In this sermon, the preacher continues his study of the book of James, specifically focusing on James 5:7-11. He emphasizes the importance of patience and endurance in the face of trials and tribulations, comparing it to the patience of a farmer waiting for his crops to grow. The preacher encourages the congregation to be patient and not grudge against one another, reminding them that the coming of the Lord is near. He also reminds them to take inspiration from the prophets who suffered affliction and remained patient. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the joy and strength that comes from the Lord.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. When the bride returns, we'll be with our friends to ever reign when the bridegroom comes and takes his bride home. Hallelujah. Comfort ye one another with these words. The Lord Jesus shall come again to receive his own. Hallelujah. Let's pray together. Father in Heaven, thank you that you are the lifter up of my head. You're the one who lifts us up above the shadows. You're the one who causes us to triumph. So, Father, this morning we look unto Christ, our dear Redeemer, our blessed Savior, and we adore you, Lord. Father, thank you, Father, that where two or three are gathered in your name, there you are in the midst. And, Father, we pray today that you would just have your way in the remainder of this service, Lord. Oh, Father, we pray that you would take your word and anoint it to our hearts, Lord. Father, we pray that it would be something that you'll take it, Lord, and just apply it to every person here. That no one would feel like, this message is not for me. Father, deliver us from pointing it to, oh yes, that applies to this one or this one. But, Lord, just help all of us, including myself, to just have our hearts open to you, Lord. And allow you to speak to us, Father. For, Lord, we want to be changed, Lord. We want to behold thy face. We want to behold thy beauty, Lord. And we want to inquire of you, Lord. And we want to learn of you. Father, thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to gather like this. Bless each one that has come. Each one that is listening by way of telephone, or by tape, or other media, Lord. They can download the messages, or hear them on a CD, or whatever it is, Lord. Father, we just pray that your word, oh God, that your word would have its effect. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Christian greetings to all. In the worthy name of Jesus. This morning, I would like to continue on the book of James. We have been desiring to just sort of find our way through the book of James. Walk down through the book. Take a look at all the different verses. And allow the Lord to speak to our hearts. And so, this morning, we'll pick up in James 5 and verse 7. James 5 and verse 7. Be ye patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets who have 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 the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Let's stop reading right there for now. If I could just give a simple title to this message this morning. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Patient, be long-spirited. Patient, be forbearing. That's a strong definition. Patient, be long-suffering. How can we experience this kind of patient endurance? Jesus said in John 16.33, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. In the world ye will have tribulation. You'll have trials. You'll have distresses. You'll have testings. How can we overcome? How can we endure? He says, be of good cheer. Remember, the joy of the Lord is your strength. I believe one of the ways that the enemy wears down the saints is to get them discouraged. When trials come, when distresses come, when temptations come, when adversity comes, we begin to look at our circumstances. We begin to look at the waves. We begin to look at our present distress. And our spirits begin to sag. Oh, but lift up your heads. Your redemption draweth nigh. The coming of the Lord is drawing near. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Be long-spirited. Be long-suffering. You know, we live in a drive-through age. Everything now. Instant. Download it immediately. Why wait for it to come in the mail? Get it today. You don't have any money? No problem. Put it on credit. Guaranteed credit. Buy this car here today. You see those signs along the road? It's here. Now. Take it. Right now. But you know, for the Christian, that is a false preposition of how we obtain and grow in grace in the Christian life. God uses trials to exercise our lives into patient endurance. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Over in Luke, Jesus said of the distresses and the trials that will come upon the Christians. He said, you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Ah, but there shall not a hair of your head perish. And then He says these words. In your patience possess ye your souls. In your patience possess ye your souls. In your patience you keep your soul. