Bob Lloyd - James - Unspotted from the World - Class 1 - Turning Trials into Triumph

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   This is Winfield Bible Camp 1998. Our general theme for this week is Next Year in Jerusalem. This is Class 2 from our brother Bob Lloyd. And the title of his class is turning trials into triumph. Brother Bob. Good afternoon, everybody.

2. 0:21

   Oh, you’re still awake right now anyway, huh? This is a tough class right after lunch. You. It’s nap time. I know it, so if you want to go to sleep, it’s OK. I want to bring the greetings of our home ecclesia. My wife and I are so pleased to be back with you again.

3. 0:37

   We were here in 1993 and it’s nice that you invite us back. We thank you for that. And my home ecclesia is known as the Verdugo Hills Ecclesia. But when on our way, people often announce me as being from Verdigo Hills, which means Dizzy and Father. They just look at me and think it must be dizzy. But when they were sending me information about the camp. Oh oh.

4. 1:07

   OK, yeah. You’re tall and I’m little. I remember when he was little and I was taller. But they sent me information about the camp. They had a history of the camp, of the speakers and they remember what the speakers talked about the year before. I was here in 93 and the year after.

5. 1:30

   Nobody knows what I said back in 93. In fact, the brother, I think, I think this brother Harold says arrange your brother. Please review the above record and fill in, provide the missing information request of our Lloyd. Well, I don’t know if anybody’s figured out what I said or not, but you know, I don’t remember what I said. I think there’s a lesson in that we’re it’s so easy for us to forget.

6. 1:54

   We have better forgetters than we have memories, but we need to work at remembering something because what you forget you can’t use. So when we go home from this Bible school, let’s hope we’ll have a few thoughts that we’ve taken from the various classes that we can put into our everyday or work of day lives test time.

7. 2:11

   I won’t ask you to speak up, but last year, 1997, you had three really great speakers. Can you remember them? One was David Lawrence, Portrait of a St. Brother Stan Isabel, open ye the gates. Brother Harry Tennant, Elijah, Man of Fire. Harry is the only speaker that’s been to three of your Bible schools. I was checking the different people out. And he’s worth having over and over again, as we all know. But we’re glad to be with you this afternoon. And our subject is the book of James. And the title for this one is Turning Triumph, Turning trials into triumph.

8. 2:53

   Don’t really get that backwards. If you want to open your Bibles to James chapter one, we’re going to find that the book of James is one of the most practical books in the entire New Testament. And this brief letter was written by the half brother of James. Most of us believe a few don’t agree with that, but and his name was James. And we won’t argue with that.

9. 3:16

   And you’re going to tell us how we ought to live. It was written to the believers of the 1st century. The book of James is a letter of encouragement as well as instruction to those who stood in the very midst of conflict. So the first thing to do is kind of give you an overview of the book of James so that you get an overview of it.

10. 3:39

    And then we’re going to 0 in on different things. It starts off chapter one, verse one with a greeting. And then, then it has trials and temptations, the testing of faith, the source of temptation. Number three, listening and doing #4 favoritism, forbidden #5 faith and deeds. Number six, taming the tongue #7 two kinds of wisdom #8 warning against worldliness. And that comes breaks down into quarrelsomeness, spiritual unfaithfulness, pride, slander, and boasting. Then at #10 we have warnings to the rich oppressors. And I’ll move it up because I don’t think you can see the bottom and #10 miscellaneous exhortation concerning patience and suffering, concerning oath, concerning the prayer of faith, concerning those who wander from the truth. So that that’s just a quick overview of the, the book. Then we’ll, we’re going to 0 in on, on some of the things that he said.

11. 4:37

    There are 5 themes in the book of James. I don’t know which ways, service, impartiality, careful speech, humility and prayer. And these are woven right through the book and though are the themes that we’ll be looking at as we study the book of James. Now there’s a remarkable feature about the book of James and that is that he does not directly, but indirectly, he quotes the Lord Jesus Christ, who is, who had said some of the things that James is going to say. He doesn’t quote exactly, but he alludes to it. And we’ll look at some of these in just a second. JF Mayer, who wrote a book on the epistle of James, said there were 70 to 80 of these and nearly half of them are associated with a Sermon on the Mount. So here’s here’s what we’re going to look at. Now we’re going to look at something that Jesus said and then look at what James said.

