Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. I was reminded of Jeremiah the prophet. when he had been through trials.
Uh he was tired of it. And he said, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut. This is the Applebee translation. I'm just going to keep my mouth shut. I'm not going to preach anymore.
But he had a burning in his heart. And Scripture says that he could not stay. Or, in other words, he just could not keep his mouth shut from proclaiming. the very thing that has changed his own life. I'm so thankful for the privilege of being here.
We're thankful for your support for the Well International ministries. We do, we're representing our mission board in a way internationally. When we travel, we tell folks that we're international reps for BMFP. But our main ministry is the Well International Ministries. And for the sake of time tonight, I'm not going to go into real detail about what all we do, but we do have some prayer cards up here.
Uh and uh if you'll pick up one of these It gives you an idea of what we do on a regular basis. And we're thankful for what God is doing oftentimes in spite of us. He's so good. Uh when we fail him so often. But I'm glad when our spirit is weak, when our flesh is weak, his spirit never is.
He is everything that we need.
Now I'm one of those that's kind of old school. But on our prayer card, we have a QR code. We are getting up there. And so if you're able to take your smartphone and Do what you do with QR codes on these things. It will take you to our Facebook page for the Well International Ministries.
And that has regular quarterly reports that we give to the churches. Kerwin gets one every quarter. And you can get an idea about what all we do. And we're so thankful for the opportunity that God has given us now to serve in missions since 2006. Patty and I have been in ministry now.
We celebrated our 50th anniversary this year. uh wedding and ministry. And so we have, there's so much I could say about our history. And when I knew Brother Daniel, when he was Not nearly as tall as he is right now. And to tell you the truth, Well, I won't tell you.
I'll just say he was a pistol. I mean, he kept his mom and dad busy. But you know, Brother Daniel, when I heard the song a while ago, what a beautiful song that was. That moved my heart. about what heaven is going to be like.
And it's not going to be some of the big preachers. There are going to be a lot of common people who are going to get some rewards up there that some well-known preachers won't even come close to. I think of your parents. That your pastor would not be here. Today.
In ministry. If it were not for godly parents. I think of my parents.
Now his dad was an evangelist. My dad was an over-the-road truck driver. But he worked hard and on weekends he ran a bus route in Jacksonville for Wally Beebe at Trinity. was one of Wally Beebe's bus captains. They had to split his route four times because he got over 100 kids on his bus.
I can still see I'm hanging off of him. Taking those kids into Sunday school. And every time I go to the Gethsemane Memorial Gardens there at Trinity to see the graves of my mom and dad. I stop at one. That's just about 75 feet from where my dad's buried.
A little boy that was saved on his bus route. Riding his bicycle down US 1 in Jacksonville and was killed immediately. Folks, it's worth it. And I'm so thankful that as we think about the heritage that God gives us. If you've been blessed with godly parents, you've been blessed.
And by the way, if you have been blessed with not so good a family life, You still have been blessed for what God can do through you. in your life to help other people. And as I think about all that goes on in our lives, and again in our ministry, I hope you'll pray for us, but I know time's getting by on us. And I don't want to go over time. We have already this year we have been on three mission trips We were able to go to Germany, do military with the military ministry over there.
Back in May, I was able to preach a missions revival in the Bahamas. I needed a suntan, so I figured it was about time to go down there. No, we have a church that we've tried to help since Hurricane Dorian wiped their church out in the ocean. And what a joy it's been to be around people who love God and yet are suffering so much. Had an opportunity to spend some time with them and so, so thankful for that.
And then, as we have an opportunity that God gives us to go overseas, and we try to do at least three to four mission trips a year, and the fall is going to be a little different. We've got some health things that are going on, and our grandson has got some serious health issues, and that's why my wife's not with me tonight. But if you'll pray for us. We know that your prayers are going to make a difference in our lives. I'm also thankful that as I have opportunity to travel Here in the States.
