Wisdom From Above

Well, we’re going to move on, because I have a lot to talk about, but we are mostly staying in James. Everybody say, “James.” We have been in the book of James lately. Specifically, last week we were in James chapter 3. We did not get all the way through James chapter 3, but man, oh man, was it a good message. I definitely needed to hear it. I don’t know about anybody else.

We talked all about the taming of the tongue, which according to Scripture is the hardest thing that you can do. It’s not resurrecting from the dead. It’s not performing miracles. It’s taming the tongue. It’s the hardest thing that you can do. James 3:2 says this: “For we all stumble in many ways.” Everybody say, “All.” That’s all of us. Doesn’t matter who it is. “For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man.”

So if you were able to tame your tongue perfectly — not just in PR, or in front of a camera, or on the mic, or on your social media; no, your tongue in general — if you were to tame it perfectly, it says you would be a perfect man or woman, “able also to bridle his whole body.” So if you were able to control your own tongue, you now have control over your whole body. It is a very important thing to tame. It’s not easy, though.

James 3:4–6 says this: “Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.” And then there’s this part that I think really drives it home: “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”

More than watching our words

So here’s the thing. Whenever I hear people talk about James 3, or whenever they talk about the tongue specifically and how we need to control it, I’ll be 100% honest with you: I mostly assumed that this was kind of thrown in the Bible to just save face for Christians. We’re supposed to be really kind, polite. We’re supposed to be gracious with people, and we’re supposed to watch our words, right? And I think this really comes from life experience, which I’ll share here in a second.

Because in fact, Proverbs 18:21 hammers this home and says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” So now we’re going all the way up to the stakes of death and life. When I was really little — I don’t remember who it was — I just remember being around an adult who would kind of frown upon me if I did anything wrong, like if I was misbehaving. And I remember being really young. I’d just learned to cuss at school. Thank you, public school. And I stubbed my toe, and I cussed. That was the first thing I did when I stubbed my toe. And I remember they scolded me, and they specifically said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

And so from that moment on, anytime I heard scriptures like this, I kind of just assumed that if the Bible’s talking about your words and your tongue and how you have to control it, it just means to be kind to people, to be generous, don’t cuss, and just kind of be a surface-level Christian, is what I would say.

Someone in our church — I know she won’t mind me sharing this — we recently had a roundtable discussion, I would call it, and I think one of the questions was something along the lines of, what is it that you wish the church would be seen as, or be doing, in today’s world? And I’m putting it in my own words here, but she made a very good point about how Christians are not really taken that seriously nowadays. If there’s a car accident or something and we’re in the midst of it, we should be able to be people that can bring Christ to that situation, lay hands on that person, and actually provide healing. And I don’t think anybody in the world sees us like that today. I think people see us just as I described: as these people that are kind of goody two-shoes, that try not to cuss and just be nice with our words, right?

And when people see His Word and they see scriptures like this, it can be easy to walk away thinking, oh, that’s all it’s talking about. But it’s so much deeper than that. If we go up just one verse before it talks about how death and life are in the power of the tongue, we get context for what this really means and how deep it is. This is why we don’t cherry-pick Scripture. Meaning, you don’t just open the Bible, find the verses that you like, and say, “That sounds good,” because you need the context for it. He’s asking us to get into His whole Word.

Just going up one verse, Proverbs 18, starting at verse 20, it says, “From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach is satisfied; he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.” And then it goes on to say, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” So what does this mean? From your tongue — the things that you say — that is what your flesh is then satisfied by.

And why is this important? Well, it’s important because a lot of us, if you’re like me, are kind of fast and loose with our words. Maybe I’ve gotten a little bit better on the cussing side of things, but it’s very difficult for me still to watch what I’m saying when I’m talking about others if I’m frustrated with them. Especially when I worked at Starbucks, and people would come — I was supposed to be nice to everybody — and they would just be rude or ridiculous, and I would just let things fly out of my mouth about how ridiculous they were.

But you guys might know people in your own life that you love. These are friends, these are family, whatever it may be. And you may say things like, “Oh my gosh, they’re so dishonest,” or “They’re so flippant,” or “They’re always late,” or “How could they do this?” or “They’re so irresponsible. I can’t believe they’re doing this. They’re so immature.” And you’re speaking things over them that actually do have power.

And more importantly, I think some of you guys might relate that you might speak those same things about yourself. See, if you’re starting to speak things about yourself, it gets in the way of what God wants to do in your life, and it can actually contradict it. Maybe God has asked you to start a Bible study at school, or maybe at your work. Something as simple as that — simple, not easy. And you might be saying, “I don’t even know where to start in the Bible. I’m not a good teacher. That’s not going to work. Nobody’s going to come.” You’re speaking those things, and your flesh is actually becoming satisfied by them, and you’re eating of that fruit that you’re speaking. And so in a way, you’re kind of manifesting that destiny just from your words, right?

