How to be Real in Negative Circumstances

“How to be Real in Negative Circumstances”

ETS: James challenges believers to profit from their trials.

ETS: James challenges believers to profit from their trials.

ESS: Believers can prover the reality of their christianity in the midst of their trials.

ESS: Believers can prover the reality of their christianity in the midst of their trials.

OSS:Believers will seek Christ in their trials.

OSS:Believers will seek Christ in their trials.

PQ: How can I prove myself to be real?

PQ: How can I prove myself to be real?

UW: steps

UW: steps

TOPIC: “How to be Real in Negative Circumstances”

TOPIC: “How to be Real in Negative Circumstances”

INTRODUCTION:

1 This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

I- SURRENDER YOUR ALL UNDER THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST

3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

().

A- Allow Him to use your individual personality.

4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

1- God made you who you are. (; )

a- With unique abilities and gifts.()

6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

b- With a unique personality.

7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

c- With unique physical traits.

2- He can and will use you as you are.

INTRODUCTION:

* He used James, Peter, John, and Paul, etc.

I- SURRENDER YOUR ALL UNDER THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST

B- Allow Him to be Lord of your life.

(). This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!

A- Allow Him to use your individual personality.

1-Allowing Jesus to be Lord of your life means accepting your rightful role.

1- God made you who you are.

a- A bondservant: don’t belong to self.

1) All areas of life belong to Him.

() Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

(139:14) Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

2- Allowing Jesus to be Lord of your life means accepting His rightful role in your life.

life.

a- With unique abilities and gifts.()

a- He is Lord.

4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.

5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

1) Must ask Him before acting.

6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

2) Must obey His commands.

7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

II- APPROACH YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES WITH A JOYFUL OUTLOOK ().

b- With a unique personality.

A- Approach your negative circumstances with an attitude of joy.

c- With unique physical traits.

1- Joy is the product of living a Spirit-Filled life.

2- He can and will use you as you are.

()

2- Joy is not hinged to circumstances.(; )

* He used James, Peter, John, and Paul, etc.

* The disciples ()

B- Allow Him to be Lord of your life.

1-Allowing Jesus to be Lord of your life means accepting your rightful role.

a- It is possible to have joy in negative circumstances because of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

b- He promised never to leave you ()

a- A bondservant: you don’t belong to yourself.

1) All areas of life belong to Him.

B- Recognize the process that is at work in the difficult circumstances.

2- Allowing Jesus to be Lord of your life means accepting His rightful role in your life.

1- God is always at work in you and in your circumstances.

life.

(; )

2- Note how He works:

a- He is Lord.

1) Must ask Him before acting.

a- Testing (negative circumstances) produces patience (endurance).

b- Enduring negative circumstances while walking in the Spirit produces maturity (perfect work) = completeness (Christlikeness).

2) Must obey His commands.

III- SEEK GOD’S WISDOM IN YOUR DEALING WITH YOUR _CIRCUMSTANCES ().

II- APPROACH YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES WITH A JOYFUL OUTLOOK ().

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

A- God’s wisdom is available to you.

3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

1- Sometimes we don’t know how to handle negative circumstances.

4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

* The early church

A- Approach your negative circumstances with an attitude of joy.

2- God stands ready to impart His wisdom to us.

a- Gives it liberally.

1- Joy is the product of living a Spirit-Filled life.

b- Does not reproach us for our lack of wisdom.

() 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in

1) God’s wisdom is not earthly wisdom. ()

our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

B- God’s wisdom must be appropriated by faith.

1- Ask God in faith.

2- Joy is not hinged to circumstances.(; )

() I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!

2- Don’t doubt what God says will work.

() 21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.

3- Don’t vascillate...OBEY!

22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

a- To vascillate produces an unstable life.

b- If we ask, and don’t obey...God’s blessings won’t come.

* The disciples ()

50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. 51 So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. 52 And the believersn were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.

CONCLUSION:

51 So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to

the town of Iconium.

52 And the believersn were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

a. It is possible to have joy in negative circumstances because of the

presence of the Holy Spirit.

b. He promised never to leave you ()

“God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

B- Recognize the process that is at work in the difficult circumstances.

1- God is always at work in you and in your circumstances.

() For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet

they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

() For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power

to do what pleases him.

2- Note how He works:

a- Testing (negative circumstances) produces patience (endurance).

b- Enduring negative circumstances while walking in the Spirit produces

c- maturity (perfect work) = completeness (Christlikeness).

III- SEEK GOD’S WISDOM IN YOUR DEALING WITH YOUR _CIRCUMSTANCES ().

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

A- God’s wisdom is available to you.

1- Sometimes we don’t know how to handle negative circumstances.

* The early church

2- God stands ready to impart His wisdom to us.

a- Gives it liberally.

b- Does not reproach us for our lack of wisdom.

1) God’s wisdom is not earthly wisdom. ()

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

B- God’s wisdom must be appropriated by faith.

1- Ask God in faith.

2- Don’t doubt what God says will work.

3- Don’t vascillate...OBEY!

a- To vascillate produces an unstable life.

b- If we ask, and don’t obey...God’s blessings won’t come.

CONCLUSION: