Embracing God's Goodness Amid Life's Challenges

1. "And immediately as we shift, and let me be clear. We've got to be intentional. You've got to want to do it. You've got a will to do it. As we shift to what's happening in the foreground, it begins to change our perspective. It changes our dynamic. It changes our interaction, because no longer are we looking at what's wrong. We're looking at what God is doing. And as we started this journey, we went to a cosmos. We went to a cosmic scale as we looked at the creation of the world. And this journey will start to get closer and closer and closer until the goodness of God is... Real and personal." [00:52] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "The scripture says that there are sons and daughters, men and women, who are blessed. They are blessed. Why? Because of their ability to endure. Their ability to withstand. Their ability to persevere. Their ability to fight through. Their ability to overcome temptation and evil. And it says that classification of folks will receive the crown of life. Now, the crown of life is not a reward that is for the afterlife. This particular... crown of life has to do with this present life and what is essentially saying is if if you can find your way to verse 12 your life will live in a much uh let's see it grammatically i would say more full or is it fuller which one you grammarians fuller okay fuller capacity capacity like there will be a richness and a fullness if we could figure that out and and it's in it's in context to this idea of sin personal sin personal sin that which we commit amen" [03:13] (98 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "He says, I didn't do that. That's not in me. It's not my nature. When I showed myself to Moses, I told you who I was. It was a self -proclamation, a self -revelation. He says, Moses, tuck yourself in the wall, in the cleft of the rock. Tuck yourself. I'm going to pass by you. And as he passed, he named himself. He said, this is who I am. Right? And the very first thing he says, goodness, I'm goodness. And so in this journey, as we try to live in verse 12, he wants us to understand that there is nothing in him. That's evil. It's only his goodness. It's only his goodness." [09:16] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "The devil, just so that you know, is an opportunist. He's not necessarily creating a bunch of stuff. He's just looking for opportunities to exploit what you've already created. He seeks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he what? May devour. He doesn't sleep. He's just waiting for. A foothold, an opportunity. Not necessarily creating it, but exploiting what we've already created. And he's good at it. But now the beautiful thing is, James is not telling us this story to make us feel bad about personal sin." [16:58] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "He says, every say every say every every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning let's break that down first of all every means what every means every so everything God sends your way the Bible says is good now we're going to get to the good but let me share just some syntax with you kind of meaning behind these English words because we see where he says every good gift and every perfect gift in the original language the the the first good gift is speaking of the giver the first good gift is speaking about the giver of the gift the second mention of give where it says perfect gift is speaking about the receiver of the gift so what is he saying he's saying there is a giver of gifts and there is a receiver of gifts we know who the giver is because he says it a little bit later from heaven so God is the giver of gifts and we are the receiver of gifts but that word receiver carries a little bit more meaning because it's those who receive and allow the gift that has been given to them to carry them toward maturity" [18:53] (109 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Temptation is not sin. It's responding to it that where sin is birthed. So he can come at you all you want. He can show up like this, but you don't have to respond. You don't have to lean in. You don't have to look. You don't have to go that way. You don't have to contemplate. I'm just being funny about it. But you understand, I want you to make a distinction because some people beat themselves up when they're just tempted. So. And that temptation is not sin. Don't get those two confused. But God is saying here in James, he's saying, I give you something to offset that. We learn later in Scripture, he says, with every temptation, there is what? There is what? An avenue of escape. It might be like this. But when you're focused on the goodness, when you're focused on the gifts that he's giving you, man, those little windows become crystal clear." [22:14] (79 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "And the beauty is, he's the giver. So we already know it's good. And as we get accustomed to watching for his goodness in our everyday, ordinary life, we allow the gift that he's giving us to be a benefit and a blessing to us, which puts us square back into verse 12, into that blessed category of those who endure and receive the crown of life. And then we allow the gifts to flow through us to others. We become a blessing to other folks. We become a blessing to others who might be challenged and struggling in the same way." [29:39] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "He says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only. Fooling yourself. He says, man, if you really are dialed in to my goodness, to my goodness, to my goodness, if you really dialed in to what I'm doing versus what I'm not doing, if you really are... tune to my voice and the fact that I'm trying to send goodness your way. At every turn, I'm trying to send goodness your way. At every turn, goodness, the gifts I'm sending you are unique to you because I love you and I know you and I know your circumstance better than you know your circumstance. In fact, I know what's coming. You only know what tomorrow or maybe next week might bring, and that's only a prediction. I know what's coming. And so I'm going to send you gifts. Be looking for them." [37:56] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)