So instead of speaking those things, I would challenge you to actually speak His Word, His truth, and His life. Amen. It says in His Word that if you need faith, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God — which means not just on an audio tape or whatever; it can come from your own mouth.

In fact, I thought about this. I haven’t asked my wife to do this recently, but I’ve been going through stuff, and I don’t know about you guys, but when I am in a bad mood, it’s the hardest thing ever for me to pick up my Bible or get in the zone and pray. My flesh just doesn’t want to do it. And what I need in those moments most of all is faith. Everybody say, “Faith.” And so I’ve thought about it, and I’m like, I think I’m going to ask my wife, when I’m very discouraged in those moments, to just start reading chapters of the Bible to me. Just read it out loud. Why? Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And if I’m not going to speak it and I’m not going to read it, I need to at least be hearing it from somebody who’s willing to lift me up. Amen.

Okay. So we learned about how powerful the tongue is, how powerful our words are. Not just with our kind words and our generous words, not just don’t talk behind people’s backs — the things that we say have power not only over others, but over ourselves as well. And so the next time you’re waiting for God to come through for a miracle, just stop and think: how many times have I actually spoken doubt into this situation? And more importantly, how many times have I spoken life to this situation?

Because that, for me, is the hardest thing. When I start thinking, okay, I know what I’m not supposed to do, I tend to just try to avoid that and do my best, instead of focusing on what I’m supposed to do. Does that make sense? It’s not enough to just stop gossiping or stop speaking death to a situation in your life. You have to replace it with speaking life to those things. So that’s really what we talked about and learned in the first half, I would say, of James chapter 3.

Prove it by an honorable life

But today we’re diving into the second half of James chapter 3. So if you have your Bibles, you can follow along with me. I’m starting with actually an NLT version — I never really read the NLT, but I like how this is worded. And we’re starting at James 3:13. It says this: “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.”

In other words, don’t just talk the talk. Don’t just say that you’re a Christian. Don’t just say that you understand God’s ways and that you are wise. Prove it with your actions, right? That’s kind of what it’s saying. Don’t just put “created in His image” in your Instagram bio, but then on your story be out partying and singing lyrics that dishonor Him. Be at Nelly concerts like I’m at, or something like that. I promise I didn’t know Nelly was playing. Okay? We were just at the baseball game. But don’t be doing that. Don’t contradict it.

But also notice it says that if you are wise and you understand God’s ways, the way you prove that you are wise and you understand His ways is by living an honorable life. Meaning that to understand God’s ways is to honor Him. The closer that we get with God, the more you will want to honor Him. The more you actually spend time in your Word, the more time that you spend in worship — not just at church; I’m just saying listening to messages, or things that are speaking life, things that are speaking truth, things that are speaking His Word — it’s going to make you want to honor Him.

And so when we read this, it’s very easy to think, okay, it says not just to talk the talk, but I need to walk the walk. So I’m going to try my hardest to live pure. I’m going to try my hardest to live in a way that’s honoring God. But the focus really is to understand His ways. How are you ever going to understand somebody’s ways unless you spend time with them, right?

People that join me out on the disc golf course know for a fact — if you’ve done it a couple times — I will get really angry, and I will swear to put down the game forever, that I’m never going to play again. And I will be out there the very next day throwing discs, because people just understand my ways. They understand I’m short-tempered. I don’t mean what I’m saying, and I’ll go right back to it. One of my friends is nodding his head because he’s been out there with me. He knows.

So when you spend time with somebody, you start to understand their ways. And so James is saying this: no, no, no — if you want to prove that you understand His ways, do it by living an honorable life. And the only way to do that, in my opinion, is spending time with Him, because then you will want to honor Him. Does that make sense? It’s not by effort. It’s just by the desire of being with Him.

I think a lot of celebrities specifically will say that they honor God or that they fear God. Have you guys ever heard, “The only person I fear is God”? Usually comes from a celebrity. And what’s funny is they’ll say all of that, but they approach Him as if He’s just an accessory to their image. I’ve seen certain celebrities accept accolades and awards and everything like that, and they’ll get up on the microphone, and what’s the first thing they say? Usually, “I’d like to thank God and my family.” And I’m like, I’ve never heard you talk about God. Not once. I’ve never seen you live for God. Nothing. I’m not trying to be judgmental, but I’m pretty sure I’ve even seen you say that you don’t believe in God, right?

And those same people will get on the microphone and say all these things, and they’re loose with their tongue. But to keep God around only when you need Him isn’t actually knowing Him. And if you don’t know Him, then you don’t know His ways, right? We just talked about that. If you want to understand His ways, you have to spend time with Him. If you don’t know Him, then you don’t know His ways, and it’s just a foolish way to live.

God doesn’t work in mysterious ways

I said this in a previous message, but I’m going to say it again. I absolutely hate a specific saying that’s actually become really, really popular in our society, and it’s that God works in mysterious ways. I can’t stand that saying. I understand what it’s saying, because God will do things and He’ll perform miracles, and sometimes I’m like, I didn’t expect that. But then when I think about it, it makes sense, because I know Him. I’m familiar with Him. But it becomes very common for people to say God works in mysterious ways, and it’s this blanket statement.

I hate it for a couple reasons. Number one, it’s because things will happen that are bad, and people will just say, “It must have been God’s will, because it happened.” That’s not true. Just because something happened doesn’t mean it’s God’s will. So people start giving credit to bad things and say that God did it, and then it causes this distortion. I hate it for that reason. But I also hate it because it actually kind of deceives people out of an opportunity that we have. The opportunity is to know His ways.

It says that God works in mysterious ways. But the truth is, God doesn’t work in mysterious ways. God works in His ways, and the invitation is to know them. See, something is only mysterious if you are unfamiliar with it. Last time I spoke about this, I talked about disc dyeing. It’s really nerdy. Don’t worry about it. You just take a piece of plastic and you draw art on it. That’s it. But I would see people do it, and they would pull off these crazy techniques. I didn’t know how they were doing it. I was so unfamiliar with it, and it was mysterious to me.

And then, three months of YouTube videos and way more money than I should have spent on all this stuff later, and practicing it, I was like, oh, I know how they’re doing this now. Now when I see a picture, I know exactly how they pulled it off. I know what methods they use. I know what lotions they use, shaving cream, specific dye. I know everything that they’re doing because I’m familiar with it. So now when I see it, it’s not mysterious, because I’m familiar with it. And it’s the same with God. His ways are not mysterious if you become familiar with them.

Let your requests be made known

So people will say, “Yeah, but He just works in mysterious ways. I’m still waiting to get hired somewhere. I’m still waiting on this job opportunity. But whatever happens happens. God works in mysterious ways.” As if whatever’s happening in our life has to be His will, or else it couldn’t have possibly happened. But in reality, when we’re in a situation like that, He wants you to actually cry out to Him.

When you’re in a situation where you’re maybe waiting for a specific job opportunity, and you’re just thinking in your head and hoping in your heart that you get it, and you’re just saying, “Well, God knows my heart. God knows my thoughts. So it will come, then, right? Because God’s for me” — in reality, He wants you to cry out to Him and make your requests known to Him.

I know this is true because I know God’s ways. People say, “Well, Pastor David, how can you be so confident on that?” It’s because I’m not pulling it from my own knowledge. I’m pulling it straight from the Word. And you guys can do the same thing. If you just open your Bible, it will show you His ways right in there. It says this straight up in His Word, in one of the most famous verses. You usually see this at HomeGoods — or what’s it called? Hobby Lobby. You usually see this at Hobby Lobby in a picture frame or something. But Philippians 4:5–7 says this: “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

And so the people that sit there and say, “Yeah, I don’t know if it’s going to work out. I know that God knows my heart. I know He knows my thoughts. So if it happens, it happens. He works in mysterious ways. If it happens, it’s His will” — I feel like they just glaze past these scriptures completely, like their eyes glaze over when they read them. Because it says straight up in His Word that we are supposed to lift up our voice and let our requests be made known to Him.

And when we do, what does it say? “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” It doesn’t say that it will just give you every single thing that you ask for. It says that the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Meaning, you might get something completely different than you’re asking for, but what you’re definitely going to get is the peace of God when you make your requests known to Him.

I don’t know about you guys, but no matter what it is that I’m dealing with in my life, when I have the peace of God, it just doesn’t matter anymore. If I need healing, I’m not wondering how it’s going to happen, where it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen. If I have the peace of God, I just know God’s got me, and whatever happens, it’s within His will, and I have the peace of it now. I’m not worried about this job opportunity anymore, or how much it’s going to pay, or where it’s going to come from, or if I should be updating my portfolio or whatever it is. I just know that I have the peace of God with me. So even if I don’t get that job, another one’s probably coming. Or if it doesn’t, whatever His plan for me is, is best. Does that make sense?

When you have the peace of God — make your request known to Him, though. No more of these silent prayer requests. That’s one of Pastor Suzie’s pet peeves, when people say, “I have a silent prayer request.” I get it. You don’t always want to voice things. But if I want to stand with you and actually lift up my voice in faith and declare things over you and actually make requests known to God, I want to know what’s going on. You don’t have to share with me, but share it with somebody else. Make your voice known.

That’s why I had us lift our hands in worship this morning, because it takes effort on our part, and it’s actually relationship with God. It’s not this passive thing. I shared this in my last message as well, but I grew up Catholic. It’s fine, but I had a totally different theology back then. And I used to think that one-way conversation with God was the only form of communication. Praying to God was like writing a letter and you send it off. He’ll get it, He’ll read it, but you’re not going to hear back. I kind of thought He was like playing Sims with you — if you guys have ever played the video game The Sims. Yeah. Okay, some people get it. I didn’t think it was this active relationship with God. But He actually wants us to speak to Him so He can speak back to us, just as I’m doing with you guys, or in a conversation that you probably had this morning with somebody over coffee. We are supposed to cry out to Him.