12. 5:42

    Jesus said swear not and all neither by heaven, for is God’s throne and so forth. James said swear not neither by heaven nor by earth. So you could see that very similar. Jesus said lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth. James says your riches are corrupted, your garments are moth eaten. Jesus said judge not that ye be not judged. James said, Murmur not brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged.

13. 6:14

    Jesus said, Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and do with them. James said, but be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Jesus said Blessed be poor for years, as the Kingdom of God. James said, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom?

14. 6:34

    Jesus said You know that by your by their fruits you shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of, or thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth not forth good fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

15. 7:01

    Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. James said. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessings and cursings. My brother, these things ought not so to be can the fig tree my brother and bear Ollie berries either a vine figs so can no fountain bring fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Blessed are the peacemakers, so they should be called the throne of God and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace to them that make peace.

16. 7:32

    So he was thoroughly familiar with his elder brother and he quoted him. Now we’re going to see that James, who wrote first Peter was thoroughly familiar with what James said, and so we’re gonna see that Peter and James have a lot of things in common. James says refers to good conversation and works. Peter says conversation honest and good works. James said your lust, that war on your members. Peter said abstain from fleshly, fleshly lust, which war against the soul.

17. 8:07

    James said, Let him know that he which converteth the Sinner from the heir of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. Peter says for charity shall cover a multitude of sins. James said, Count it all joy when you fall in the divers temptations. Peter said, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be, or you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. James said of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Peter said Seeing ye have purified your souls in a bane, the truth, James says humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

18. 8:44

    Peter says humble yourselves therefore into the mighty hand of God and he may exalt you in due time. So we see that James quoted Jesus and Peter quoted James, and it’s OK to repeat yourself because they they did. It’s also OK to borrow good ideas from others. If you steal one good idea, it’s called plagiarism.

19. 9:20

    If you steal lots of good ideas, it’s called research. And so in our study of the book of James, we’ve done a lot of research. I would rather give you a good idea I stole from somebody else and give you a lousy one of my own. So I’ve drawn my thoughts from the Book of James, but I’ve gone to other sources.

20. 9:42

    Brother Neville Smart wrote a book on the Book of James, and Brother Don Stiles quoted from that in his study of the Book of James. Brother Dick Stone has taught Bible school classes on the Book of James. And so I’m not, I’m not ashamed to quote someone else to share an idea that I think is is is worth hearing.

21. 10:06

    So if you have your Bibles open to James chapter one, verse one, and I’ll be reading this from the new King James Version. I’m with brother Peter. My favorite version is the King James Version, but I like them all. And sometimes it’s interesting to compare one with the other. And I think of all the new ones, the new King James is probably the best. I use the Nivi, use Phillips a lot. Phillips is like the little girl who had a curl in the middle of her forehead.

22. 10:35

    When she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad, she was horrid. But my computer at home has four versions right side by side. And so you put it up, put a verse up and you can compare the four at once and then you can copy it right into your notes.

23. 10:51

    It’s, it’s wonderful these new things that people, I don’t understand computers, I can’t even spell it, but they sure are wonderful to have. So James, a Bond servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. Greetings. He’s saying greetings. Now, brother Neville Smart says the word greetings there can be translated wisheth Joy, and that’s nice.

24. 11:20

    And I wish you Joy. I have a granddaughter here named Joy. But it’s nice for us to greet each other. We do this all the time, don’t we? Well, how are you when you ask somebody that you really want to know, when somebody comes up to me to speak and you know, I and some people, you know, they oh, Bob, how are you? And, and they’re looking away.

25. 11:46

    I said, I’m dying. You know, that’s great. You go on to the next guy. If you don’t want to know how they are, don’t use that as a greeting. See, you’re looking great. It’s nice to see you. Some people, their only pleasure they have in life is telling you about their aches and pains. And so if they want to tell you about them, listen. It’s an act of kindness.

26. 12:11

    It’s it’s caring. And if you don’t believe most people are, most people can’t care less about your troubles. You know, they say never tell a person your troubles. Most people couldn’t care less, and the others are glad of it. But I went to lunch with a fellow once. I thought he was an important client.