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Unto the coming of the Lord. And then He gives us some examples here. He gives us an example here. And He says, He says, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain. So, He gives us the example of a husbandman. Which in our day today, we could say he's a farmer. Or he's a produce grower. Or he's a vine dresser. He keeps a vineyard. The husbandman hath long patience. How can the husbandman have such long patience? Because he knows that when he puts that seed in the ground and when he plants that seed, there's power in that seed, as God has said, to reproduce after its kind. And when he plants that seed in the ground, he knows that in patience and time, it'll grow. He knows not how, says Jesus, but it'll grow. You know, he puts that seed in the ground. He knows not how it grows. He rises and he sleeps and he does these different things. But that seed will germinate and it will grow. And if the husbandman hath long patience and he nurtures that seed and that plant, there will be a harvest. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And if he soweth to the Spirit, he shall of the Spirit reap life. You know, we often just look at that in the negative sense. We say, well, you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption. It is true. Sow to the flesh, you'll reap corruption and death and misery. But when you sow to the Spirit, you reap life and you reap life abundantly. Oh, Jesus said, I have come to give them life. I have come to give them abundant life. More abundantly. But you know, people tire pretty easy these days. You mean that plant's not any bigger than that yet? You mean I repented of my wrongdoings and turned my life over to Jesus Christ and I'm not experiencing any more fruit yet? Oh, but be patient. Just be patient, my brother, my sister. God is working a work. Keep cultivating, aerating the soil, letting the oxygen get down there to the roots. Keep dealing with those weeds, those weeds of doubt, those weeds of fear, those weeds of discouragement, those weeds of sin, those weeds of overcharged life that just chokes out the seed, the plant. Keep dealing with those things in patience, possessing your souls. Don't give up. The farmer doesn't look at the field and say, Oh, there's weeds. I guess we're just going to give up. Let the weeds take over and we won't have any crop. No, he looks at that and he says, Oh, we've got to get something going here. We need to get the hoe out. We need to get the cultivator out. And we need to deal with these weeds. We need to nurture these plants. Oh, they look a little yellow. What's wrong with them? I guess we'll just disc it down. No, no. It needs nutrients. It needs fertilizer. And see, so it is in our Christian life. It's not just a once and done. You know, okay, well, I committed my life to the Lord. I give everything to the Lord. So now it's all finished and it's done. Well, that's the first step. Now, to grow in grace, we need to add to our faith, virtue and patience and all of these different characters and all these different attributes of God into our lives. And we need to be daily at the feet of Jesus and learning of Him and letting Him nurture us and nurture the plant. Be patient, therefore, brethren. Be long-spirited. Wait, I say, wait upon the Lord. He shall bring it to pass. Put your trust in Him. Put your confidence in Him. Sometimes maybe He needs to dig around it and dung it a bit. That hurts children. Doesn't it? Brother Ken, in the children's class, when he comes with that pen, when he comes with that discipline, when he comes with that chastisement, it hurts. Oh, but who is the Son whom the Father receiveth and loveth that isn't chastised? So, when chastisement comes, oh, we endure it. It's not pleasant for the moment, but afterward, oh, it yields a beautiful fruit to those that are exercised thereby. You know, some people, they get discouraged when chastisement comes. And they actually turn bitter against God for the chastening. God is looking for fruit in our lives. How can we endure? By keeping our expectation upon the Lord, unto the coming of the Lord, knowing He is coming. He shall come. And we are not of those who draw back unto perdition and bring forth no fruit. Be patient, therefore, brethren. The husbandman waited for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he received the early and the latter rain. Now, what does that mean? Well, I'll just get out the garden hose and I'll water it. Try doing that with a hundred acres. I'll pull myself up by my own bootstraps. We'll turn on the faucet. Pretty meager. Now, today, they have some pretty powerful irrigation systems. But when this was written, and I believe the context of this is, the husbandman has patience and waiteth for the rain. He has no other choice. And that's how it is for us in the Christian life. While there are many irrigation pipes coming our way, saying, try this, try that. This will boost up your life. This will give you what you want. This will satisfy your soul. But it leaves us in drought. Maybe it even just makes the soil a little harder or just makes one spot a little muddy and the rest is still dry. You know what I mean? Oh, but when God sends the rain, then we are watered. You know the farmer, he's looking at his crop. The soil is dry and thirsty. You can see cracks in the ground. He's had the early rain. The crop is about this high. But oh, how he needs the latter rain if there's going to be some fruit. And he's praying and he's trusting the Lord of the harvest to send the rain. You know, I farmed a little bit, not a lot, but you need the early rain to bring the plant into germination and to sprout and grow. And as we look at this, I'm not sure, I do not want to misrepresent the Scriptures at all, but I thought of the early rain as being those beginning showers of blessings upon our lives when we become a Christian. And we give our hearts and lives to Jesus and the Lord, he sends just the rain upon our lives and you know, he shields us from all of those things that we couldn't handle, you know. And he just picks us up and bears us up and saves us right where we are in our barefoot hippy jeans and whatever. You know, he just takes us, our long hair, wherever we're at, he just takes us and picks us up and he drops those refreshing dew drops on us. And it's the early rain of our Christian life and we're rejoicing that everything is wonderful. You know what I mean? You know, your fresh new love for Jesus and oh, it's beautiful and you're just bubbling over and want to tell everybody about what Jesus has done for you. Oh, that's so precious and wonderful. And we start going on down the Christian life and we're walking with God and the Lord says, this plant needs to put down some roots. It needs to grow in faith. He knows just how to do it. He starts slacking off all those rains and just, you know, a plant, in order to put down roots, it needs some times of drought. Not too severe drought, but it needs some so that the roots will go down and dig down deep into the moisture. And God allows that to happen in our lives. How many could testify to that? You know that as you go along in your Christian life, God allows trials. He allows testings. So, we're bubbling over with our faith to this person and the person stops us dead in our tracks and says a few stern words and, you know, we're not quite sure how to answer. And we get some persecution, we get some opposition and, wow, makes us go back to the Bible. Really, this man says, it doesn't say that in the Bible, but I was sure it did. Alright, so we go and start digging. We start searching and our roots start going down deeper. We start digging and seeking and praying. I need an answer. The Bible says we're to have an answer for every man that asks us with the hope that is within us. Lord, what does your word say? It allows some trials, some difficulties. They come in various forms. But the child of God, he's crying out to the Lord and he's looking to his Father. I wondered how long David was walking with God when he wrote these words in Psalm 63. O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and a thirsty land where no water is. To see Thy power, to see Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary. How long was David walking with God when he said those words to the Lord? I don't know. I didn't take time to study that out. But what do you mean, David? Your soul thirsteth for the Lord, your flesh longeth to see God in a dry and a thirsty land where no water is. To see Thy power, to see Thy glory as I have seen. It always sort of sounds to me like he's saying, Lord, that preciousness, that awesome display of Your power and Your working in my own life and in the lives of people around me. Lord, where are You now? I long to see that. I need that in my life. You know, it's like the early rain is drying up. And I need a lot of rain. I need an outpouring. I need a good old fashioned thunderstorm to come through and dump a bunch of rain on the parched ground. You know, and I think that we as Christians sometimes we are a little bit you know, we're affected by you know, our have it now mentality in our society and we somehow just expect to be spoon fed the whole way along. But God doesn't do it that way. He says, I want you to grow in grace. I want you to grow in faith and in strength. I want you to put down roots. And in order to do that, you're going to have some trials. You're going to have some persecutions. You're going to have some afflictions. You're going to have some difficulties and adversities. But look unto Jesus, my dear brother and sister, and be of good cheer, because Jesus Christ our Captain has overcome the world. And as He has overcome the world, so as we put our faith and confidence in Him, we also shall overcome. The early and the latter rain, well, I'm not sure if I have it all correctly figured out. But I feel like I'm in need of the latter rain. O Lord, send rain that we may see Thy power, that we may see Thee, Lord, in the midst of Thy people, in the midst of the sanctuary and the things that Thou has done in the past, O Lord. Will Thou not revive us and do them again, Lord? And strengthen Thy people and revive Thy people. The early rain brings the crop. Brings it into a nice stature. But every farmer knows, come about mid-July here in Lancaster County, the corn is sort of curling up. It's hitting 95 degrees. And you can see the cracks in the soil. Well, if we don't get a latter rain, soon, our crop will be affected. You know, and I believe in the Christian life, we cannot run on just our salvation experience. We cannot run on yesterday's blessings. We must have rain in our hearts and lives continually. But God allows us, I believe, to go through trials and testings to where we put down roots and faith grows. And we cry out to the Lord. Oh, the sound of the rain! Oh, the smell of the rain! Oh, I just remember when it was so dry and you heard the distant rumbling of thunder in the night, and you woke up and you said, ah, the rains are coming. And then the breeze was blowing and you could smell it before it came. You know what it means? You can smell the rain in the air. Then you hear it rustling on the corn leaves down about a half mile from your place or a mile away. And it's coming this way. And it's just coming closer and closer. And all the joy of the husbandmen. The rains are coming. The Lord is sending the rain. Ah, the next morning the farmers are saying, my, that was a million dollar rain. Put away the irrigation hose. Forget about that. It wasn't helping much anyway. But when God sends the rain, oh, and He waters the earth, then it is watered. You know, some people might say, first blessing, second blessing, third blessing. But brothers and sisters this morning, we need the rain. And I thought of us. Many of us in this room are Christians for quite a number of years. I thought of us as a congregation also. Lord, is it not time? We had those early rains. Oh, it was exciting. I wasn't here from the first service, but Brother Luke knows. And the Lord sent revival. And He sent rain. And people got converted and people got saved. Now those people have been walking with the Lord for many years. Lord, is it not time for the latter rain to come and to water this dry and thirsty land and to water this dry and needy church? May I say it that way? May I be so bold? Lord, we need the rain. We need revival. Oh, we need the outpouring of the Holy Ghost in our midst. Lord, send the rain, lest we become unfruitful, dried up and parched. Yes, the resemblance of the plant is still there. Yes, it's still growing. Yes, you can still tell it's a cornfield, but there's not much fruit. Oh, God, send rain that we don't just have the appearance of a church. And yes, it's still going on. There's a service there every Sunday. But, oh, God, we long to see Thy power and Thy glory. So, as I have seen in the sanctuary in 1990, in 1987, over at New Holland in the basement there, when Brother Wayne Weaver was preaching under the anointing of the Spirit of God and people were getting saved. Early 90's here. You know, different times we can point to when God sent seasons of refreshing from His presence and He sent us rain. Lord, is it not time to send rain? Jesus said, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Are we hungry? Are we thirsty? The Lord promised, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. I'll do it. It's a promise from the Lord. And floods upon the dry ground. I will do it. You know, as I came home the other evening, things were getting a little bit dry here and it was either Thursday or Friday evening and we had a real heavy rain right in our area. But just two miles away it wasn't and just two miles the other way it wasn't. But we had a real heavy rain. The water was running out of the fields and when you look down between the rows of the produce, the water was standing in between the rows. Ah! Floods upon the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. Beautiful promise over there in the book of Joel. I think I'll just read a few verses. He says, Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, in rejoicing the Lord your God, for he has given you the former rain moderately and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. And the floor shall be full of wheat and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil and I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten the kangaroo worm and the caterpillar and the palmer worm which my great army, which I send among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God that has dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be ashamed." You know, it's a shame to the people of God when the plants are withered and dry and the world looks on and says, ah, what's that church, you know? They're not much, you know. But oh, when God sends the rain and the blessings are abounding and multiplied and the fruit is producing in the air, full corn in the air, oh, what a beautiful thing it is. That was Joel 2, 21 through 26. Well, he gives us the example of the husbandman who is patient. So, when we think of it in our Christian lives, think of the husbandman. He's patient. He waits. But while he's waiting, he's taking care of that crop. He's cultivating it. He's nourishing it. He's doing all that he can in his power. He's doing his part. See, man has a part. We need to do man's part. But God has his part. And if God doesn't do his part, we're done. But when God sends the rain, oh, then. You know, we just do our little part. Our part is so small. But we hold on by faith. We continue to labor. We continue in patient perseverance. Possess our soul. And not give up. He goes on to say, be patient. Establish your hearts. For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. You know, sometimes while we're waiting. And we're waiting for the coming of the Lord. He gives us this warning. You know, when it's dry, the crops aren't doing real well. And it's time for the latter rain. And every day that goes by, the husbandman becomes more desperate. But while the husbandman are waiting for the rain, he says in verse 9, grudge not one against another brethren, lest he be condemned. Behold, the judge standeth before the door. You know, so there can be a possibility that in the drought, in the trial, we get our eyes off the husbandman. We get our eyes off the Lord. And we begin to grudge. Amplified paraphrase of the scripture