But going back to James 3:13, it says, “If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” Living an honorable life is not done by effort, but good works can be done with effort. Okay, so where does this get confusing? Because if I’m trying to live an honorable life, can’t I just do that by trying my hardest? But it specifically says “doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” Everybody say, “Wisdom.” That’s what we’re talking about today: the wisdom that comes from above.

So yes, good works can be done with just effort, but then they’re done without the right intention, without the humility that comes from wisdom. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” That comes from Proverbs 9:10. Which means if you want to have wisdom that comes from above, you need to have the fear of the Lord. Which means you need to know Him and understand Him, and you’ll start to see the glory of who He is. And that’s that reverent fear. Does that make sense?

And so when we look at these kinds of scriptures — well, okay, if all I’m supposed to do to understand God’s ways is prove it by living an honorable life, and I can do that by effort, that doesn’t seem so hard. I’ll just try my hardest. But there’s a trap that comes in there, because you’re not doing it with the right intention.

I’ve shared this in the past. I’ve been with Chapel Valley — I don’t know how long. Fifteen, sixteen — no, more than that. Probably like 20 years at this point. I’ve been here for a while. Okay. And so I’ve seen a lot of people come and go for whatever reason. Maybe they were just visiting. Maybe they moved to a different state, whatever it was. But I’ve seen some people come, and they’ve actually served, and they’ve served well, and they’ve been great people. They’ve been great with us, and they get hurt for whatever reason, and then they leave.

And one person specifically that I’m thinking of — I remember them sharing when they left how disappointed they were with whatever had happened and their perception of why they were leaving. But what they said was, “I did so much for you guys.” And then they left. And that just stuck out to me so much, because when they said, “I did so much,” they were talking about their service here, whether they were ushering or greeting or serving in kids church or whatever it was. They were talking about the service they did on Sundays and the service that they did in ministry. They were talking about their service specifically. And that was what they were leaving with: I did so much for you guys.

And it just stuck out to me like a sore thumb, because I’m like, when I serve, I’m doing it for God, not for man. Because the danger in doing it for man is exactly that. Different things happen. You can get hurt, and you can leave thinking that all this was a waste. There’s no joy, and there’s not the right intention behind it. And so when you look at a verse in James where it talks about understanding God’s ways and proving it by living an honorable life — that can’t be done if it’s done without faith. If it’s done by trying to do something not unto Him, but unto man. Does that make sense? That’s where you get to see it kind of play out in real life.

So that’s what it’s talking about: understand God’s ways and prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. Another way of saying it is in Hebrews 11:6. It says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him.” Everybody say, “Impossible.” “For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

It is impossible to please God without faith. Meaning, people will come and they’ll maybe show up at church, or they’ll volunteer at a soup kitchen or whatever, and they’re doing these things that they think God would like or appreciate, or that honor God. And I’m sure it kind of makes God smile, or He’s happy. But if it’s not done unto Him, it’s being done without faith. And according to Scripture, without faith it is impossible to please Him. So no amount of effort to live an honorable life for Him will please Him if it’s done without faith. Good? Tracking with me so far? James is like an instructional book. So we’re going through this verse by verse and just hoping that we can leave with something a little bit practical for ourselves.

Earthly wisdom

It goes on to say this in verse 14: “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” Everybody say, “Earthly wisdom.” Everybody say, “Heavenly wisdom.” Which one do we want to have? Very good. You guys all passed. We’re going to talk about earthly and heavenly wisdom.

It breaks it down a little bit better in the Passion Translation, which I almost never read. But here’s just a little pro tip. If you’re like me and your IQ is just a little bit lower when it comes to reading things — because I swear mine is — if you’re reading a verse, and maybe you like it in ESV, or maybe you’re a New King James Version person, cool. And you’re reading a verse and you’re like, I like it, I don’t know what it means — check the Passion. It almost always will give it to you in kind of layman’s terms. And then you can go back to the version you were reading and be like, okay, I see what this is saying now.

The Passion for James 3:14–15 says this: “But if there is bitter jealousy or competition hiding in your heart, then don’t deny it and try to compensate for it by boasting and being phony. For that has nothing to do with God’s heavenly wisdom, but can best be described as the wisdom of this world, both selfish and devilish.”

