Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
9 sermons cite this verse
… that the testing of your faith produces perseverance now watch this let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything the obstacle is to finish you not finish you off to complete making you so the reason he allows it to happen Is he because he knows there's no other way He made you He know you There's no other way you're going to become grateful Until you lose something That you really wanted And then he takes you through What he's called you to Restores it Gives you more than you had before But now you can appreciate it Because you went through The obstacle He knows you He's trying to complete you He's trying to get you to the image that he created before you got here And so today i'm just gonna pray one simple prayer for everybody Is that your obstacle would not take you out But you would take your obstacle out Can you just lift your hands if you want that today? …
… Thank you, guys. so I'm reminded of the truth of James 1 for let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything and that's it you know the treasure takeaway for this one is one of my favorites. And this is for all of you parents and siblings and children who feel like you're a burden. on the people. I can't look at you. For all of us that feel like we're a burden on the people that love us, that, you know, that us being here is hurting their lives, that we're taking up space that we shouldn't be taking up. Well, here's the thing. The Lord released me a long time ago from that because if you were not supposed to be here, even if you need care your entire life, you would not be here. Let me say that again. If you were not supposed to be here, you would not be here. If there is breath in your lungs today, you are supposed to be here. …
… my brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing is there anybody else in the room that wants to be lacking nothing i mean that's uh that's an extraordinary promise it's one of the largest in scripture. But here's, I want you to see this word patience. A friend of mine wrote this tremendous book called Throne Life. And in it, he says, the word translated patience two times in these verses is defined as independent, unyielding, defiant perseverance in the face of aggressive misfortune and thus to a kind of courageousness. Another scholar suggests it's not the resignation of the passive sufferer like our modern use of the word patience, as much as the fortitude of a stout-hearted soldier. One more perspective may be helpful. It's the characteristic of a man who is unswerved in his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety that even the greatest trials and sufferings can deter from. This word patience is almost a military term. …
… And I have a relatively short text this evening from the letter of James, chapter 1. I want to read only verses 2 through 4, and then verse 12, James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. This is a dark room, and James in any case has a way of hiding in the New Testament. He's after the letter to the Hebrews, and if you've got to 1 Peter, you've gone one stop too far. James, a servant of God, is the way he introduces his letter under the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the dispersion, greetings. That is rejoicing greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that But the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, that you may be mature, lacking in nothing. And verse 12, blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. …
… of your faith produces patience but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Ooh, that's such a powerful passage right there. I don't know if y'all got it. It's profound. It's amazing. It's significant. he tells us to count it all joy. I know that sounds strange to you because most of you probably don't know how to count anything joyfully when you're having a tough time. As a matter of fact, let me pause for a moment. I want to look back over my life and think about things that I've gone through that I thought I wouldn't be able to overcome. And as I'm looking back over the stuff I've gone in my life. James says count it all joy. Thank all 20 of y'all for clapping on that. I appreciate that. Some of y'all ain't got it, but here's what he's trying to tell us. When you go back over the instances and the circumstances of your life that you want to put in the joy column, he says, while you're counting them, here's what he says. …
… and well-developed, not deficient in any way. This verse, James chapter one, verse two through four gave me what I need and all I wanna lift for you is one question that this text and all that I just named for you has lift for me. Can I give you my sermon title? Finally, it's simply this, just one little question. How do I hold it together? Have you ever wondered that before? With everything you're juggling in your own life, how do I hold it together? I've been in a year in this thing. How do I hold it together? Balancing my family, balancing school, balancing my own personal life, balancing my own anxieties, my own fears, my own downright exhaustion with everything going on in life. I'm so glad that in the middle of everything swirling around your head just like mine, God speaks a word to let us know whatever it is that you're facing, you've got to learn how to consider it joy. You've got to learn how to call it joy. …
… IS THERE IS THE SPIRITUAL DESTRUCTION THAT COMES BY PORNOGRAPHY AND LUST. JAMES CHAPTER ONE, VERSES 4-6, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And then when lust hath conceived it, bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Then James said, do not err, my beloved brethren. This is why Jesus Christ said, whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. It is SOMETHING THAT BRINGS SPIRITUAL DEATH. WHEN IT GETS INTO YOUR HEART, IT'S GOING TO BE EXPRESSED ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. NOW, PEOPLE HAVE TRIED ALL KINDS OF WAYS TO DEAL WITH LUST. PEOPLE HAVE TRIED ALL KINDS OF WAYS TO DEAL WITH THIS PROBLEM BECAUSE IT IS ALL AROUND US. AND MY DEAR FRIEND, YOU CANNOT PRACTICE ISOLATION, SO YOU'D BETTER LEARN SOME KIND OF INSOLATION AND YOU'D BETTER LEARN SOMETHING THAT'S GOING TO PROTECT YOU IN THIS DAY WHEN IT, AS I'VE SAID, WE HAVE REACHED THE ABSOLUTE BOTTOM OF THE GARBAGE CAN. HOW CAN YOU KEEP YOUR MIND PURE? MEN HAVE SEARCHED IN CAVES AND DESERTS AND REMOTE ISLANDS AND JUNGLES AND MOUNTAIN PEAKS. THEY'VE SET, SAT, THEY'VE, UH, KNELT, THEY HAVE STOOD, THEY'VE LAYNED PROSTRATE, THEY HAVE SWUNG FROM ROPES, THEY'VE PIERCED THEMSELVES THROUGH WITH, UH, UH, UH, UH, LANCES. THEY HAVE ENDURED ALL KINDS OF SELF-INFLICTED PUNISHMENT, TRYING, TRYING TO GET PURE, TRYING TO BE PURE, TO NO AVAIL. A LITTLE BOY WAS ASKED TO …
… knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men or women generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for he who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. But let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now, I want you to get the context of what James is saying here before we come to this matter of wavering faith because it all fits together. And so here's what he's saying. As these who were probably responding to him and talking to him about the difficulty and hardship, talking about the trials, he's writing to encourage them. And so he says, now, count it all joy when you fall into divers or various temptations and trials. …
And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men or women generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for he who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. But let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Every single one of us has had the problem with wavering faith because there's some things that hit us blindsided or hit us right in the front. There's some things that you and I know that we need and we come to ask God for and we waffle in our faith. We say, well, now, here's what he said. Here's what I ask. I'm going to trust God. Hallelujah. Amen. About a half hour later, we say, oh, God, I hope you will. …