A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Pastor John Randall encourages us to adopt an eternal mindset in our daily walk.

John Randall: When the Lord shows up, everything changes. All these things that are going on in the world at the present time change in a second, in a twinkling of an eye, the Bible says. It's all going to change. I don't know when it is, I just know it's going to happen because the Bible says so.

I'm reminding myself that this is the most of hell I'm ever going to see. This is going to change in a second, in an instant when the trumpet sounds and the Lord descends, and the dead in Christ rise first, and we're caught up to be with the Lord. Everything changes. Live with that perspective, live with that mindset, and then you realize this isn't that big of a deal.

Guest (Male): On behalf of Calvary South OC, welcome once again to A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall, as we return to our study of James. Our focus today turns to the soon coming of our Lord and what we should be doing in the meantime.

It would be easy for us to complain about what's going on around us, and we wonder at times when this will ever end. But today we'll see the real need for patience, much like a farmer. Keeping our eyes on Jesus will help us navigate through trouble or turmoil on Earth. Here's our teacher, Pastor John Randall.

John Randall: You might say again, that’s a great word, but I'm not wealthy. I live paycheck to paycheck. I don't have employees. I'm not cradled in the lap of luxury. I have dreams of winning the lottery. I have even had visions of perhaps inheriting an estate from a relative I didn't know was a king, but it's just not reality.

I've seen Hallmark movies that I hope will be my story, but they are fake. And so we need to be content with what we have and rejoice in what God has provided. There is a great balance here. I think Solomon said it very well in Proverbs when he said, "Remove falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted to me."

Why would he say that? "Lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." Lord, just give me even as we sang tonight what you know that I need. Help me to be a good steward of what it is that you have entrusted to me.

I think some of the most generous people in the world are people who understand that all that they have is a gift from God. Some of the most generous people that I have ever met in my entire life were people that didn't have a lot of money, but they would give you the shirt off their back because that's just who they were.

Whether you have money or you don't, it's something that has to do with godly character. James is citing that here and the lack thereof in those who were taking advantage of other people. He says one day they're going to be held accountable when they stand before God. Some of the most wealthiest people in the world are the most miserable.

As we move on, there were many in the congregation that James was writing to that had suffered at the hands of the wicked wealthy. And yet there's one thing that he will remind the believers that would put all things into perspective. In verse seven, here's what he says: "Therefore," in light of everything that I've just said to you in the first six verses, "therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until he receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." That puts it all in perspective. James would say to get your eyes off all things that are temporary and remind yourself of this fact: the Lord is coming.

He is coming, and that changes everything. When the Lord shows up, everything changes. All these things that are going on in the world at the present time change in a second, in a twinkling of an eye, the Bible says. It's all going to change. I don't know when it is, I just know it's going to happen because the Bible says so.

I'm reminding myself that this is the most of hell I'm ever going to see. This is going to change in a second, in an instant when the trumpet sounds and the Lord descends, and the dead in Christ rise first, and we're caught up to be with the Lord. Everything changes. Live with that perspective, live with that mindset, and then you realize this isn't that big of a deal.

This is going to burn. This is going to be gone. This isn't going to matter any longer because I've got my perspective in the right place. It is eternal instead of temporary. And so James is saying that the second coming of Christ is going to establish his kingdom upon the earth. He's going to rule with a rod of iron. He's going to make all things new. He's going to make all things right.

The church lived in expectancy of the Lord's imminent return. In the New Testament Scriptures, there are over 300 references to this fact. As these believers were going through hardships and pain, and through uncertainty and some confusion, the thought of another year just seemed to be too much for them to bear.

James says, listen up, the Lord's coming. Remind yourself of that. The Lord's coming. This could be the year. Why not? I was hoping for 2020, but it could be 2021. It's very possible. And so James says this is what I want to encourage you to do in light of what you're going through and what you're experiencing. This might be hard to hear, but listen: be patient.

Patience is not in the top five words in my vocabulary. Be patient. James says to let me give you an example. Think about a farmer. Think about a farmer, especially during the primitive agrarian society in that culture and that timeframe. Farming without machines was extremely strenuous.