So what does this mean? I wrote this in my notes, so I’m just going to read it how I wrote it. Any youth — or if maybe you’re not a youth, just think back to when you were in high school and maybe all the petty drama. See, I was thinking about this in my head, and this will only relate to some people and not all, because guys fight differently than girls. I remember when I would get into arguments with my guy friends, we would usually settle it physically. We would just hit each other until one of them gave up, and then I guess we were over it, and the next day we were good. When I’ve filmed for Verona High School football in the past, I’ve seen guys that were best friends in the locker room get into physical altercations on the sideline, and then they were good. They’d hit each other, and then they were good.

Girls, typically speaking, don’t seem to fight like that. A lot of times I’ll talk to my wife and just be like, “I don’t understand why these girls in the youth group are fighting.” They tried to explain it to me, and the drama, and I just don’t get it. And she’s like, “Girls just fight differently.” They’ll talk about walking in the room, and, “Oh my gosh, nobody looked at me. Did you see that? They got everybody to ignore me.” And I’m like, I’ve walked in a room and my guys didn’t even know I was there. It wasn’t even intentional. We’re just oblivious. So guys and girls fight very differently.

But I had written: you students, have you ever had somebody bitter or jealous of you? Maybe it’s for friends that you made. Maybe it’s for having a new device — I don’t know, the newest iPhone, whatever it may be. Or maybe it’s just a sport that you got into that they were trying to get into, and they’re jealous of it. So what typically happens, I feel like, when people get jealous, is they start to do things to kind of boast or compensate for that.

And I’ve seen this play out even when I was in high school. I can remember certain people would have a crush on somebody, and they would want to go out with them. Maybe they got rejected or whatever and moved on, and then their friend would all of a sudden start going out with that same person. And so the person that was jealous would typically do something like start dating someone, to say, “Oh, I don’t need you. Look, I can find love.” But in reality, what’s happening there? There’s bitterness. There’s jealousy. And even worse, that person is actually using somebody to their advantage. And so here’s the problem: when you look at bitterness and jealousy in somebody’s heart, there’s usually a little bit more that’s hiding in there, and it can cause and wreak havoc.

We’re going to go back up to James 3:14–15, but this is the ESV this time. “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.” So don’t hide it. “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” And then if we go on to the next verse, it says, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.”

That’s why it says not to just hide it. If you go back to that example of somebody who’s jealous that somebody started dating somebody that they wanted to date — maybe they’re just trying to hide it. Maybe they don’t want to talk about it. Maybe they don’t want to air things out with the person, and they’re just holding it in their heart. What happens? It starts to fester. It starts to grow. It starts to grow out of control. And all of a sudden, they start to compensate. And all of a sudden, they’re using somebody to try to make up for that hole, and these vile practices come out.

See, the Bible is for today. Whether you believe it or not, you can look at it and actually see things that are very relevant for 2025. When people start to do this, and they hold things in their heart and choose not to air it out, it says that there will be disorder and every vile practice. No matter how much you try, or whatever kind of effort you put in, it says that it will grow in the heart. So it just causes problems. This means earthly wisdom can appear to do you good, but it will cause disorder and vile practice within you.

I’ve seen this from people that actually take earthly wisdom in order to achieve success. I’ve seen this in really high-level places. It’s really sad, but there are people that are held in really high regard in their company, and they make a lot of money, and they’re doing all the things that earthly wisdom would say to do in order to achieve success. But if you look a little bit deeper into their personal life, there are things happening like multiple divorces. There are things happening like they are completely addicted to certain substances. There’s all of this chaos and disorder, and from that, there are vile practices happening.

And so this bitterness and jealousy that got in them at some point, that they held on to — they tried to compensate by seeking earthly wisdom to make up for it, and it’s just wreaking havoc in their personal life. Does that make sense? Do you kind of see the danger there? It’s actually a trap. That’s what happens when we seek earthly wisdom.

Wisdom from above

But again, we’re talking about heavenly wisdom. Everybody say, “Heavenly wisdom.” Okay, stay with me. We don’t have that much time left. Heavenly wisdom is covered in this chapter in the very next verse: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”

I don’t know about you guys, but when it comes to either earthly wisdom or heavenly wisdom, I don’t want earthly wisdom that causes disorder and every vile practice in my heart. I want heavenly wisdom. It says it’s pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. That’s the wisdom that is accessible for us.

And how do we get that wisdom? It’s by knowing and understanding His ways — going all the way back to verse 13, where we started. By spending that time with Him, you start to gain that wisdom. Remember, Proverbs tells us that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Spending time with Him, understanding who He is, and understanding His ways gives us access to this heavenly wisdom that is pure. It is peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

And with that wisdom, we get to move forward and make the decisions. It’s with that wisdom that, when all of a sudden we’re seeking whether we should take a certain job — maybe it’s in a different city; maybe it’s a whole life change. I don’t know about you guys, but when it’s a big decision like that, I want heavenly wisdom. I want the wisdom that can actually be worked with a little bit and provide good fruits.