says, of verse 9, do not complain brethren, against one another. So that yourselves may not be judged. Look, the judge is already standing at the very door. You know, so there's a tendency to complain. When we're in trials, when we're in distresses, and we're pressed in, we start complaining. One author said it this way, if the husbandman start taking their harvesting sickles on each other, they're going to miss the harvest. But let us wait patiently. Let us bear long. Let us endure until the coming of the Lord. Then he gives us another example in verse 10. He says, take my brethren the prophets, who have spoken the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. The prophets. Take the prophets. The prophets. Yes, look at the prophets. Look at how they endured. Look how they suffered affliction. And look at how patiently they continued. The prophets. The prophets. When you look at the prophets, they were persecuted. They were rejected. They were disliked and despised. They were hated. They were killed. They were stoned. They were sown asunder. Cast in a miry pit. Sunk in the mire, left to die. Cast into the den of lions. The prophets. The prophets. Take the prophets. As an example. Of patience, suffering, affliction. We haven't resisted under blood yet, have we? Look at the example of the prophets. Even when their message was rejected, by their own people. Yet God said, you need to speak in my name, in this city. I will go with you. I will put words in your mouth. Be not afraid of their faces. But speak the word that I shall put in your mouth. Take the prophets. Take Paul. I go to Jerusalem. I know that affliction awaits me there. I know that persecution awaits me there. But God is making a way for me to get there. It doesn't matter if some men make an oath to not eat until they deliver him. God makes a way. And God sends him there. And God prepares him and prospers him. And he is not afraid to go. Even though he knows death awaits me there. Take the prophets. For an example of suffering, affliction and of patience. Patiently enduring. Steadfastly. Just keeping right on with God. Not turning to the left. Not turning to the right. False prophets rising up. Prophesying against them. All sorts of things that they endured. But they knew their God. And they knew who they were called to serve and to speak for in the name of the Lord. Behold, we count them happy which endure. And then he gives us another illustration. He says, You have heard of the patience of Job. And have seen the end of the Lord that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy. Job? Yes. Job. That would be a message all in itself. The patience of Job. We will just look at it briefly this morning. Take Job as an example. The Bible says of Job in Job 1.1 that there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And the man was perfect and upright. One that feared God and eschewed evil. He feared God. He had a holy fear of God. A reverential fear of God. And he hated evil. And he despised it. And he shunned it. And he avoided it. That was Job. One day, Satan appeared before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, Has thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth? He is a perfect man, upright, one that fears God and escheweth evil. And of course, we know that Satan said, Well, does he fear God for naught? You put a hedge around him. Hallelujah! God has a hedge around his people. Let me test him. Let me get in there and bring him some afflictions and trials. And then see if he still fears God. Well, we know that Job faced severe testings. He faced the loss of his family. He faced the loss of all his cattle and everything that he had. And finally, he faced affliction in his body. Sore boils from the head, crown of his head to the sole of his feet. If you read the first three chapters, you see of Job's testings and distresses. But this is what Job said. Take Job for an example. Job said in Job 1 verse 21, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. Oh, Job, you're right. Cattle, lands, possessions. I didn't bring them in the world and I'm not going to take them out. That's the right view concerning our material things that God allows us to be stewards over. He says, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Oh, that's the right attitude toward our possessions, toward all the things that God gives us. The Lord gave. Yes, he understood. It wasn't by my own might or my own conniving in power that I got this. It's the Lord who allowed me to increase in cattle and goods. It's the Lord who gave. And it's the Lord that has taken away. He said, blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Finally, in the extreme of his test, when he was sitting, scraping himself with a pot shirt and boils all over him, his wife said, does thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, thou speakest as one of the foolish woman speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord and shall we not receive evil? In all this, did not Job sin with his lips? Now, as we look at Job and we consider him, I just want to look at a few points here. Remember, Job did not see behind the scenes. We do. We read it and we see what God is saying. But Job did not. He did not know. He could have questioned the Lord a thousand times why. Did he question? You know, I believe he did question. He had some struggles. Job may