaching, this sermon offers a clear path from the text to everyday discipleship. The invitation is to hear what Scripture says, receive it with humility, and take the next faithful step in following Jesus.
What does James 1:1-18 teach about trials, temptation, wisdom, and god’s goodness? | How should trials, temptation, wisdom, and god’s goodness shape the way Christians live? | How can believers apply James 1:1-18 in everyday life?
James 1:1-18, trials, temptation, wisdom, and God’s goodness, james 1, 118 faith responds to trials, unchanging goodness of God, God’s goodness
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But if you have your Bibles, turn with me. We're starting a new series in the book of James. Everybody say James. >> We're going to be in this uh for the next 8 to nine weeks. And uh I'm I'm fired up about it. I hope you are. Um this is all about what it means to stand firm in our faith. And especially with where we're going as a church and and where the world is going, we need to stand firm now more than ever. And and and for many of us there there I I I sense that there's often times a fear of stepping out in faith. And maybe it's fear of stepping out in our giftings or maybe we're lacking confidence in in who we are as as believers. But I I I want to point to this this passage especially when it comes to facing trials, when it comes to facing difficulty. And so we're going to be in James uh chapter 1. And there are my notes. That's so great. Thank you so much. I love it. But it starts in verse one. It says, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in the dispersion greetings." This is I'm I'm want to take this actually kind of verse by verse. We we might skip a couple verses here and there, but I I really want us to to be expository and really execute the scriptures here, but I love how James starts this off by saying that he's a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you didn't know this, James is actually Jesus's halfb brotherther. They Mary is is both of their their moms. And so he's he's showing his humility here by sharing that he's simply a servant. Uh and the way that we know that he's that he's humble uh is he doesn't bring up the fact that he's related to Jesus. Like I'm not I'm not going to lie. If if if Jesus was my brother, I would name drop that all day long. Be like, "Yeah, what's up? I'm Nick. I'm Jesus's brother." You know, like like that. I feel that way with Garrett right now because he's, you know, doing stuff with Bethl. Like, yeah, I'm Garrett's brother. You know, I'm the I'm the cooler brother, but you know, like we're he's cool, too. But like, you know what I mean? Like I I feel like that's that's something that James would do. But he doesn't do that. He says that he's a servant of Jesus. He's saying, "I am under Jesus." And this is this is powerful for us to see. And again, he's very influential in the church as well. James is actually the the pastor or the leader of the church of the Jewish people in Jerusalem at this time. And he's speaking to them in a time when the the people have actually been scattered. The the the the church in Jerusalem cannot meet together. And so he's writing this letter to the church and they're passing it around to all these different people and he's speaking to people that have been scattered. They can no longer gather. And I love this too. Um, obviously, yeah, I would name drop this so fast, but it it it's also kind of interesting. There's so much evidence that Jesus is the Messiah, but the fact that James claims that Jesus is the Messiah, is massive, right? Because on if if Lucas, my brother, if he said, "I am the second coming of Christ," I'd be like, "Bro, I've got receipts that you are not the second coming of Christ." Like James grew up with Jesus. He he he was with him constantly. And scripture even tells us that James did not fully believe that Jesus was the Messiah until the resurrection. >> When he saw Jesus come back to life, he is risen. >> Come on, Easter's coming. We need to warm up on that. Practice on that. But again, there's so much evidence. But every single day being able to see Jesus go through life, ministry, death, burial, and the resurrection. He begins all of this by saying, "I'm a servant of Christ." And I love this, too. The entire book, as we get into it here, and we'll we'll kind of go into some of the histories of it in in future messages. Um, but the entire book is geared towards helping people know how to live out their faith. outside of just being gathered together on Sunday morning. And so I think this is really important for us. Like it's it's easy to be a Christian on Sunday when you come to church, but it's hard to live it out every single day. And we're called to do that. Like we we we can't always gather together. But this is really a road map for us on how we should live in a manner worthy of the gospel. It's that it's that scripture that I love talking about. It's how how do we live axios? How do we live worthy of the call? How do we live worthy of the gospel? How do we live worthy of repentance? And this is a roadmap for us. James is also uh very practical. Like as you as you read this, there's actually a lot of uh scholars and even historical uh Christian figures who have tried to get the book of James thrown out of the Bible because it almost seems too practical, if that makes sense. or you shouldn't make faith