You had to break up the ground before you even began. There wasn't a plow that you could use like we see today. The farmer had to manually prepare the ground, tilling the soil. Then he would walk the fields and he would throw out the seed. All the seed would be in a bag and he would take it and walk his field and throw it out there.

Then he'd have to wait. He'd have to wait for the necessary rain in its season in order to come and water the seeds that he had planted so that they would grow. That would take a great amount of trust and patience. It’s not like they just could plug in a rainbird and let it go. That’s a rainbird. They couldn't do that.

They had to wait. They had to wait for the rain. There was this absolute trust in God. By the way, when they got into idolatry and God wanted to get their attention, he just closed the heavens. When God didn't give the rain, they were like, "We probably should get rid of these idols. Lord, we need rain if we're going to survive."

The Lord would close up the heavens until they repented. But he gives us an example of a farmer that had to learn to patiently wait on the Lord to provide. The rainfall was the key to growth and the development of the crops, and that was all left in the hands of the Lord. They had no control over that.

All they could do was plow. All they could do was sow the seed. They had to wait for the rain to come from heaven in order to water what they had planted. It was out of their control. Friends, there are a lot of things out of our control, but we keep tilling the ground. We put our hands to the plow and we keep on plowing. We keep on sowing, and we're praying for rain and we're waiting for his return.

It's going to happen, but we have to be faithful. You have to be faithful. The farmer just doesn't say that he is not getting up today. He is not going to do it. He is sick of sowing seed. He is sick of plowing. He is not going to do it anymore. He is just going to stay here and attend to his bed. You can't do that. You can't afford to do that. There's no time for that.

Jesus often used agricultural examples in parables. He referred to a requirement of a disciple as putting his hands to the plow and not looking back. He talked about the parable of the wheat and the tares and the time of harvest. He talked about the parable of the sower and the seed and likened it to the Word of God.

The Apostle Paul also used agricultural metaphors in his epistles when he wrote about being rooted and grounded in the love of God. This word patience takes us back to what James said in the very beginning of his epistle in chapter one. You remember when he said, "Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance or perseverance.

And let patience have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." It's difficult to be patient, especially when you're going through difficult seasons. It's at those times when things are painfully disconcerting that you have to wait for things to change that are out of your control.

But when your faith is tested, that's really when your faith grows. And so he says to be patient. Look at the farmer. Look how he plows, look how he waits. Look what God does. Look what God provides. I think of what it says in Psalm 126, where it says, "Those who sow in tears shall surely reap in joy.

Those who continually go forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Maybe you've been sowing in tears. The Bible says you're going to reap in joy. Maybe you've been going forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing and you're not seeing the return on what you're sowing and you're thinking, "Lord, I don't know if I can keep doing this."

The Bible says to listen, you're going to come again with rejoicing, but you have to be patient and remain faithful. We're living in a time that is very disconcerting, things that are just out of our control. What do we do? We remain faithful. We persevere. We keep going. I just feel like that's something that I just wake up and I think I just have to keep going.

What am I going to do? Not get up? What am I going to do, just sit here and not sow anymore? What, am I going to stop being a Christian? No, I can't do that. I've been called to be faithful. You've been called to be faithful. We have to keep going. We have to trust that what God said he will accomplish. So you have to be patient.

Maybe God's saying to you tonight that you need to be patient. You need to endure. You need to trust me on this. Don't be discouraged. In addition to being patient for the return of the Lord like a farmer, James says, let me tell you something else. Here's something: don't complain. I can be patient, but I can't complain about it.

Look what he says in verse eight: "You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble," complain against one another, brethren, "lest you be condemned. Behold, the judge is standing at the door." When we encounter trials as they were here, we all have the tendency to begin to complain.

We grumble. James says don't do that. I know there's a tendency to complain and you want to complain, but James says to call to mind that the Lord is coming again. Allow your heart to be established because the coming of the Lord is at hand. Established just means firmly grounded. You're faithful, you're patient, you're persevering, fully established.