When we're not overseas, God gives us an opportunity to do pulpit supply and to do all we can to help. people, pastors who are struggling, to help churches that are struggling without a pastor. And we understand that there are people who are hurting. I mean, they're hurting physically, they're hurting spiritually, they're hurting financially. And people suffer through trials.
And as we think about trials, You understand why Brother Daniel had me preach tonight because I really get deep with my illustrations. I passed the Krispy Kreme Donuts headquarters here and How many of you like Krispy Kreme donuts? Oh, you are right with God. In Jacksonville, we have a Krispy Kreme donut placed just a few. a little ways down the street from our house.
Cassett Avenue. And you can watch them. You can watch them make those donuts. Yeah. And As we think of a Krispy Kreme donuts, We think about people who will wait for hours to purchase those sweet delights.
But the process that leads up to our being able to enjoy a Krispy Kreme donut. is an amazing process. It's a trial for that little wad of dough. First, the little balls of dough are shot through with a piercing blast of air to create a hole. Then they go to the proof box where they ride up and down an elevator in an atmosphere of heat and humidity.
This causes the dough to rise. After this, they're dropped into hot oil and boiled thoroughly. After surviving this ordeal, the donuts, they meet my favorite part. The doughnuts pass through a cascading waterfall of icing. Does anyone here feel like a Krispy Kreme donut sometimes?
I mean, do you feel like you've been blasted with air? Do you feel like you've been boiled in oil?
Well, you know, we just got to use the illustration of these little doughnuts, the experiences that that dough goes through, brings us the sweet delight that follows that process. None of us look forward to trials. None of us look forward to hardships. But without them God's people can never enjoy the sweet fruit of maturity. that God wants us to have.
Billy Graham said that mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys. Today, this evening, I just want to look just a few moments on the benefit that can come from our trials. If you look at James chapter 1, we just want to look at the first four verses here. And James is speaking, he's the author. He refers to himself as a servant of God of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Most likely this is James, the half-brother of Jesus. Notice chapter 1 and beginning in verse 1. James, the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy. when you fall into divers temptations.
Knowing this, That the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work. that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Father, help us tonight. Through your word.
Give me the right words to say I pray. I pray that you would cause us this evening once again. to focus on the Truth of your word, the power of your word, the influence that your word can have on our lives in the best of times and in the worst of times. And God, I pray that we would be a people who would truly be testimonies for the Lord Jesus. in a hurting world.
And Father, may you receive glory through everything that we do. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. I want to look at just two things tonight in the time that we have left. One is the proper attitude of our trials.
We see that in verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Temptations is talking about trials. And we ask ourselves, what are trials? The term is used to speak of afflictions and adversities that you and I face in life.
These trials are of various kinds, and you experience these. It could be an illness. I meet people all the time who are suffering serious illnesses. We have a grandson right now in serious condition. It could be an illness, it could be a loss of a job, it could be financial reverses, it could be problems at work or whatever.
We need to understand that trials, temptations come in all shapes and sizes. But James here in Scripture tells us to do what? He tells us to count it all joy. And what he's saying is we need to count our trials. Our difficulties as pure joy.
Now when you think about that, it seems unnatural for our attitude toward trials to be pure joy. But we've got to understand that this is a categorical biblical command that we're talking about here. It's not a suggestion that God is giving us or that James has given us here in the passage that we've read tonight. We are commanded to have an attitude of joy in our trials. You're sitting there.
And you're looking at me and you're saying, you mean I count it all joy. I count it pure joy when I go through this. and you fill in the blank. You might say to yourself, they're going to call for the guys in the white coats. But, folks, we've got to understand what James is calling for here in these verses.
We need to understand why he's calling for this pure joy that he's talking about. It's not suggesting some kind of enjoyment of pain.
Some type of put-on happiness. It hurts in the losses of life. He's not saying that we're to enjoy being sick. He's not saying that we're to enjoy losing a loved one, or losing a job or being persecuted. This is not some kind of weird denial that we've read about here tonight, that life often hurts.