have struggled and questioned God's will, but he did not forsake his faith. And he did not forsake God. Job's friend said, there must be sin in your life. That's why all this is happening. We can learn another thing. Job was a righteous man. The Bible says so. Yet, he suffered. Righteous men shouldn't suffer. Really? The Bible says we must, through much affliction and through much persecution and perseverance, we press into the kingdom and we must enter into the kingdom through much affliction. God found no evil in Job. Neither could Satan. Job was a righteous man. His wife said, curse God and die. She couldn't make him do it. Job retained his integrity. The devil couldn't make him do it either. Through all of those afflictions and all of those trials, the devil couldn't make him do it. The devil said to God, he'll do it. He'll curse you to your face. God said, alright. Let's open the hedges a little bit. This far. You can touch his possessions. But Job blessed the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Well, the devil came back and said, sure, a man will give up some possessions. But, skin for skin, touch him on his skin. Then, then, well, hallelujah, God's in control. See? God will not allow us to be tempted or tested about what we're able. So, God's in control. The devil's not in control. God's in control. So, God said, alright, I'll open the hedges a little farther. You can touch him and smite him with boils and he'll still retain his integrity and he'll still bless God. And Job went out from the presence of the Lord and we know what happened. He was smitten with boils. But Job still retained his integrity. The devil couldn't make him do it. Hallelujah. And neither can he make you do it. That excuse will not stand. The devil made me do it. Have you ever heard that one? The devil made me do it. Well, my wife, she made me do it. No. My husband, my brother, my sister, my neighbor, they made me do it. No. No, they didn't. Hallelujah. God controls the circumstances of our lives. And He gives grace and strength for every trial that we face. We can look at just a few other things here. Why this testing and suffering? Did Job understand everything? He didn't understand everything that was going on. He didn't know all of the design and the ways and the why's behind it. But it proved the devil a liar and that God's people would love their God through trials and sufferings. Satan was defeated that day and God was glorified. Also, Job had a full revelation of God in the end. And he saw that God was full of pity and tender mercies. Job said, He knoweth the way that I shall take and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. That's in Job 23.10. God knows my way. And when this trial is over, I'll come forth as gold. Job was purified. He met God in a new and a deeper way and his life was purified. Job. Consider Job. And we see the end of the Lord. That the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercies. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, we count them happy which endure. The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. For he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 she-ouses. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job. You know, Job is a good book to sit down and read in one setting when you have the time. To get the panoramic view all at once. To just go right through it. Takes a little while to do it, but it is a blessing. Rather than just read a few verses here or there, it's a good book to just read through and get a good panoramic view of the book of Job and of God's pitiful tender mercies and his care for his people in that book. Let's go on to verse 12. I don't know if we'll make it through the chapter today. Verse 12, it says, Above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea and your nay nay, lest ye fall into condemnation. He says, above all things. Very important. My brethren, swear not, don't make an oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no. If someone starts adding, to try to add credibility to their promise, does that add credibility? When someone starts adding and saying, you know, I don't even want to repeat what they say, but they add some form of oath to their statement. Do you believe them all the more? I don't usually. You know, the heathen do that sometimes. You know, they make certain promise and claims that they will do this and you know, they will pay or they will, you know. But he's talking to brothers here and he's talking to Christians and I believe that he's lifting this up because often, if we tie this into the previous verses, when we're in distresses, there's a temptation to make commitments and promises to God that Lord, if you'll get me out of this mess that I put myself in, I'll do this and thus. And we make promises or swear oaths to God. We maybe don't use the word of swearing to God, but we make great claims and promises to the Lord. I'm not sure where to put all that. I think some people in the depths of the sincerity of their heart, in the midst of their great trial of affliction and maybe when they've wandered away from God and sinned, you know, the Lord knows their hearts. He knows the sincerity of their hearts. But often, people do not keep those things. Why? Because the power is not in the oath. We cannot bind ourselves to this oath to keep it and then I will keep it. Usually