When you're established and you know that God's coming and you know that he's faithful, there's less complaining. Because what are you going to complain about? He's coming. And so he says don't complain lest you be condemned because the judge is standing at the door. James has this picture of the Lord standing outside the door and you're complaining and he hears you.

That happened a lot to the children of Israel. You read through the Old Testament, when they're in the wilderness, they complain, they complain, they complain. Moses said you're complaining against me, but you're really your complaint is with God and he hears you and he's not excited about it. This isn't good, all this complaining, all this griping, all this moaning.

It's easy to find things to complain about right now. Easy. I could think of several things. And you would probably say yes and amen to them if I said them because you complain about them too. It's frustrating. You see things come out and you're like, "Really? That's what we're going to do now?

That's how we're going to lesson the curve? Seriously? Are we going to do that? Come on!" They're testing like that. No, I'm not doing that. It's frustrating. You can start to complain. When's it going to stop? When's it going to end? I don't know. That's out of my control. All I can do is plow and sow and pray and wait for rain and be patient and stop complaining and trust in God.

Then he says not only is the judge at hand, the Lord's coming, but then he says to be patient and follow the example of the prophets. We looked at the farmer. Let me give you another example. The prophets. Verse 10: "My brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience."

So now I want you to be patient and I don't want you to complain. Be like a farmer. I can be a farmer. But then he says here's what I also want you to look at. You want an example to follow? Look at the prophets. Look how they lived. You ever study the life of the prophets? It wasn't necessarily an easy life.

Elijah hiding by a brook, being fed by birds, eating a cake every day with a widow's family. It just wasn't easy. When you look at the narrative of the prophets, and yet they trusted God, they believed in God, and the world was opposed to them and the world hated them. They didn't want to hear what they had to say, rejected the messages that they preached.

But they endured for the sake of serving God. They found strength in doing it. We've got to find strength in those who have already lived out their example. They have already lived out their faith, and now we're called to emulate that. We're called to live that out. It's wonderful to study it.

It's wonderful to see examples and highlight it in your Bible and think what a great story Daniel is. Such a great one. It's so good. Well, what if God calls us to live it out? I love Paul. He was so awesome. Read Second Corinthians and see how awesome his life was and see if you want to live that way.

Look at the example of those who have already run their race. Find strength in that. Now we're running our race. Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, verse 12, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

You're in good company if you're experiencing hardship for the sake of the Gospel, if you're having to learn to be patient and trust God in the midst of uncertain times. Look at their example and also share in their reward. You say that's a pretty good example. Do you have another one? There is another one in verse 11.

Here's another example we could follow: "Indeed we count them blessed who endure." We do. We look at their story and we think they endured. "You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful." Here's another example: you have the farmer, you have the prophets, and now Job.

How many of you have ever read through the book of Job? It's not Job, it's Job. That book, sometimes I get a little nervous when I read through Job because I'm thinking when's the trial going to hit my life, and I definitely don't want to have what Job had. But that book is there for a reminder when you study through Job.

The thing you come to realize is that Job was very honest with God about his trials. Five times he affirms in that book his faith in the midst of darkness. He didn't know what was happening and why God was doing it, and he tried to live for the Lord, and there was so much that was uncertain, but he persevered.

He kept on going. Again, it was not easy for Job, but here we have the end of the story. The intended end of Job's life was good. Here James is saying to remember the story of Job. Not just what he suffered, but what God did in the long run, what God did in his life, the intended end and the perseverance.

In Job chapter one, Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised." In chapter two, he told his wife, "Shall we not accept good from God and not the bad?" And he refused to curse God because of his disasters.

In chapter 13, he made one of the greatest declarations of faith in the Bible when he said, "Though he slay me, yet I will trust him." Chapter 19, he declared, "I know that my Redeemer lives." Chapter 23, he said, "He knows the way that I take, and I will come forth as gold." James points to this and tells us to follow Job's example.

His whole point is that when we're facing pressure, when we're facing problems or persecution, we should not give up. We should persevere. We should keep moving forward. We trust God and we go on. We should banish discouragement and look ahead to better days, to the New Jerusalem, to the point when Jesus is going to come again.

