(James: 2-8 :) 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Let us Pray:
Especially today we pray for those who wear our country’s uniform in areas of danger and for those who prepare to go to such places. For all in every place who devote years of their lives to the safeguarding of liberty and justice for all, we pray for our president and his advisors, for the United Nations, for those leaders of countries whom we call our enemies, that their hearts and minds may earnestly desire and strive for peace among nations. And we pray for ourselves, that we may be peace-makers in our own small way, seeking more to build up than to tear down, more to praise the good than to condemn the bad, more to do honest work than to complain. We are but children who need a Father’s Love and correction, His strength and His instruction. Make our lives strong, and bless the time we share as a church this morning and let the message come straight from you OLord. In Jesus Christ’s Holy name we pray. Amen
The two main points that I want us to focus on this morning are Temptation and Faith
Temptation: Has two meanings: Any Attempt to entice or tempt into Evil; a Testing, which aims at an ultimate Spiritual good.
I would like to make it clear that God does not ‘tempt’ humans to do evil and in fact makes available the resources necessary to resist temptation (1 Cor. 10:13). 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
It is hard to be a Christian: Look at the non-believers, not to point any out but look at the Church of Scientology. Many famous people, fancy easy life, no worries all is well. Why would they have any Trials? Satan already has their souls, he’s happy and content. Look at the Christian; “The Christian must expect to be hit by trials on the Christian way.” All kinds of experiences will come to us. There will be the test of the sorrows and the disappointments, which seek to take our faith away. There will be the test of the seductions, which seek to lure us from the right way. There will be the tests of the dangers, the sacrifices, the unpopularity, which the Christian way must so often involve. But they are not meant to make us fall; they are meant to make us soar. They are not meant to defeat us; they are meant to be defeated. They are not meant to make us weaker; they are meant to make us stronger. Therefore we should not dread them; we should rejoice in them.
Satan cannot stand us, He sees us as big pink targets and he wants nothing more than to get us into is hold and take us from God.
As I said earlier, God does not tempt us. Let’s look in (James 1:13-14) 13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
We basically allow ourselves to fall into our own temptations with the help of Satan. You see, he knows man and he knows our fleshly desires and he will use them to tempt us. Instead of blaming God under our trials, let us open our ears and hearts to learn what he teaches by them.
This is what I call the battle within, a never-ending battle within ourselves and the only way in which we can win this battle is with Jesus Christ in our lives, we need faith.
Faith: is not merely what a person believes but also and more importantly, that the object of their faith is valid.
Has anyone in here ever been actually seen the Titanic up close where it now lies at the bottom of the ocean?
We have all seen photos; we all have read or have even heard stories of the Titanic.
So I am sure we all agree that the Titanic is Real. In a sense, don’t we all have some sort of faith, that the Titanic is real?
Why is it so easy for people to believe in a sunken ship but so very hard for many to believe in a risen savior? We have drawings, stories of actual accounts, and yes the biggest validating part, the Bible. A man’s life is governed by his thoughts; he will ultimately become that which dwells most on his mind. “You are what you eat.” Engulf yourselves with his presence, put Him in your mind, Become more Christ like and have Faith.
Our faith is validated each time we go through hard times, we should view them as a blessing because it is where we can mature in Christ. If we keep our faith through out the hard times, we then can look back and realize that God saw us through it all, just as He promised. Our faith becomes validated. What scientist can argue with that? They do all their research and studies upon the validation of their results. Christians do likewise. Look back at verses (James 6-8:) 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
* Do not doubt God,
* You must keep the faith and do not waiver.
* Engulf yourself with the presence of God; with prayer time, reading scripture, fellowship with other believers.
Closing Prayer