27. 12:28

    I found out he wasn’t, but we went to a real swanky restaurant and the wait, waitress comes up, you know, we got our menus and she comes and she says, well, how are you? And he starts telling her about his long bagel and she’s ready to take her. And she says she’s, well, I’ll, I’ll, if you’re not ready, I’ll. He says, wait a minute, I haven’t finished telling you yet.

28. 12:45

    And this poor girl with a whole kind of, he made her stand there and he told her all about his aches and pains. I was embarrassed for him and for her. But the the point is that it’s a nice thing to say. How are you if you really mean it, But if you don’t mean it, then change your greeting and care about people because we should be interested in each other.

29. 13:13

    So, James, one verse two, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Wait, wait, wait a minute, James, I got problems. You tell me to count it joy when I got problems. How can you count problems? A joy sounds like a contradiction of terms, doesn’t it? Especially when you’re familiar with Hebrews 12 and verse 11. Now no, chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless.

30. 13:48

    Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto those who are exercised thereby. So obviously troubles are not. Happy are they? And yet, he said, when you fall into trouble, when you have various trials, temptations counted to joy, well, how can you do that? That’s what we’re going to talk about this. This is our subject.

31. 14:09

    How can we turn our trials into joy? Because the only people who have no troubles at all are. Dead. So I got a few problems that shows you’re alive. So we’re going to find a way to handle, cope, get through of the trials which we have because we all have some. And Hebrews 12/2 tells us we’re to look to Jesus. Well, of course we know we’re to look to Jesus. Well here.

32. 14:48

    This is how you look to Jesus in Hebrews 12 and two. He’s the author and finisher of our faith. Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God? Now I’m going to make up a little illustration here to try to drive this point home.

33. 15:21

    It doesn’t pay to sit too close, does it? I think any of you would be a fool to volunteer to come up and let me whip you a 39 times. Paul was whipped 39 times on three different occasions. He says of the Jews, no, five times. Of the Jews, five times I received I-40 stripes -1 Now he got that came from the Deuteronomy. And in Deuteronomy God allowed them to hit a man 40 times. Now the Romans and people like that had no limits. So when Paul was beaten by rods by the Romans, you have no idea how many times he was in.

34. 16:04

    When he was beaten in Philippi and thrown into jail with his black back all bloody, It could have gone on and on. But God in his mercy said only 40 times. And he says 40 strikes he may give him, and no more, lest he exceed this and beat him with many blows. And above these and your brother be humiliated in your sight.

35. 16:27

    So since I think I’m going to have trouble getting a volunteer just to come up and let me hit him, I’m going to sweeten the pot a little bit. This is just pretend. Now, let’s pretend that ioffer $1 million to a volunteer who will come up and let me hit him 39 times.

36. 16:55

    Now, do I have a volunteer, $1 million. Come on up. Wynton. Did you raise your hand? I’d love to come here. I knew when and when. Come on up here. I’m. I’m serious. Come on up. I couldn’t.

37. 17:23

    She’s a brave one. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Ruth. See, she’s braver than you now. I’m glad that you volunteered. I met this young man in New Zealand. Back when? Yes. Well now I know this fella is fairly bright and he’s already figured out that $1,000,000.39 stripes. Each stripe is worth $25,641.03. Did you have that figured out? I’ll take one stripe.

38. 18:06

    Oh just what? So 2 stripes and you get 52,010 stripes in your quarter of a million? OK, no worries. Now now why are you willing to volunteer now? And you weren’t before because I see freedom at the end of stripes. You see money at the end of stripes, and you think money will buy freedom. Thanks for coming up.

39. 18:32

    You’re a good sport. Now, why did I do that? Because the point was this. If you can look forward to being a millionaire after receiving 39 stripes each time I hit with it, 25,641 twenty 5641, he would count him up as he went by. He I only wanted one strike. He’s he’s kind of low aim.

40. 19:03

    He only won 25,000. But even for 25,000, you see what what, what, what Witwin was doing. He wasn’t going to be thinking about how much it hurt. He’s going to think about the reward at the end for the hurt, and that’s exactly what Hebrew says. Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and he’s now sat down on the right hand of God. So as Jesus hung on the cross in the most excruciating pain, I think you can probably put a a human being through, he was not thinking about how much it hurt, He was thinking. About.