He's coming. So, Lord, how can I be patient? How can I persevere? Remind yourself Jesus is coming. Live with an expectancy, live in light of eternity. See him who is invisible. Be reminded of all of the promises of God. Live according to those. Keep plowing, keep sowing, wait for rain, trust God.

James is saying the same thing here to us tonight. In chapter five, he's saying all of these things are in light of the backdrop of the return of Christ. Keep that at the forefront. Maybe tonight you say it's been a hard season for me. I'm sure everybody could say that in some context of their life, what has happened or is happening or they've experienced or their family has experienced.

All of us have, and you'll find somebody who has it worse and somebody who has it maybe better, and we could all compare notes. Everybody's experiencing something. But how does the Christian respond? He said we have to be patient. We have to persevere. This is just part of our calling.

You persevere. You keep going. In his book on Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem wrote this in light of this text that we read tonight. I thought it was good. He said, "The more that Christians are caught up in the temporary life, the more they neglect genuine Christian fellowship and their personal relationship with Christ, and the less they long for his return.

On the other hand, many Christians who experience difficulty or trials or persecution, who are perhaps elderly or infirm, those who daily walk with Christ and their relationship is vital and it's deep, they have a more intense longing for his return.

To some extent, then, the degree to which we actually long for Christ's return is a measure of the spiritual condition of our lives at this moment. It also gives some measure of the degree to which we see the world as it really is, as God sees it, in bondage to sin and rebellion against God and under the power of the evil one."

What is the degree to which I actually long for Christ's return? Have I had any thoughts of heaven today? Have I had any prayers offered up that said, "Lord, I can't wait till you come again"? Do I think that way, or is it an afterthought? All that we see going on within the world at the present time, I believe, and I've said it many times through this season, but in light of the passage, I think it bears repeating.

These things that are going on are weaning us off of the world so that we'll have a greater desire for heaven. If the world was bliss and there were no problems ever and no kind of anything going on that was disruptive or disturbing, who wants to leave? Why go? This is great. The utopia that we're looking for is here.

But when it begins to get worse and get dark and more intense, it's like there's a longing for heaven. Lord, I can't wait till you come again. In the interim of that time, whether he calls us in life or he calls us in death, friend, listen, believer in Jesus, Christian, follower of Christ, keep going.

Don't complain. Be patient. Look at the farmer, look at the prophet, look at Job, look at Jesus. The Bible encourages us to look unto Jesus, who was the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and he has sat down at the right hand of the Father.

He ever lives to make intercession for us. Keep looking at Jesus when you find yourself being discouraged. Let's remind each other. Finally, in verse 12, "But above all, my brethren, don't swear either by heaven or by earth with any other oath, but let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no,' lest you fall into judgment." It's basically a way of saying let your word be your bond. If you say you're going to do it, do it. If you're not going to do it, don't say it. You're going to be held accountable for that. Be a person of your word is what is said here.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to A Daily Walk with our pastor and teacher, John Randall. We're going through the New Testament right now. We house our recent programs at adailywalk.org, and you'll find them on our mobile app as well. Do a search for Calvary South OC and download it for free today. Look for us wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com.

You know, at the beginning of the new year, it is a great time to commit to going through the Bible in a year. And we'd like to get a one-year chronological Bible into your hands to help you along. It's in the New King James translation and broken down into daily readings. Take the challenge. Go through the Bible in 2026.

Request the one-year chronological Bible for the cost of $10 when you call 877-242-0828 or go online to adailywalk.org. Please remember it is your generosity that helps us deliver God's good news all across the world. No gift is too small to be used by God in great ways.

Again, our number is 877-242-0828, or you can donate online at adailywalk.org. One other thing worth mentioning here at the beginning of the year is A Daily Walk devotional. Short enough to watch on your lunch break or as you're getting up to face another day, you'll find these encouraging video daily devos at adailywalk.org.

We're reminded on a continual basis that the Lord is doing great things through the radio today, and maybe he's doing something amazing in your life. We want to hear about it. Pastor John would be very encouraged by what you have to say. Write to us today by email at adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Come back next time when Pastor John Randall will share another study in the Epistle of James to help us in our daily walk.

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