And then James 3 finishes off by saying, “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” So what does this mean? Well, we talked about how, if you have the peace of God, you really don’t need anything else, right? It’s within that peace of God that we can sow — I don’t know how to say that — you can sow the seed within that peace. And it says that the harvest that you reap is going to be a harvest of righteousness. Meaning the will that God has for your life will then be attainable. That’s actually what the harvest is.

And so in order to get the will of God for your life, if you think about it, He’s asking you to sow seeds in peace. So it’s almost formulaic. I don’t want to say step by step, but a lot of people will try to just skip to the end step, and they just say, “I want God’s will for my life,” without understanding His ways, without being in a place where they are actually in His peace, without being in a place where they make their requests known to Him and actually sow those seeds with faith. Does that make sense?

We need to be people that are not afraid to spend time in His presence and actually lift our voice — whether it’s in your car, whether it’s at your workplace, whatever it may be. We need to be people that aren’t afraid of having access to His peace, so that we can actually harvest righteousness. Everybody say, “Righteousness.” Righteousness is the will of God, the will that God has for your life. You cannot sow in peace with earthly wisdom. It can only be done with heavenly wisdom.

So if you’re expecting to reap a harvest of righteousness and a harvest of God’s will for your life, don’t expect it to come from earthly wisdom. Don’t expect it to come from any amount of effort, trying your hardest. Don’t expect it to come from “I’ve been serving a lot at church lately,” or “I’ve been trying to just check off reading my Bible every day.” Don’t expect it to come from your efforts. Expect it to come from the goodness of who He is, and sitting in His presence, crying out to Him, declaring those things, lifting up — just as we did this morning — those burdens that you may have to Him, and saying, “God, I have this. I know You want to take it from me. I ask that You would deal with this. But right now, all that matters is that I lift up my praise to You and say that You are good.”

I’ve seen so many people that, from the outside — because I’m a glass-half-empty kind of person — I can look at somebody from the outside and just say, man, there are a lot of reasons why I would complain about your situation right now. And I’ll see those people lift up their hands and just start praising God. That’s what He’s after. Because whether your situation’s good or bad, in the midst of it all, He is good. Hebrews talks about how He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Which means if there’s any time in your life that He’s been faithful, He will continue to be faithful, not only today, but forevermore.

Faithful in the little things

This is important to remember, because it’s going to manifest in your life in different ways, is what I’ve come to learn. And this is kind of what I’m going to close with. I don’t know about you guys, but I need a harvest of God’s will for my life. I need a harvest of righteousness, as it talks about in James. And it’s really easy to get your faith grown when He gives you little things before a big season is coming.

So, something that’s been happening with me recently — it’s kind of cool. I promised Pastor Jay I would share this like three weeks ago, and I forgot. But He’s given me these little tiny moments to exercise my faith. And they’ve been really small things, but they’re just enough. They’re like baby steps, where it’s like, okay, can you do this? Can you at least have faith in Me for this one little thing? And then I do, and He comes through, and I’ve seen it happen three or four times now.

And the spoiler alert in all this is that those really little, small, insignificant things — that just seem like, oh yeah, God kind of came through for me — those are important to hold on to, and remember He was faithful in those moments. Because when the big moment happens, you need to remember that. Say, no, He was faithful with this one small thing that I didn’t think really mattered, but I prayed and He came through for me. He’s going to be faithful here.

How can you know that? And how can you trust? It’s such a bigger situation. How can you know He’s going to come through? Because His Word says that He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is faithful. Not, He’s faithful in the little things and only the little things. He is faithful, period.

And so for me, it’s funny, because people will look at situations — I’ve seen this being made fun of on Reddit and the internet. And I promise this is where we’re wrapping up. But I’ve seen people making fun of Christians. And again, I’m going back to what I mentioned earlier: I just feel like we don’t have the rep of carrying this powerful God with us. But I’ll see things that say, “Oh, Christians will see that their tank of gas is empty, and they’ll pray for a little bit more gas just to get to the gas station. And then they’ll start their car and start driving, and then a little bit of gas all of a sudden shows up, and they’ll say, ‘Praise God.’” And people’s response to that will be, in reality, they were just parked on a hill. Their car was tilted, and then when they started and drove, all of a sudden the level read correctly. That’s not God. And they don’t give Him credit. So people make fun of it, right?

Don’t ever take those situations where you have genuinely prayed, genuinely stepped out in faith, and God has come through — don’t ever discount that. Hold on to the way that God came through for you.

Okay. So with that context, I’ll share the one story. I wanted to share this back when we had our little panel up here of people that have had the Holy Spirit operate in their life in big ways, because Pastor Jay had shared that it’s important for people to see how the Holy Spirit wants to operate in everyday life — not only in the big things, but the little things. To me, this is little, but man, am I thankful it happened.