41. 19:49

    The Kingdom and because he was thinking about the Kingdom, he could endure the cross. And that’s the key to our success in our trials. Don’t think about the problem. Don’t think about the hurt. Think past the problem. Think past the hurt to the Kenyan. Because this trial, this problem is preparing me for bigger and better things. Yes, I can take it.

42. 20:18

    Thank you God. Because again, Hebrew says if God doesn’t chasten you, he doesn’t love you from the Lord chastens he loves, He chases and encourages every son whom he receives. And so we need to get this mental attitude that we can take it because everything that’s happening in our life is preparing us for the Kingdom.

43. 20:47

    And if this is the way God wants us to be prepared, thank you, Father, for the trials and troubles you’re giving me. Now, if you come to Luke chapter 6, Jesus has got to talk about the same thing. And I apologize to Brother Peter. I know that he’s doing Luke. I’ll make a deal with you. Allow me to quote Luke once in a while and I’ll let you to quote James all you want.

44. 21:11

    I don’t, I don’t want to see, I don’t know what he’s going to say, but I hope this verse wasn’t in it. Luke 6 verse 22, he’s talking about troubles. Jesus says blessed are you when men will hate you. Wait a minute. I want I want people to like me, right? Jesus, blessed are you when they hate you, when they exclude you and revile you and cast you out your name as evil for the son of man’s sake.

45. 21:37

    And this is really troublesome with young people who who want to be accepted by their peer groups and when they’re excluded and reviled and say you can’t be in our group and you can’t come to our things, kids are crushed by this Jesus saying that’s OK because you to be a friend of the world, you have to be the enemy of God. You want to be the friend of God, you have to be the enemy of the world.

46. 21:59

    So now we’ll come down to verse 23. We’re looking at Luke 6, verse 23. Jesus says rejoice in that day. And did you hear I didn’t read yet Leap for joy. No, no. Oh. No, wait a minute, that was silly to do that one. Jesus didn’t really mean that. I mean, I mean, Jesus said it, but he didn’t mean what he said, right? You think Jesus ever said anything he didn’t mean? If Jesus said leap for joy, you think he meant it? I think he really meant it.

47. 22:29

    In fact, it’s a marvelous therapy. Now you want get up and and you leave if you want to. Ruth, it’s OK. We have a Bible class at our house Tuesday nights. Well, this is one of my pet subjects. So some of you heard this before, but we have a young couple there come to our Bible class and he’s got a lot of problems to work.

48. 22:50

    And so he has to get up at 4:00 in the morning to to go to work. So as soon as the class is over, he’s out right away. We serve refreshments and the rest of people sit around and talk a while. But this brother has to get up so early. He leaves right away, but we’re just by when he can come. But we talked about leaping for joy. So later on, his wife said that as they walked down the driveway, he was leaping all the way down the driveway because he had so many problems.

49. 23:19

    But you ought to try this. It works. Jesus meant what he said. This isn’t silly talk. Jesus says when you really have problems and trials, leap for joy. Now, I did this at Wessex Camp and, and Peter’s taught at Wessex Camp a number of times and everybody camps there and a lot of people come in, they call them caravans, we call them trailers.

50. 23:41

    And one sister came to me later and she had a headache. She’s Bob. After your talk, I went back to my trailer and she said I I was standing in the doorway and I leaped for a joint and I hit my head.

51. 23:54

    So I think, you know, particularly if you’re tall, us short guys don’t need to worry. We don’t hit our heads so much. But a medical doctor in in England came to me. Later he said Oh. No, I’m gonna try that. It works. You see, Jesus is telling us how to solve our problems, not how to solve how to live with them, how to cope with them. And so yes, when you are really, and if you can’t leap physically, try to do it mentally just, you know, if you’re lying in bed.

52. 24:24

    But physical exercise helps relieve tension. They, they, the doctors all prove that. And Jesus is saying leaping for joy when you’ve got troubles, it helps you to take cope with them. Now we know we’re all going to be tried. One of my favorite verses in all the Bible is 1 Corinthians 10/13 and it’s one I think everyone should know and memorize.

53. 24:58

    But there is no temptation. I changed the words says no, no temptation taken you. But I said no temptation taken me. But such as is common to man, but God is faithful who will not allow me to be tempted above that I am able, but well with the temptation make a way of escape, then I may be able to bear it.