so easy. Uh but we're going to get into this and we're going to see that no this is really hard. Um but it's many times it's called the proverbs of the New Testament because there's so much wisdom here for us to to glean from wisdom for daily life uh living because all of us are living in the reality of trials and temptations. Amen. And James wants to help his people in all of that. And James is really telling his people as we get into this um really just from the start and I may share this every single week, but if you don't quit in the faith, you win. >> If you don't stop, if you make it to the finish line, you win. >> And that is the call for all of us as sons and daughters. So let's get into this. In James 1 verse two, it says this. It says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Trials are situations that happen to us. It it can be anything that happens to to us. It can be something that that maybe it's a consequence of your action or it could just be a diagnosis or something that comes up out of the blue. It could be a job that you've lost or your business is on the rocks or whatever it looks like. Things going on in your marriage. Like there are trials. There are difficulties that we all face. Can I get an amen? >> We can empathize with this. But but it's it's wild to me. Like again, we're minding our own business and we have all these things that are that are happening, but God is in the trials. God is in it >> and he uses these trials in order to create strength and perseverance within us. >> And and and for for many of us, we don't like that God does it this way. We don't we don't like that everything is a lesson, right? Like God, why can't I just come into your presence and and and cry and be all happy and joyful and all the things like no, but I got to grow you. I'm trying I'm trying to make you become more like Christ. And that's going to require growth. And sometimes that requires stretching. Again, there's many different kinds of of trials, friendships, families, dating, marriage, parenting, all these different things. And and they can be things that come out of nowhere. And maybe again, it's something that you didn't cause, but it's a trial that we we face. And and and it is important to note this too because I I see a lot of Christians doing this and a lot of non-Christians doing this. It is not on you to compare your trial to somebody else's. Like I'm not saying, "Oh, this is my truth." No, I'm saying this is my trial. Your trial may be different than mine. Your difficulty may be different than my difficulty. And it's important for us to recognize that God is doing a unique work in you. And it's not on you to compare and worry about the trials happening in other people. You can be there for them. You can you can help them in the process and be a brother and be a sister in Christ, but at the end of the day, it's not on you to say, "My trial is so much greater than yours, and therefore, I'm justified in acting a certain way." And I and I see this happen too often. We want to compare things like racism to rape and trauma. We want to compare, you know, a a parent who maybe didn't love us in our life to, you know, PTSD from war. There are trials and there are difficulties that we face. And why compare them? Why why why not just lean on the Lord and allow us to grow in the process? >> Because when we start comparing our trials to one another, what we're doing is saying, "I'm the greater victim, right? or I'm more deserving of empathy or understanding or whatever it might be. And rather than moving through and growing in the trial, we get stuck in the trial. We get stuck in the the difficulty and we play on on this victim mentality. And we see it so much in the world today. Who's the greater victim, right? and and we start playing games about about your your skin color or your background or what gender you are or or this trauma and that and that is not what Jesus calls us to do. He says, "Whatever trial that you're facing, would you consider it joy?" Because it's in that trial that you are going to become more like Christ. >> Amen. It's so good. and and and and I'm not trying to be in your face today with this, but it's important that we act like Christ and and and stand firm on scripture rather than on what the world says because we're not of this world. Again, a bad day is a trial just as much as your past trauma. You can have a bad day and that's your trial for your day. And that's okay. Again, you can have trials like parenting a child in a culture that wants to shape them differently than the word of God. Again, there's trials like racism and political infighting, even division among this Christian denomination and that Christian denomination. And here's what's what's beautiful, and we we'll get into this more, but God does not cause these things to happen. This verse tells us that God wants to use them for our good. He wants to use these trials to mature us. And if we're going to grow from it, we're going to have to fight for it. Amen. So, a couple of really practical things I want you to write this down. If you're taking notes, it's it's it's always fun. Um, if you don't take notes today, you're only going to remember about 8 to 9% of what's being shared. If you take notes today, you get 40 to 50%. Let's go. And if you shout back at me and say amen, you're up in the 90s. Okay? So, start start getting Pentecostal on me. Start