So my wife and I have two cats. One is gray; one is jet black. I mean, the only little bit of light on her is her eyes and this little tuft of hair that’s white in the middle. But she is jet black otherwise. And she likes to go out on a harness. So we put her out on a harness, on a leash, and let her out there. She’s crazy. She’ll catch birds, she’ll catch mice, she’ll catch all these things and bring them in on the harness. And so we let her out there all the time. She loves it. She enjoys it. But she’s adventurous, and so if she would ever get out, she will run.

And so we were, I think, just making dinner, and she had been out for an hour, an hour and a half. And I’m like, man, she’s really quiet — which most of you guys are like, okay, I know where this is going. So all of a sudden I’m like, I’m going to bring her in for dinner, because we feed our cats at specific times. It helps train them, apparently. It doesn’t really work sometimes, but anyways. So I went to bring her in, and I saw the leash, the harness, and no cat. And I was like, oh no.

And granted, this is dinner time, so it’s like 8:00 p.m. It’s getting dark. And remember, she’s jet black. One time she got out before that, and it was pitch black and raining outside, and it was only the grace of God that she ended up being close to home, and I found her because she was meowing. But anyways, I’m like, I can’t find her. So we go out, start looking for her. It’s been 20 minutes. It’s been 30 minutes. My friend wants to play video games with me. He’s texting me. I’m like, I can’t; I’m looking for my cat. He’s like, I’ll come help. I’m like, you’re a real friend. So he came over, he was helping. Now we’ve got four grown adults looking for a black cat at night.

So we’re looking around. Honestly, my wife and I aren’t that worried. If anything, I’m just more annoyed, and I’m like, I cannot find this cat. So I go in. I change clothes because it’s getting a little cold. Put on pants, put on a sweatshirt, and I’m like, I’m just going to pray. I don’t know why I haven’t done this in the first place. I’m just going to pray. So I prayed that she would be returned to us, that she would no longer be lost. In my opinion, your pets in general are a part of your possessions. And so I prayed that the Lord would return our possessions to us.

And I vividly knew in that moment, with the peace of God, that she would be returned to us. But I specifically heard Him say that she’s at the corner, and I saw in my head that she was at the corner. And I remember thinking, finally — thank You, Lord. I’ll just go get her. Like it was no big deal. I put on my pants, put on my sweatshirt, went to the corner. She wasn’t there. Great. Then I look around a little bit more. I’m like, the Lord said she’d be here. She’s going to be here. Ten minutes later, go to the corner. She’s not there. Fifteen minutes later, go to the corner. She’s not there.

I’m like, what the heck, Lord? You said she was going to be here. I know I’m supposed to wait on Your timing. Your timing is not my timing, blah, blah, blah. But it’s getting late, and I want my cat. And I remember complaining, and I’m like, You said this, and I know You said this, because I know Your voice. Why is she not here? And I specifically remember Him saying, “I told you that she was at the corner, but you came up with which corner.” And I thought about it, and I was like, You’re right. Because the picture that popped into my head — I don’t know, spiritual discernment or whatever — I could tell it was a picture of me just thinking and processing, rather than a God vision placed there.

So I was like, oh. So I go to the other corner. There she is, walking around with her tail up, just enjoying life and everything. And then I tell her to come back, and we’re all good. But I could have continued looking and probably never found her, because I would have never gone down to that corner.

Now, that’s a really small thing. And another small thing — I said I’d share one story, but I’m lying. Yesterday we went to Milwaukee. I was really worried, because I knew we were going to some type of concert — not the Nelly concert, but a worship concert. I knew there was going to be loud worship there, and I’ve got whatever’s going on with my ears right now. So just to protect them in loud environments, I always carry a pair of earplugs, just in case. So I have this one pair that I really, really like. I can’t find them. And before we leave, my wife goes, “Well, why don’t you pray? Just pray that you’d find them.” I’m like, okay. So I pray. Still can’t find them. I’m annoyed. Looking, can’t find them, whatever. Get to the hotel, put on the pair of pants that I’m wearing right now, put a hand in my pocket — there are my earplugs. They were left in there from the last time I wore these pants. And apparently I never washed my jeans.

And it’s just these little tiny things that God comes through on. Every time I’ve prayed for something to be returned to me — if you guys have heard my iPod testimony; we don’t have time for that, but that was the first time, when I was younger — these little times that I’ve prayed for things I’ve lost to be returned to me, they kind of scare me and also excite me. Because I know what He’s doing is cementing, for lack of a better term, that reputation, or relationship, that I have with Him — of me knowing Him as a faithful God — for the moments and the storms that would come later in life that are big.

God, if You came through in a faithful way for all of these little things that I didn’t think You’d care about — but I reached out to You and made my request known to You, and You gave me a peace that surpasses all understanding, and You came through for me — if You came all the way through for me and were faithful for all of those things, why would You not come through in this time when I need You most, when I need You in a big way? And so I think some of you guys can obviously relate to that, because you’re human, and human beings go through the turmoil of life in general.