54. 25:16

    And that verse is the verse I quote to myself when I’m having a problem. And then I try to leap for joy. And it will help us live through it. You see, you can’t put our thought. You don’t want to think out by thinking the thought. You don’t want to think. If a gorgeous girl walks by here, is she pretty and I think I don’t want to think about her.

55. 25:41

    Well, I’m not going to think about that pretty girl. I’m just not going to think about it. But I am thinking about it, right. So I just say this verse, there’s no temptation taking me besides coming to mind. And she’s when I’m saying that verse, she’s out of mind. She comes back again.

56. 25:52

    There’s no temptation. And sometimes I have to say it verse a lot of times. But the point is you can’t think of two things at once. And when you’re putting a Bible verse in your mind, you’re crowding out a worldly thought that you don’t want to think. But when you decide I won’t think the thought I don’t want to think, you’re thinking the thought you said you wouldn’t think about.

57. 26:13

    So it’s thought substitution. And so there are ways for us to overcome our trials and our temptations. So because of this, we really do believe, don’t we? We really this is not think or maybe, but we really do believe that all things work together for good, not some things and not sometimes all things all the time work together for good for everybody. Oh no, just for those who are the call according to his purpose.

58. 26:43

    If God be for me, who can be against me? I can do all things through Christ with strength with me. And oh, this next verse, I’ve got a note already from my secret pal and the person that must know me because this next verse was written on the note that they sent me.

59. 27:00

    Proverbs 3/5 and. 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. So thank you, secret pal, whoever you are. But if you had those verses in your mind and you’re up against it, you don’t know what to do. Trust in the Lord with all your he’s going to direct your steps though he slay me yet while I trust in him, said Job. And so we’re back to James one

60. 27:32

    verse 3, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, knowing this is not a maybe thing. The trying of our faith helps us, though at the present time it may hurt. Now in first Peter one and seven, the word testing there is the same word as is is in in James one and three. And Peter says in first Peter 1:00 and 7:00 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So, so there’s a, there’s a picture coming through that trials are difficult, but they’re for purpose. And because they are helping us, we look past them. We don’t think about how much it hurts. We think about the fact that we’re being prepared for something better and greater.

61. 28:40

    Now if gold could talk, even when they go go dig gold out of the out of the earth, it’s, it’s not very pretty. It’s all mixed in with a bunch of rock and stuff. There’s lots of gold mines in California and we visited some of them just just with, with Cycs and climbed down inside of some of them and looked at all the abandoned equipment that’s rusting. By the way.

62. 29:01

    You wonder how they ever found them out in the middle of no place in the desert. But when they get it out, they get a chunk of gold out. Nobody would want it like it was. See, God doesn’t want us. This is a song in the in the church. Just as I am. It’s just just just God just wants you, just as you. Are.

63. 29:21

    No, He wants you to change from what you are. To what he wants you to be and he’s got to test you and he’s got to try you and he’s got to help you get rid of those impurities. And that’s what they do with gold. So they take a big pot and they put up these these gold things, these stuff in it and they put a fire under it and and this it when it starts to the gold melts and all this other stuff come bubbles up to the top.

64. 29:47

    And the Goldsmith, he has a ladle and he, he skims off all the crud stuff and he throws it away and he keeps skimming off all the impurities till he looks down in the pot of gold. And when he can see his face reflected up, when he sees himself in the gold, it’s pure. And when the Lord Jesus Christ can see his face reflected in your life, because the trials and the problems have helped purge.

65. 30:19

    Out of you, the things which would keep you out of the Kingdom, you. So yes, you’re thankful for them. If gold could talk, it would say it’s sure hot in here, but it’s worth it to become pure and that’s true. It is. So back to James one verse 3. Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. We know it.

66. 30:45

    We don’t doubt this. Later on in James 5 and 10, he’s going to say, take my brethren, the prophets who has spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. So take examples of people in the Bible who have been patient and certainly Job went through the Lord Jesus Christ is the best example of all.

67. 31:21

    But throughout Scripture we have examples of people who’ve been tested and come through like gold tried in the fire. Paul says rejoice in hope, patient and tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. Hebrews, we have need of patience that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. So there’s a secret in being able to rejoice in tribulation.