talking to me. Let's do this. Okay? Come on, somebody write this down. Get God's perspective. If we're going to make it through a trial and an experience, experience what God wants for us, it's got to start with the right attitude. It's got to start with the right perspective. We got to we got to focus in on what God is trying to do. And maybe it looks like backing up and getting the the big picture. But it's how James starts this this entire book. He says this. He says, "Consider it pure joy." How how how can I see the loss of my job or the loss of a loved one or the loss of a friendship or or the the past trauma and the the difficulty that I have faced, the hurt that I've experienced, how can I see it as joy. It's all about our perspective. When we begin to to back away from the trial and begin to see God's thread and hand working through it, that's when we begin to go, I can have joy because God is in this. Right, church? >> God is in this today and therefore I can have joy. James is is asking me to consider something joyful that is not joyful. There's some there's some guys here in the church. So, I'm not going to call them out, but I go to the gym with them sometimes and uh they're they're trying to make me the most jacked pastor in in in Tennessee. And I'm I'm working on it, right? I'm working on it. Come on, somebody. Um, but here's the thing. Some of these guys, it would seem to me that they enjoy pain. I'm sure there's a there's a word for that there. I'm not going to use the word, but like they enjoy pain, you know? They're like, "Dude, you're being soft. You need to put some more weights on that." Like that's like that's constant with these guys. and they're just, you know, they're super jacked. They love the Lord. It's great. And uh it's just a cool way that we can grow together. But in order for you to get the the the gains, you know, you got to turn the weight up, right? You got to experience a little bit more pain, a little bit more stretching, because it's in that pain that you get the gains. Somebody say, "Amen." That's it. Right. And and and and it's and it's so fun because I'm hanging out with these guys and and their whole perspective is completely different in my than mine cuz I'm going this is painful and they're going imagine how jacked you're going to be. Different mindsets, >> right? Completely different the different mindset and hearts set in this is like look at look at all this weight. Look at this pain. Yes, there's pain, but I'm going to gain so much. I'm going to grow so much from this. I'm going to get greater. I'm going to get stronger. And this is the perspective that James is calling us to right now. That you would consider it joy when you're facing a difficult trial. Consider it joy when when that loved one passes away. CONSIDER IT JOY WHEN YOU LOSE THAT JOB. CONSIDER IT JOY WHEN THAT CHILD rebels in your home. Consider it joy. When your finances are are are all over the place and the bill collectors are calling, consider it joy. It's a it's so counterintuitive, right? It's it's it it goes against everything that we feel in our flesh. And I know this is heavy today because I know many of your stories, but would you take a moment and try to consider joy in your trial? I remember this uh playing soccer growing up. We would always have winter training kind of around this time of year when when there's a little bit of snow on the ground and it's and it's freezing temperatures and we would run in the freezing cold. And our coach at the time is a younger guy. who would run with us. And we're we're we're just heaving trying to get oxygen into our our lungs after running several miles. And and it's freezing and you feel like your lungs are about to burst. It just it just kills you. And I can remember the words of my coach and I know I think the Navy Seals actually say this too, but he said, "Pain is weakness leaving the body." and he would scream it and smile while running next to us. Like, dude, why are you enjoying this torture? Because it's a mindset shift. It's pain. Pain is weakness leaving the body. Truth is in this reality. James is not invalidating your trials. They're difficult. They're real. He's not saying your trial is going to be fine. Suck it up. He's saying would you consider joy in this moment. He's saying you didn't have a choice about your trial. But you do have a choice about the attitude you're going to have in facing it. In fact, the word that when it says consider, consider a joy, it's a Greek word actually means suppose. Suppose I'm in this trial. So I suppose I could be upset and miserable. Or I suppose I could let God give me joy. I can complain and compare or I can choose joy. And and here's the thing. If joy is available, I want it. If joy is available in my trial, I want it. And it's going to shape how I approach that trial. >> Again, I I kind of talked about this already, but when we compare our trials to others, it's really the thief of joy. Comparison is the thief of joy. I I see it too often where we compare one trial to another. But many times we're we're comparing and we're looking for validation. But the invitation here is would you consider it joy? The unique trial that you're facing and and no one else maybe has experienced it exactly the way that you have, but God is with you in it. Aren't you grateful for that today? >> Right. Write this down. Number two, trust God's process. God is