Speaking life, sowing in peace

So would you just stand with me as I close this out in prayer? I just want this to be a time where we would lift up our voice to Him. Lift up our requests and make them known to Him. I’m not going to ask our worship leader to come up, but I am going to engage our little pedal here, because I just want a little bit of pads. There we go. Perfect. And this honestly is just to help us come out of our comfort zone a little bit.

I talked with Pastor Jay and Pastor Suzie about this. I’ve even talked with our worship leader about this in the past. I really do believe that God is asking us and challenging us to step out in our faith in different ways. When we come to church and we tell you guys, “Lift up a shout of praise,” or “Sing out your own song to the Lord,” those are times where we are actually expected to do those things. And it’s funny, because it’s actually not easy to do. It can be a little embarrassing. Maybe you don’t know what to say. Maybe you don’t know how loud to say it. Maybe you don’t want to actually lift your hands. I remember the first time I lifted my hands in worship, it was like this rush of anxiety just left me. But it can be scary to do, is my point.

And so in this atmosphere, as we’re closing in prayer, I’m going to lead us in prayer, but I want you guys to repeat after me in a couple areas, and they’re really small. Lord, I just thank You for being faithful. I’ve seen You be faithful not only in my life, but in other people’s lives, in so many different ways — in the big moments, in the small moments, whatever they may be. God, I’ve just seen You and Your reality, the fact that You are real, the fact that You are a personal, intimate God. I’ve seen You be faithful in those times. And Lord, those are the things that make us want to draw even closer to You, God.

When people say, “Why do bad things happen to good people? I’m not going to believe in God, because why would He do this?” — Lord, I just know that those are opportunities for us to further understand Your ways. God, we may not have all the answers why things happen, but I do know that we can go to You for those things. And so I pray You would give us the boldness to open up Your Word and allow it to speak to us. God, just as we learned in James 3, show us the ways that we can be speaking life and declarations over our own selves, over our own well-being. God, show us those scriptures and the things that You want us to be speaking in faith, so we can actually activate them in our life.

God, we know that death and life are in the power of the tongue. And so we want to be a people that speak life into not only other situations, but our own situations. So God, would You show us the areas of our life right now — the situations that we’re stressed out about, the situations that we have doubt over, the situations we’ve had fear and anxiety over, the situations that we have hope for. God, all of those areas. I pray right now that You would highlight those areas and start to give us the things to speak over them. God, whether it’s just a word that comes directly from You or it’s actually found in Your Scripture, I pray that You would start to give us that ammunition to speak over those things this week, Lord. Start to plant it into our hearts right now.

Everybody in here is standing and ready to receive from You. And so I’m taking that as saying that our hearts are softened, God. Our hearts are softened for Your Word to be planted in there and to grow and give life to things. And so God, would You just place those scriptures in our hearts right now? Would You place those words into our hearts right now, so that we can continue to pray them out as we go throughout our week, as we go throughout our month, whatever it is. Lord, even if it’s not for us — if there are situations we’re stressed out about for others — God, place that into our hearts so that we can speak it over them.

Lord, I just pray that we would be people that really understand that death and life are in the power of the tongue, and we want to be people that would bring the power of life to people. Bring life into situations, God, whatever it may be. I just thank You that You are planting those into our hearts right now. And Lord, for everybody standing that is looking to receive from You, I just pray that we would all actually make our requests known to You.

And so would you guys join me in just saying this out loud, if you relate with me, as we just read in James 3:18? If you want that harvest of righteousness — which means you want God’s will for your life — just say, “I want it.” Just say it out loud right now. Say, “I want it.” Okay, that’s a few people. I’ll say it with you guys. Say, “I want it.” I want it, God. We want the will of God to come through in our life in a big way. We want a harvest of righteousness. And in order to do that, we read in Your Word that it needs to be something where we sow a seed in peace. And so God, I just thank You for the peace of God that is accessible to all of us.

And would You just show us those things, those seeds that we are supposed to be sowing? It’s not going to be something that happens automatically in our heart or in our thoughts just because we’re thinking it and You know it. God, we don’t want to be those people. We want to be a people that are active. We want to be a people that speak things out to You, that cry out to You, and actually plant these seeds, so that when the time of harvest comes, it is a harvest of righteousness. God, we want to be people that live lives that are honorable to You — not just done by effort, Lord, but done in a way that honors You, because we know Your ways and we understand Your ways.

And God, if we feel that we don’t understand Your ways right now, I thank You that there’s an invitation to understand them. And so would You open our understanding to Your Scripture, God? Would You just open our understanding, even if we just have five minutes today to get into Your Word. Lord, I pray that You would just speak Your Word to us in a new way. Maybe it’s a scripture we’ve read a thousand times, but show us the scripture in a way we’ve never seen it before. God, I just thank You that You are working these things in our hearts and in our minds. We thank You for being a good, faithful God, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.