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Facing Trials of Many Kinds

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

What are trials?

Trials test Hope, Health, or Holiness

Trials are moments when the spirit that we’ve been empowered with can be demonstrated to us and through us…

Job: He was a man of God that Satan was allowed to test, with the only rule that Job could not be touched. Satan goes on to take everything from him (externally). After Satan seeks to destroy his faith, Job is challenged internally with whether or not he should curse God. In the end, God wins…

Joseph: After being sold into slavery by all his brothers, Joseph eventually ends up in Egypt as a trusted servant to Potiphar, who is a member of the Pharaoh’s officials. One day, his wife approaches Joseph, and when he denies her, she accuses him falsely of attempted rape. Joseph is then sent to prison, where he finds favor with the guards, eventually interprets dreams for Pharaoh, is promoted to Prime Minister over night, and is then able to not only save a nation but redeem the same brothers that sold him into slavery at the beginning of the story. In the midst of it all, Joseph knew that the Lord had guided each step, each turn, and each trial, and he never lost faith.

Just like in these two stories, trials prove our faith, not produce it. The main point is not necessarily that we hold tight to Christ, but that He holds tightly to us.

 

Even though God allows suffering, He redeems it, and He has proven that He is willing to walk through it with us.

 

What do trials mean is most religions and different schools of thought?

1) Punishment

2) Means to Achieve Salvation

3) An Illusion to Be Escaped (have to be enlightened to be above it)

4) Result of a Purposeless Universe Where Nobody Cares

 

Christianity is the only Religion where the Savior Walked Through Those Same Trials, In order to ensure that suffering itself becomes the sufferer in the end…

 

“We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone…”

-Martin Luther-

 

Spiritual apathy is another trial, because it seeks to rob us of our holiness. We are saved by faith, but the journey does not end there. Because we have faith, we are encouraged to walk with a new yoke, with the help of Christ. Walking with Christ allows us the ability to complete each task with purpose and steadfastness. Only with Christ walking with us can we dwell in joy.

 

  1. Trials are not some judicious test that we must pass to gain God’s Love.
  2. We must make our faith and our behavior inseparable.
  3. The one to whom we pray, walked through all trials with steadfastness, AND, His power dwells in us…

 

“The Joy of the Lord is my strength. The Joy of the Lord is my strength. In the darkness I’ll dance. In the shadows, I’ll sing. The Joy of the Lord is my Strength.”

-Rend Collective- Joy of the Lord

(Nehemiah 8:10)

Adapted from a Sermon by Kyle Besmears, at the People of Mars Hill Church

Blessings,

Tyler Vaughn

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Be the Change

Be the Change

(Who We Are vs. Who God Allows Us to Be)

What is Change?

Change: Noun – The act or instance of making or becoming different

Can be external, like changing clothes, or internal, like changing your mind, but what does it look like to have a spiritual change, or changing in light of ETERNITY?

In order to know where you’re going, you have to know where you’ve been. So, who are we, and then how does God respond?

Our War with God

Humans (H) vs. God (G)

 Our Background:

Romans 1:21-23

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things (IDOLS). (H)

Romans 1:32

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (H)

 Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. (H)

Romans 7:18-19

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. (H)

 Ephesians 2:1

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air (Devil)… (H)

What is the common theme here? How well are we holding up our end of the bargain? Is there anything in these verses about how good we are?

This leads to the question: Are we good people that just make bad decisions?

 

God’s Response:

 Ephesians 2:4-7

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved- and raise up with him and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (G)

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (G)

Romans 5:6

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (G)

Ezekial 37:1-14

The valley of dry bones (G)

 

Grace- God Giving us What We Don’t Deserve (Eternal Life)

Mercy- God Not Giving Us What We Do Deserve (Death)

 

To sum up what’s going on here, Look at Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death (What We have Earned), but the free gift of God (Grace) is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Perfect Propitiation).

So, now that you know who we are, vs. whom God continues to be for us through Christ, let’s talk about change.

Repent, Believe, Slave to Righteousness

But remember, we cannot earn our saving. We know the state we are in. In order to be saved, we have to look upon our own brokenness, and have faith that Jesus through the Holy Spirit, is capable of breaking our stone hearts and delivering a new heart. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

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