at work in your trial. God is at work in this difficulty. And we have to trust that. And James hits that immediately here. It says in verse three, "For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Trust God's plan and process. Like marriage is hard, but being single is also hard. Experiencing racism is hard. But navigating politics as a believer is also hard. >> Dealing with people who don't agree with you is really hard. And discipling people, raising our our children, it's also hard. >> And too many people want to compare these trials with another instead of growing. And and again, we're asking our kids to grow. when when we put them through trials and and try to teach them through difficult scenarios. As a father, I'm I'm trying to get my kids to trust me in this, >> right? I've got four kids. I got two girls and two boys. They're amazing. But I got to tell them when I when I put them through difficult situations, I I always try to turn it into a learning lesson somehow someway. Like uh I heard this this great example uh from a friend who also has four kids, which is awesome. Um they've been in diapers we've been or we've been in diapers for like nine years now, eight or nine years, which is crazy. Um my oldest is nine. And he did the tally. He said it's 114 months over 6,000 diapers and over $9,000 that we've spent on diapers in the last last nine years. You maybe do the math with your kids right now. It's a lot. I I see a couple of you are trying to add it up. It's a lot. It's a trial. And uh it's kind of interesting. If we never forced our children to potty train, >> boy, >> just think about it for a second, okay? Like my wife was really the amazing one. She put out the newspapers and all. No, I'm just kidding. You go in this corner. No, no, no. And some kids learn faster than others, right? Like some kids are just, I got it. I don't want to go in my pants anymore. Like I'm good, right? Like I I I I want to go on the toilet. But also, it was frustrating, right? We won't name names on who was the worst. Um, but again, if we as parents chose not to teach our kids to learn this hard lesson, they'd still be crapping their pants at 8 and nine years old. It's funny, but I'm going somewhere with this. When we're in a trial, when we're in a difficulty, I think some of us are yelling at God and we're yelling at the world, demanding empathy and justification, and we're sitting in our mess. >> And we're still in diapers. >> It's not fun to to admit that that that might be you today. It might be me today. But there's many believers that are just sitting in their mess rather than learning the lesson and growing from it. >> Right? >> Come on. We're called to solid food, not not drinking milk anymore. We're called to be mature in the faith. We're called to continue to grow. And and it's these trials and it's these lessons that we learn in the trials that allow us to grow so you're not sitting in your dirty diaper anymore. >> Even Paul, he talks about this in second Corinthians. This is I I I don't think I've ever really seen it in this perspective until I look at James. It says in verse uh 12:7 says, "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. This is what considering joy looks like. That there's a thorn in my side. There's a there's a trial that I'm facing. There's a there's a sickness or there's a disease or there's a rebellious child or there's this this guy at my work that's driving me crazy. Like, and there's no end in sight. It's a trial >> that we need to consider joyfully and begin to boast in the Lord because it's in that trial that we become more like Christ. Amen. >> Amen. >> Again, we don't know what the what the thorn was for Paul, but it served at this as this intense trial of faith in his life. And and again, he remembers that his grace God's grace is sufficient, church. God's grace is sufficient for you today. He is more than enough. We have to let God be God. Rather than doing things in our own strength, we need to allow God to perfect us in our weaknesses. He's a good God. He's a good father. And what I love about Jesus is he was a God in flesh. He came to earth and he put on flesh. He chose to get into our mess. That's that's the Jesus that we serve. That's the king that we serve. He's not just this high in the heavens observer of your life saying that sucks for you. He comes down. He came to earth and he sat in the mess with us. And he's willing to do the same for us today. No matter what mess you may find yourself in, no matter what trial or difficulty, Jesus wants to come near to you and close to you in that moment. So, would you draw near to him? We may not realize how God is using our trials to grow us, but we trust him to perfect us in our weaknesses. I'm going to trust God in the process, and I'm going to get to the other side. And it may be a trial that I struggle with for the rest of my life. It's kind of morbid. It's hard to wrestle with. But I have to say there's there's moments in my life where I look at the difficulty that I was facing. And if Christ had just come in and saved the day immediately, I wouldn't have grown closer to him. Because it was in the waiting for the trial to end and facing the trial that I drew closer and closer to the Lord. And now my faith is stronger than ever. Again, we realize that it makes us stronger in our faith, the trials that we're facing. We realize our need for God more than