what it does, it does exactly what the book says here. He says, lest ye fall into condemnation. Usually, it ends up in condemnation because I promise God I will read my Bible for so much time every day and I make a promise and then lo and behold, through circumstances of life and somewhere along the way and maybe through cooling off in my own heart or whatever it may be, I fail and now I'm condemned. Do you know what I mean? You know, and it brings condemnation. It doesn't bring grace and power. Jesus addressed that when he was addressing the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 5 and maybe we should turn there. Let's do it. It's an important scripture. Matthew 5.33 Matthew 5.33 The Lord Jesus had the authority and the power to change the rules of the covenant. He did. He said, it has been said under the old covenant this way but I say unto you and he was doing this and he was raising the standard and in verse 33 he said, again ye have heard that it has been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thyself but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths but I say unto you swear not at all neither by heaven for it is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool neither by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black but let your communication be yea, yea nay, nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil so Jesus addressed that issue very clearly that you shall not forswear thyself but let your yes be yes and your no be no and if the Lord will I shall do this or that by the grace of God and by the power of God we shall walk with God but don't perform oaths and swear and make great promises because you can't even make one hair white or black you can't even do that little thing let your communication be yes, yes and no, no whatsoever is more of these cometh of evil the power to live the Christian life is to be connected and abiding in the vine the Lord Jesus Christ it's not in binding myself to do better now I'm not saying we as Christians shouldn't have a high standard and we shouldn't set some goals but I view those very differently than making a promise I think we should have high standards we should have high goals we should press into the kingdom but we don't we don't bind ourselves by a vow or a promise that then when we don't measure up and fall short then we're under condemnation but we must look to Christ and let our yes be yes and our no be no be people of the word be an honest man be an honest woman you know this goes a long way letting our yes be yes and our no be no it even comes down into our relationship in our home how much more secure our family is when they know that dad's yes is yes and his no is no you don't need to add any extra oath let me count to three or let me count to ten or let me if you don't do this then I'll do that you know all this adding to the word you know what a simple yes spoken out of an honest true heart with conviction with meaning with purpose dad's yes is yes his no is no oh a secure place lovely but if there's always you're not sure his first yes or his first no is not no but the third one when he raises his voice then it's no you know what I mean let our yes be yes let our no be no when we do business in the world our yes is yes our no is no you can count on that man he's a man of his word brother Luke I believe that could be pure religion that could be a a religion a light that shines a testimony of Jesus a life that is true I think I'll stop there the other verses we have I feel are very important and I wouldn't just want to rush over them they're very weighty they are deep I don't claim to understand them all but the other verses we look at the matter of sickness and anointing with oil we look at the matter of prayer of faith we look at the matter of of sins and sins forgiven we look at the matter of confessing faults we look at the matter of restoring one who is fallen from truth and I don't want to just rush through those I think they're very important message to the church and so I'll close at this point with just again encouraging us brethren be patient therefore unto the coming of the Lord and remember the husbandmen who waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it remember the husbandmen remember the prophets who suffered they're an example of suffering and of patience and remember Job consider consider these examples that God has set before us to us upon whom the ends of the world are come be patient establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh thank you God bless you turn it over to brother Ron thank you brother Aaron for sharing the word with us for laboring in the word just a comment over the years of our coming here if you get here early on a Sunday morning often you can tell who's got the main message because you see their car parked out front and our elders they prepare ahead of time but then the morning that they're going to give the message that Sunday morning often they are here very early I don't know what time but they're here early in the morning praying and continuing to prepare to preach the word of God to us it is a labor it's a labor of love I know it's a get to I know that's how they feel but it is a labor and may we remember them in prayer and appreciate them the subject of trials in the Christian life oh how true it is we grow at least we have the