HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH ADVERSITY PART V
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH ADVERSITY PART V SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2015 INTRODUCTION What do you do with adversity? You cry out and God doesn’t move… God will make you wait…can often spell faith - wait! All over the Bible people had to deal with adversity…to grow. Easy to get angry and resentful. Does God know? Does He care? Adversity doesn’t mean God is absent or unloving. It doesn’t mean God is punishing you. It helps to remember that the people who brought the Bible to us…dealt with difficulty all the time. I. A KEY WORD…”BELIEVE” Jesus told us when we face adversity believe. Don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will take care of itself. James 1:1 NIV, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” II. CONSIDER IT JOY? Consider – word means to guide you, form an opinion in you.
Think about adversity as good. Encounter = when something unexpectedly bad comes your way…root word is to fall…when you fall into something bad. It may be good for you even though it initially appears bad. “Knowing that the testing of your faith…” Adversity tests my confidence in God. Vs. 3 - “Adversity can produce endurance” if you pass the test. Adversity throughout the Bible builds people who endure and stay in. Faith that builds is faith that stays in. Persevering/enduring faith honors God because it allows Him to drill deep into us and change us. III. GROWING THROUGH ADVERSITY Vs.4 - “Let endurance – imperative mood which means it is the key. “Let endurance finish its work.” The very thing we want to get rid of is a tool for God to use to build us. James is saying “let perseverance finish its work.” So that you may become mature. There is something about enduring that makes us deeper, more attractive, wiser. Spiritual maturity is always measured by persevering faith, by staying in. CLOSE Vs. 5 – Wisdom to understand circumstances in a broader context.
Think about adversity as good. Encounter = when something unexpectedly bad comes your way…root word is to fall…when you fall into something bad. It may be good for you even though it initially appears bad. “Knowing that the testing of your faith…” Adversity tests my confidence in God. Vs. 3 - “Adversity can produce endurance” if you pass the test. Adversity throughout the Bible builds people who endure and stay in. Faith that builds is faith that stays in. Persevering/enduring faith honors God because it allows Him to drill deep into us and change us. III. GROWING THROUGH ADVERSITY Vs.4 - “Let endurance – imperative mood which means it is the key. “Let endurance finish its work.” The very thing we want to get rid of is a tool for God to use to build us. James is saying “let perseverance finish its work.” So that you may become mature. There is something about enduring that makes us deeper, more attractive, wiser. Spiritual maturity is always measured by persevering faith, by staying in. CLOSE Vs. 5 – Wisdom to understand circumstances in a broader context.