ever when we're in a trial, when we're facing difficulty. CS Lewis says this. He says, "God whispers to us in our pleasures. He speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain." He says, "Return to me. Trust me." And I can tell you, you know, I I I love I love CS Lewis. I love this statement, but I don't necessarily agree with him because I found in many moments that when I'm facing a trial, it feels like God is silent. Has anyone else felt that way before? Yeah, >> it feels like God, you were speaking to me so much in these in these beautiful moments and encounters with you, but now that I really need you, I can't hear your voice anymore. >> There's there's a silence. But really, he's waiting for us to come to him. He's waiting for us to draw close to him. It's kind of like taking a a test or a quiz in in school. Instead of the teacher teaching during the quiz, they're they're silent, right? >> But when I don't understand a question, the teacher's always available for me to come and ask. At least at my school. I don't know what school you went to. They might have just said, "Go back to your seat." But that was the case for us. Trials hold the mirror up to our face to show us where we need Jesus the most. >> Where I need to learn the most. Where I need to grow the most. It's it's a megaphone to wake up a deaf world to confront our biases to confront our comfort and confront our desire to control. when we're uncomfortable in our trials, God is saying, "Don't miss the chance to get close to me." So, practically speaking, when you're facing a trial, ask God for help. Just ask. You can you can sit and ruminate about all of the the things and and how you can fix it and strive, but that's not going to get you anywhere but further down into a pit. Just ask. The Bible says when you when you ask, when you seek, you will knock, he opens the door. And I think it's a challenge to me even even just saying this, but I think as as as followers of Christ, we leave too much on the table of the blessing that God has for us because we never asked. Let me say that again. We leave too much of God's blessing on the table, never receiving it because we haven't asked. God has has so many things to to show us and reveal to us in your difficulty, in your trial, to expedite the speed in which you even move through that trial if you would just draw near to him. There's a lot more that God wants to offer. So, we need to ask. And James even touches on this in James 1:5. It says, "If you lack wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. It will be given to you. If you ask it, he will give it." And so, when when when you're facing a trial and you say, "God, I need some wisdom. I I need to understand why this is happening. Can you begin to point to the area where I need to grow?" Like we have that self-awareness moment and we ask him and he speaks. We ask him and he begins to pour out wisdom. He begins to back us away from the tapestry of our lives, the the beautiful mosaic and painting of who he's creating us to be. And we can see what he's doing. And we could go, "Wow, >> I trust you." Wisdom is powerful, but wisdom doesn't change our trials and circumstances. Again, it just gives us a bigger picture. It gives us greater understanding. We can ask God for anything. What whatever help we need in our trial, he's waiting for us to come to him and say, "I need you. I need your help." When I was in I was in Israel this last week and and I I'll tell you what, I'm there's a pastor friend of mine that that said he's going to like do a night where he shares all of his stories from Israel. I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to share something about Israel like in every message from now until the end of the year. Is that okay? Can I do that? So, I was in the upper room. Okay. Um where where where fire came down and and people were filled with the Holy Spirit and and speaking in tongues and all the things. It wasn't the actual room. Um our our guide said this is a this is an A site or this is a B site or this is a C site. A site means it definitely happened here. B was it might have happened here. C was it definitely didn't happen here. Um, we didn't go to a lot of sea sites in Israel, I'll just say. Um, but this was kind of a B site. And, uh, it was actually above the tomb of King David where he's actually buried. A sight. He's there. And, uh, we're in the upper room. And I'll be honest, I had zero expectation for any kind of encounter with God. I just thought we were going to walk through very quickly and, you know, hear a little message from one of the pastors. we pray and go to dinner. I was hungry and uh I just I just began to pray and enter in and I and I I started praying and and and I was praying in in in tongues and you know I wasn't trying to cause a scene or anything like that in the room and I just felt my my heart get so close to the Lord and I just remember myself saying almost like an out-of- body experience in the moment of just like, "God, I surrender my life to you. Can I can I just can I just lay here at your feet?" And I just remember I I dropped to my knees and the Holy Spirit came in that moment and I and and and I don't know about you, but like there's there's so many moments where we see we say to God, "God, I need your help." Like as a father, I need you. I I surrender. And and and not to be like too funny here, but I think many