68. 31:54

    And those who know this secret are happy and unperturbed and serene in, in face of all the problems that they have. I’m sure you’ve, you’ve, you’ve know people. I’ll tell you an example of a, of a little girl that I know. Her name is Diane Grandchamp. Have you ever heard of Diane Grandchamp? She’s about this long.

69. 32:16

    She’s 47 years old and she’s got a a, a disease no one’s ever lived as long as she has lived with this disease. She’s on a breathing machine. And she lives across the street from the Cranston, RI ecclesia and she’s on a machine. She never gets out of her house. She never gets out of her bed.

70. 32:33

    She’s totally bed fast. And you go there to cheer her up. And you know what you do? She cheers you out and all the trouble she’s got. She is the most sparkling personality I, I have ever known with all those problems. She calls me on the phone. She has to talk. She’s not supposed to be.

71. 32:50

    Able to talk because she’s got a trach and a thing going and she. But when she calls, you can know it’s Diane, you know, and she’s BA, you know. And I said Diane, you know. And she heard I was going to England one first time I went to England. She says she’s never seen me speak except on videos because she can’t leave her room.

72. 33:09

    But she’s they get they, she gets my videos. So she she says. Bob, do you think? England is ready for you yet. And the answer was they weren’t, but I went anyway. But but there are people with lots more serious problems than you’ve got, and many of them are conquering them by looking past them.

73. 33:36

    And so if your problems have been getting you down, Brother Hardy mentioned in his prayer, he prayed that this class would help us do this. And that’s the. Goal of this class. Because we’re talking to people who have problems, you get a room this full of people. Brothers and sisters. And and that you’ve got lots of problems. Life has problems.

74. 33:57

    God sends us problems. He allows them to, doesn’t always cause them. Sometimes we bring on our own. But he, he certainly. Knows what fake problems we’re facing. And so Paul, Paul, he had a problem. He he had been given a a marvelous vision of the Kingdom. He was caught up into the third heavens in paradise to see things that he couldn’t even utter. It was so wonderful.

75. 34:21

    I don’t know of any other man in Scripture that that saw what Paul saw on that occasion. We have never seen that. And it was so wonderful that God, in his mercy and in his loving kindness, believed that Paul needed a thorn in the flesh. Just kind of hold him. Down and so Paul doesn’t like the thorns in the flesh.

76. 34:44

    You don’t like him. So he said God three times he says take this away from me. God said no, my grace is sufficient for you. So Paul, knowing that God was giving him this problem on purpose, lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation that was given to me. He gave me a thorn in the flesh to buffet me. Lest I should be exalted above.

77. 35:16

    Measure as a result of that, Paul says I glory in my infirmities. Do you? You got you got infirmities, do you glory in them?

78. 35:34

    Most people don’t, but maybe we ought to. I glory in reproaches. You’ve been reproached. You glory in that all says too. He says, I glory in my firmities. The power of Christ may rest upon me in my persecutions and distresses. When I am weak, then I’m strong. Now that seems a contradiction of terms, doesn’t it? But you see, physical strength is not what’s important. Bodily exercise profiteth a little bit. Godliness is profitable into all things, having a promise of the life that now isn’t that which is to come. So it’s not wrong to keep your body as healthy as you can keep it.

79. 36:21

    But the the people who devote their whole life to just physical fitness are totally missing the point. Now the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, said Jesus. And he’s right about that. This bugs me a little bit, but it’s true. What what? What Jesus is saying here is that people who don’t even know the truth use the principles of the truth to be successful in whatever they want to be successful in.

80. 36:51

    And we here we are the Christian Delphians and we know the truth and we should know the principle. And we’re not using the principle to be successful in the truth as worldly people are using the same principle to be successful in life. The the principles of the Bible are just true principles and they work.

81. 37:08

    The law of gravity works for everybody. You’re sitting in death row and you drop a pencil and it falls to the ground. And if you drop a pencil it falls to the ground. Because that’s the way nobody ever repeals that law. Now these laws that God has put in, in effect, people who don’t know the truth sometimes use them to success in their endeavours.