Because it does hurt. Life does hurt.
Some of you here today are suffering. You're hurting. We do suffer. And we've got to understand as we look at these verses that James does not suggest. That we manufacture some kind of worldly, phony sense of happiness about our troubles.
So what is he suggesting? He's suggesting, he's telling us there's a reason to be joyful in the midst of trials. And it's not being happy about the trouble. It's not being happy about the trouble. It's finding joy in what the trouble produces.
And we go back to those little donuts that we talked about a few moments ago. all that they go through to Come to that final wonderful experience of sweetness. James is talking about here our enjoying the sweet fruit produced by bitter times. the proper attitude toward trials. If we go on to verses 3 and 4, He's talking about the powerful outcome of trials.
Verse 3 says, knowing this, And when you see those words, Someone's getting ready to tell you they've experienced something and they know what they're talking about. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. He says, count it all joy, count it pure joy, because you know, he says here. Know what?
We know that our faith, our testing of our faith produces Patience. It produces perseverance. It's a trying of our faith. Trials test faith. Not a test to find if fate is there.
It's a trial of our faith not to test Just some weird thing. But to understand that it is a test, these trials come to not hurt us. But strengthen us. to make us better. To give us that sweet experience that can only come when we go through the trials and trusting our God for the faith and the joy that He can give us in the midst of the difficult times.
that we go through in life. 1 Peter 1.7, that the trial of your faith being more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire. Might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. When we see these words trying and trials, the word is used to describe the process of refining silver. It is put into the flames to burn off the impurities and strengthen the quality of the silver.
God does not test us to destroy us. He tests us to strengthen us. Testing leads to patience, perseverance, The Greek term here means to abide under. It refers to the ability to bear up under a burden. It's trying, it's the staying power of the Christian life.
Folks, it's talking about strength in Jesus. Psalm 27 and verse 1: The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
I love this little parable of endurance. It seems that An old dog fell into a farmer's well. And after considering the situation that he was looking at, The farmer decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth saving.
So he decided to bury the old dog and put him out of his misery. When the farmer began shoveling, the dog was hysterical. But as the farmer kept on shoveling and the dirt hit his back, A thought struck the old dog. Each time a shovelful of dirt hit his back, The dog would shake off that dirt and step up.
So blow after blow the dog would shake it off and step up. No matter how painful those shovels of dirt were, the old dog fought panic. He just kept shaking it off and stepping up. Finally, the old dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well. What he thought would bury him actually benefited him because of the way he handled his adversity.
Perseverance. that we're talking about here in James. is the ability to shake it off and step up. When a load of trials in life are dumped on you. And we know how cruel life can be.
We know how difficult life can be. And so James is trying to tell us, as we think about that little story of that dog, he's trying to tell us that when the trials come, we can count it all joy, that we're going to go through those trials. God's going to give us the strength to go through those trials. I can't help but think of Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
The one who is able to help us through those trials. And we need to think about those great cloud of witnesses who are watching us as we do. I think about chapter 11 of Hebrews. And that hall of faith. And then you go into chapter 12, and you see that the writer of Hebrews says, Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
He tells us to run the race. and lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. and let us run the race that is set before us. Patience. Perseverance.
produces Maturity. The Greek term here is teleon. It speaks of something that has reached its intended end. And here in James, it refers to the maturity that perseverance produces. A process is implied here, though, that we need to understand.
Trials Perseverance. Then comes maturity. And folks, we've got to understand that it is not automatic. It's not automatic. It takes time.
Each of us here tonight, I'm sure, can think about a trial that you've gone through. And if I ask you, would you like to go through it again? Most of you would say, no way, Jose. No way would I want to go through that again. But if I asked you, are you grateful for what that difficulty accomplished in your life?
Many of you would say tonight that you wouldn't trade those lessons and the character that it developed for anything. That's why we need to consider it all joy. We consider it all joy because we know that when tough times come, The end result is going to be perseverance and maturity. Perseverance and maturity are things that please God. And we ought to be doing things every day that we live.