opportunity to grow in faith as we go through trials if we respond to them in the right way if we complain and fuss with God and kick against it we're not going to learn much and God like a loving father will wait a while and give us maybe another trial down the road not to be mean but because he loves us enough that he wants us to learn the lesson it's like with our own young children you know we train them and we discipline them and if they disobey or fail again we discipline them again not to be mean but out of love we want them to learn these things and God wants us to learn also maybe some of you have are going through trials even at this time and that can be we all go through trials at different times in our lives and brother Aaron even mentioned you know going through trials even as a church that's possible for that to happen that does happen it's nothing to be ashamed about we can admit it and face it and learn from it learn what the Lord has for us and go on the question I had is are we thirsty for it are we hungry and thirsty for God in the dry times in the trials and while we're waiting for the Lord to respond what are we doing the farmer cultivates the ground what are we doing to cultivate our own hearts to be ready for the Lord when he does come maybe some of you have a testimony to share about a trial that's going on in your life or maybe something that the Lord is doing in your life maybe a trial that you have been through and you'd like to share how the Lord has brought you out of it and what you've learned so if the ushers can be ready with their microphones see you are just put your hands up and let's share remember that when we share testimonies like this it's an encouragement to one another it's a way of building one another up in the faith so if anyone has a testimony or something you'd like to share in response to the message today how many of you feel like you're going through a trial in your life right now would you be willing to raise your hand how many feel like you're going through a trial right now amen a number of hands okay take courage and maybe share a little bit about what that is or what the Lord is doing what you think the Lord is doing I guess I could share a little bit my own personal life here as most of you know my wife has been quite sick for the last year or so that has been a trial and I can say for myself the Lord is trying to teach me to trust in Him more deeply He's trying to get me to trust Him more deeply that He does have the answer that the trial will come to an end at some point but to just trust Him and Brother Aaron mentioned Job in that passage and we turn to that there's a verse in Job 13 it's very familiar to us where Job says though He slay me yet will I trust Him and I think that's what God is after that's one of the things God is after when we have a trial not just to say Lord, you know help me to hang in there until you come and bring me out of this trial until you bring the answer not just that but that we would have the attitude that God, no matter how this ends I'm going to trust You even if it doesn't end the way I want even if it ends in seeming destruction I'm going to trust You, Lord no matter what Job came to that he came to that place in the midst of his trial he said, you know what I'm going to trust God no matter how this turns out that spoke volumes that purified him like gold purified in the fire may we allow the Lord to work in our hearts and lives and do what He wants to do and get as much mileage as He can out of the trials that He sends our way trusting in Him as Brother Aaron said, you know He opens their heads just so much God is still in control God said, Satan, you can do this much and no more and God was in control of that can we believe God and trust Him that He's exercising that kind of control in whatever it is that we're going through He won't let it go only so far and that's it Anyone like to share now? Anyone feel inspired to share? Oh, I would love to hear some of your testimonies of I have a hand back there of how the Lord is working through a trial in your life Let's go ahead, Ralph Yes, I am When I was listening to this message I just it makes so much more sense if you see how God is in control and how God opens the heads just a little bit how to give thanks in everything just because we know that God is going to work something out why should we complain or maybe not even complain but just really worry about things if we can just give thanks to Him because we know He has a perfect plan in it and I was also thinking sometimes we really don't see why something is happening and there are also because there are also sons and daughters of Job that just died because God was going to show that Job was faithful so am I willing to be maybe just even a son of Job and to just give my life or whatever it is just go through trials because somebody else because God is going to use somebody else that was just an encouragement for me Amen, thank you for sharing that Am I willing to allow the Lord to use me however He wants to lay down my life for the faith of others Amen Anyone else have a testimony to share this morning Alright, kind of quiet but I think the word of God has gone forth and it's a challenge to our lives to allow the Lord to work in us as He wishes Brother Eric, if you'd come and lead us in a song and then we'll have some announcements