times we're afraid to ask God the Father for anything because it was so difficult to ask our earthly father for anything. >> You know, I I don't know about you, like my my dad's awesome and he's sitting right over there, so I'm not throwing any shade at him. But there's been many times where I would ask my dad something and he would just say, "Google it." And that's okay because he didn't know the answer. And many times we we approach our father on earth and we start to view our heavenly father in the same way. Let me just tell you, he's a good father. And when you come to him, like God's not saying, "Google it or figure it out." He's saying, "I've been waiting for you." And that's exactly what the Lord spoke to me as I as I entered in. I just began to weep. And I could hear his voice so clearly, even as even clearer than I can hear my own voice now. He said, "I've been waiting for you, church. He's waiting for you. He's waiting for you to draw near to him in your trial." He has so much wisdom. He has so much revelation. He has so many things that he wants to share with you and speak to you. He's not saying, "Figure it out." He's saying, "Let me show you what I'm doing." That's the God that we serve. Can somebody say, "Amen." >> Amen. When we ask God, he gives generously in your situation. You don't have to handle it on your own. You can ask God and you don't have to be shy about it. >> Right? >> You don't have to be shy about it. You know that song, Come on, my soul. Don't you get shy of me. Lift up your song cuz you've got a lion inside of those lungs. Get up and praise the Lord. Don't be shy. Let the lion out. Let the lion out. Scripture tells us that we come boldly to his throne room as sons and daughters. Again, there's a there's a maturity and there's musling even through the the trials and persevering. But I love even what what Jonathan said last week if you were here. I loved having Jonathan Miller here. What what a baller. He was just it's such an incredible word. But he said this. He said, 'Intimacy with Jesus is the better thing. You can try to do all of the works and all of the the things and just just like Martha and what she was doing was not bad. It's not bad to work on yourself. It's not bad to to to focus in and do the self-help stuff. But if you're not spending time with the Lord and being intimate with Jesus, then you're just striving on your own. Consider it joy. Trade the sorrow and the difficulty for joy in your heart. Intimacy with Jesus is the better thing. Drawing near to him and saying, "God, I need your help." And hearing him say, "I've been waiting for you. I want to help you. Let me lift you up. Let me trade that sorrow for joy. Let me change your perspective." Write this down. Number three, stand firm in faith. We have to stand firm as God works all of these things out. In James 1:6, it says, "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed about by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from God." This speaks to how we approach the Lord when we're asking. It's not asking God for help as a backup plan for all the other things that we're going to be doing. It's it's coming to him and saying, "We believe, God, I believe that you're going to come through for me, God. I believe and know." And and here's what's here's what's so funny. I'm I'm not going to do the accent, but I remember when we were in Israel, we met with this uh this this Jewish guy uh from New Jersey and uh thick thick New Jersey accent. It was awesome. It was like hanging out with my my great aunts from back in the day. And uh he started sharing. He's like he's like, "I don't believe in God. I know God." >> Amen. >> And I just I started crying in that moment. He's like, "I don't have to believe. I don't have to have faith because I've seen God work. >> I've seen God move. There's there's no there's no struggle in believing because I can see the stones of where the synagogues used to be. I can see the power of God moving in this land here in Israel. And that's that's why he moved there. He's like, "It doesn't take any faith for me to believe God. I don't believe. I know." >> And it was just a complete shift in my heart because I I I was talking to Nate about this before service. I'm looking back on all of the points in my life where I go, have I been believing in Jesus like I believe in Santa Claus? >> Or do I know and do I stand firm on the fact that he's come through for me again and again and again? >> AND IT NO LONGER TAKES FAITH. I JUST KNOW THAT GOD IS GOING TO show up. >> I know THAT IF I STAND FIRM IN THIS MOMENT, HE'S GOING TO COME THROUGH. >> YEAH. >> This is the God that we serve. >> That's right. that we don't just need this this faith. And again, I'm not knocking faith. Don't don't don't get on to me about that. Don't send me the emails. Send them to to kim fulllifeag.com. >> We need faith. >> But sometimes I don't need faith. I just know. >> Sometimes I can just stand on the word of God and know that he's going to come through. And this is what James is talking about in this moment. Like you have to believe and not doubt. And sometimes that believing without doubt is a hard thing. But when I know it, >> when I when I hear the testimonies of of God moving in other people's lives, I stand on those things and I know it. When I read scripture and I see Jesus calming the storm, I can and even being able to go and and be on the Sea of