82. 37:30

    Certainly this was true. If you’ve done any reading about any of the people who were in the concentration camps in Germany, what they went through and, and it broke a lot of people and some people survived because they looked past the problem. There was an officer who was in the Hanoi Hilton. It was a concentration camp in Vietnam. They, they nicknamed it the Hanoi Hilton. It was such a terrible place.

83. 38:00

    This guy was a golfer. So what he did, he was in solitary confinement in a little cell. He couldn’t stand up. He couldn’t lie down. It was very small. He he could only sit kind of squatty and and he was kept that way in darkness for days and days and days. Now a Leicester man would have gone crazy. This man visualized in his mind golf and in his mind he played the courses that he had played when he was a free man. And when he finally got out and he went back to those golf courses, his score was almost as good as it had been when he was in the top form because he had mentally played the course over and over.

84. 38:48

    So what was he doing? He wasn’t thinking about his problem. He was thinking about golf courses. Now, I think you can think about better things than a golf course. But the point is, this idea works, but it doesn’t work if you don’t work it. And so James is telling us here to count it all joy when we fall into divers temptation.

85. 39:14

    Jesus has said children of this world is their generation wiser than the children of light. Let’s don’t let the people that don’t know the truth be more efficient in using the principles of God than we are as we try to strive for the Kingdom of God. So back to James one verse two again. Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations. We ought to be the happiest.

86. 39:42

    People on Earth, aren’t we? Nobody has the future we’ve got. We, we, of all people in the world, ought to be the happiest. Are you as happy as you ought to be? Well, you’ve got a glorious future. We know the truth. You know, I don’t don’t think we must never take this for granted.

87. 40:01

    But Jesus says no man. Mankind means women too. No one can come to me. Except the father which has sent me draw him. So you’re a hand picked group of people in this? World, you’ve been called. Some of you may not have responded yet if you’re not baptized, but you have you’ve been called, you just haven’t said yes yet. Of course, if you turn God down on his initial call, you can’t possibly please him, can you?

88. 40:33

    But God wants us in his Kingdom, and it’s my Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom, said Jesus. You can’t earn it, but he wants you to have it. And so in Acts 5 and 40, when they were the apostles were beaten, Jesus had promised them that they would be beaten, and they were beaten. And when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of the Lord Jesus, and they let them go.

89. 41:07

    That’s the time not to obey the authorities. When they tell you to leave the truth. Don’t tell people about your hope. That’s what you don’t obey. Most of the laws of countries where we live you can obey without breaking the law of Christ. But if you’re told to do something other than what Christ has said, we ought to obey God rather than man. But after they had been beaten up and let go, and they didn’t get $1,000,000 win, they just got a sore back, they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing. Oh, wait a minute, That’s what James said to do, right? That’s what they did do, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Now, isn’t it wonderful that God has called you to suffer shame for his name?

90. 42:01

    And so you’re rejoicing, aren’t you? And you’re happy in spite of your problems. Jesus says be of good cheer, you’re going to have problems. Be of good cheer. What? Wait a minute, Jesus, you tell me to be cheerful and I’m going to have problems. Yes, that’s what Jesus said. These things that I’ve spoken to you, that you may have peace in the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

91. 42:30

    And because He did, He wants you to also. Revelations 225 They that have already hold fast, but hold fast at what you have. Till I come. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end will I give power over the nations. You have to have something to overcome, or you can’t overcome. So be thankful for the problems you have. They are allowed by a loving Father to help you prepare for the Kingdom, and if things were too rosy in this world, maybe you wouldn’t want to be in the Kingdom. I know some people, particularly the young people, when life is a bowl of cherries.

92. 43:20

    They think they don’t know about the pits, but you have one of them get sick with leukemia or something and you go visit them in the hospital when they’re bald headed because they’ve been have lost all their hair and they’re ready for Jesus to come. So sometimes it takes trouble for us to want to be in the Kingdom. And so our final verse in James is going to be verse four, chapter one.

93. 43:47

    But let patience have our perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing in the NIV. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete. For not lacking anything. Another version, my brothers. Whenever you have to face trials of many kinds, count yourself supremely happy. In the knowledge that such testing of your faith breeds Fortitude, and if you give Fortitude full play, you will go on to complete a balanced character that will fall short in nothing. Another version.