To please the Heavenly Father who has given everything to us. I think the psalmist had it so well in Psalm 27, Psalm 25, verses 4 and 5, when he said, Show me thy ways, O Lord. Teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth, and teach me. For thou art the God of my salvation, on thee do I wait all of the day. What a challenge we get from those verses to help us through the trials that we go through in life.
Perseverance. Maturity are things that please God. They are essential. trial traits of the Christian life. And folks, we've got to understand tonight.
that the only way to get through the hard times Is to understand that there's a sweet experience that comes. from the trials that we face in life. when we give God our all. When we trust him through the most difficult times, in life. John Eldridge.
tells the story of a Scottish discus player from the nineteenth century. He lived days before professional trainers and developed his skills alone in the highlands. This man made his own discus. from the description that he read about in a book. What he did not know was that the competition discus was made of wood with an outer rim of iron.
His discus was made of pure metal. Four times heavier than the ones used by his would-be challengers. This committed Scotsman trained day after day. laboring under the burden. laboring under the extra weight.
He marked the record distance and kept working until he could throw that far. Of course, when he arrived at the competition, he was handed the official wooden discus and he threw it like a tea saucer. He set new records for many years. None of his competitors could even come close to touching his record. As Eldridge reflected on this story.
This is what he had to say.
So that's how you do it. You train under a great burden. I'll look out at this crowd. And I know there have got to be people right now who are in training. under a great burden.
It hurts. It's unpleasant.
Sometimes we find ourselves in despair. I talk with preachers. It's not just church members. I go through it. We've gone through it.
Many of you have gone through it. It's unpleasant.
Sometimes we cry.
Sometimes we're angry at that burden. But we must always take heart. We must always sense a deep sense of joy. Why? Why do we do this in the midst of a trial, in the midst of a burden that's breaking our hearts?
Because the burden is producing patience. Perseverance. Perseverance is producing maturity. And folks, we've got to understand tonight that neither of these virtues so prized by God. would ever be ours.
without the burden. without the trial. That's why James Says Count it. All Joy. I don't know how much of the message you'll remember tonight.
But if you don't remember anything else Remember that when life starts pouring. shovel load after shovel load of dirt. On you. And you feel hopeless. You feel like maybe you should just give up.
Would you just remember along with myself The old or old. And to the glory of God. Shake it off. And step up. God help us in Jesus' name.
And Amen. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. And um Tonight, just a little bit different. And um Jimmy, if you don't mind playing the piano, but Where you sit, I do know some of the uh burdens and trials and We've got to find that joy in the midst of these burdens and trials because the joy of the Lord is our strength. And we just don't have strength.
Maybe you feel it. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you've been there for a while. I um This past week we had revival and Then I preached a school retreat. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and So I didn't get to go this week.
But the week before I went and visited Miss June. I don't know how you would handle or I would handle. Having a stroke. Not being able to vocalize what you want to say. Still dealing with some paralyzation and Can only imagine.
Where you sit tonight. what you're going through, what you're feeling. I'm just asking you right now just to do business with God and I appreciate what Brother Larry is saying. You would have to know maybe some of their story and some of their history. to know the authority he has when talking about that subject.
We need to pray for each other, help each other, bear each other's burdens. But at some point, it's just going to have to be something done between you and God. And we're just going to have to depend on him. Not look to people, they're going to let us down, even if they don't even want to let us down. Not look to someone else to be the cure or the Fix for what you're going through.
But Just the Lord. Lord, I love you tonight and. I do pray that you would help us. Our people have been very faithful. And I know many of our people are very burdened and many are very tired.
God, as we head into this fall and I just pray that you would help. And I pray, as Brother Larry mentioned, that the things that come in our life Instead of allowing them to Cover us over. to use them as stepping stones. And God, I pray that you would. Help us to Access your grace.
Your strength that you make available. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192.
or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