94. 44:29

    Let your endurance come to its perfect product so that you may be fully developed and perfectly equipped without any defects. I don’t know if any of you know a, a test pilot, but test pilots take airplanes up to put them through their Pacers and they, they, they, they make that plane dive and they pull it out of a dive and they, they make it do twists and turns and everything.

95. 44:58

    Any passenger plane has gone through all kinds of tests before it’s ever allowed to have passengers on it. Now, why is a test pilot putting that plane through all that? Well, he wants to ruin it, right? No, he doesn’t. He’s inside. He doesn’t want that plane to crash. He wants to make sure that plane will do what it ought to do.

96. 45:21

    That’s what God is doing with us. If you can just realize this, the tests we’re having, the problems we’re facing are. Lied by a. Heavenly Father to prepare us for bigger and better things. I feel so sorry when I see parents and a little child that’s defective. What do I mean by that?

97. 45:43

    Well, now and then you will see a child who rules the parents. They are the boss and whatever they want they get. If they don’t get it, they think they have. They throw themselves on the ground and kick and scream. And then the mother or father gives it to them. And the father and mother think that they’re being kind to the child. And unfortunately they’re being cruel to the child because they’re letting the child rule.

98. 46:10

    They’re letting the child be the boss. Now we all like to be the boss, but in God’s sight we’re all little children. All of us are little children. Did you know that Methuselah never lived today one a day is when the Lord’s 1000 years, 1000 years of the day, he only lived 9 or 69 years. He never got through the first day. Just a kid.

99. 46:38

    God’s eyes. We think that’s a pretty long time, but if you can just realize that we are all children in God’s eyes and and he is the boss. And it’s not good for us to be the boss. It’s not good for us to have our own way and do what we want to do when we want to do it. And so God allows us to have trials and temptations and problems to help us realize that the Kingdom is bigger than any problem that you’ll ever face, that you’ve given a thorn in the flesh, unless you should be exalted above major, said Paul. And so how do we turn our trials into triumphs? It’s all done between the ears.

100. 47:27

     It’s what we think about our problem that decides whether it’s going to beat us or we’re going to defeat it. And so God doesn’t want to destroy us any more than a test pilot wants to destroy the plane. And he’s putting through its paces. He wants it to succeed. God wants you to succeed.

101. 47:53

     He sent his son to die so you could. He’s called you to his Kingdom. And now what are you going to do about it? It’s only through tribulation that we’ll get there. That’s our promise. That’s not, that’s, that’s a certainty. We’re going to be trying. And so let’s not be defective children getting our own way and doing what we want to do and being mad at God because he won’t let us do what we want to do. I, I know people are angry with God. We were working with a lady who came to our class once a week. She came from a, from a lecture, Frank Abel lecture, and she came to our class once a week and she was getting ready for bad time to be bad time.

102. 48:42

     She even went out and bought her dress. I mean, she had to have a special dress to be, she wasn’t going to be baptized. She was going to wear it as soon as the baptism was over. But she was all wrapped up in the things of that kind. And then she got sick and she couldn’t sleep and she, I guess she went through a lot of torment and she said, God, I was going to get baptized.

103. 49:09

     If you’re going to treat me this way, I’ll fix you. I’m not going to get baptized. She didn’t. She totally went away. She she didn’t understand. It didn’t. It didn’t sink in. God, even though she was ill, she survived the illness and she’s all right now. But she was so angry that God would let her get I’ll become I’ll just before she was getting baptized, she says, I’ll show you who’s the boss.

104. 49:41

     Just like a little child who tried to tell his parents that he’s the boss and you’re not the boss, God’s the boss. And if he’s in charge, you know what that means, means you’re not in charge. You can’t be in charge if God’s in charge. And if he’s in charge, you’re not in charge. So we have to humble ourselves before the under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time. And so we’ll just read as we close James chapter one, verses 2-3 and four.

105. 50:16

     Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete and not lacking anything. It’s the Bible verse. Young people, I’m going to ask them to memorize it, but you know you can too. It’s OK to memorize Bible verses no matter how old you are. It’s OK.

106. 51:02

     But when you’re memorizing your Bible verse, you’re filling your brains with the right kind of stuff. So be sure and get your little Bible verse before you leave. Harley Wilson went and you can help us pass these out. Put that guy that was beaten to a word.