Sermon Tone Analysis

Believers must expect suffering

Open with prayer

Some troubles are things that are brought on by ourselves and then others are things that are brought on by others.

Some are things that are allowed by God and finally some are brought on by spiritual forces.

When we look at what James is saying to us, we have to understand that the church was facing many challenges at the time.

James being the Pastoral leader he was knew that the people needed to be encouraged.

They needed a word to help them through their situations.

Listen many of you need a word to help you through your situations you are facing.

You have been ostracized by your families, friends and even your society in your country.

Well the Lord what’s you to know that He has not forgotten you!

He has not left you alone.

But there are these four things we must look at today to fully understand what God is trying to convey to us when He says find Joy in your situation.

Find Joy in your suffering.

1. Situations we bring on ourselves.

Tell the story of Mario’s conviction

2. Situations brought on by others.

Research in England revealed that employers who unfairly treat their employees can actually make them sick.

That’s according to a study in which 6,400 civil servants in London were asked questions such as, “Do you ever get criticized unfairly?”

and “Do you ever get praised for your work?”

A follow-up study ten years later showed that men who reported low scores on their bosses’ fairness were 30 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease, which is the number-one killer in Western societies.

Ongoing stress is a major contributor to this affliction.

Labor experts say the effect on employees’ health might be even greater in the United States than in Britain, since workers in the United States spend more time at their jobs than their overseas counterparts.

3. Situations allowed by God.

We are reminded of the story of Job, Job loses everything because God allows Satan to take it all, all but his life!

Job begins to criticize God and God calls Job out on it.

Look at what God says to Job in just a few verses.

Mother Teresa says it like this - “Pain and suffering have come into your life, but remember pain, sorrow, suffering are but the kiss of Jesus — a sign that you have come so close to Him that He can kiss you.”

For two years, scientists sequestered themselves in an artificial environment called Biosphere 2. Inside their self-sustaining community, the Biospherians created a number of mini-environments, including a desert, rain forest, and ocean.

Nearly every weather condition could be simulated except one: wind.

Over time, the effects of their windless environment became apparent.

A number of acacia trees bent over and snapped.

Without the stress of wind to strengthen the wood, the trunks grew weak and could not hold up their own weight.

Though our culture shuns hardship, we would do well to remember that God uses hardship “for our good, that we may share in his holiness”

4. Situations brought on by spiritual forces

A dog fell into a farmer’s well.

After assessing the situation, the farmer decided that neither the dog nor the well was worth the bother of saving.

He’d bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery.

When the farmer began shoveling dirt down the well, initially the old dog was hysterical.

But as the dirt hit his back, the dog realized every time dirt landed on his back, he could shake it off and step up.

“Shake it off and step up; shake it off and step up!” he repeated to himself.

No matter how painful the blows were, the old dog kept shaking the dirt off and stepping up.

It wasn’t long before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well.

What seemed as though it would bury him actually benefited him—all because of the way he handled his adversity.

The adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to bless us.

Forgiveness, faith, prayer, praise, and hope are some of the biblical ways to shake it off and step up out of the wells in which we find ourselves.

Listen, I want to close with this last thought.

Our heavenly Father is there for us, no matter what we face.

Yes we may have to face somethings alone, away from our family and friends, our Christian community.

But in the end no matter what you are faced with God is with you.

You will not have to walk it alone.

He will be with you carrying you all the way.

No problem is too big for God, He is in charge of his entire world.

Do not loose your faith, do not loose your hope, but encourage each other., through pray, fast and laying on of hands.

encourage each other by helping each other.

Your local church is a beacon of hope for your community, so let God use you to be so.

People are looking to you all for the answers for the problems they face.

so give them the answers that God loves them so much that He allowed His son to die for us so that we can spend eternity with Him.

With God our Father.

Amen!

Let’s pray..

Jesus Christ foretold it

See also Mt 10:17; Mt 23:34; Mt 24:9; Lk 21:16–17

The apostles foretold it

Ac 14:22; 2 Ti 3:12

See also Php 1:29; 1 Jn 3:13; Re 2:10

The experience of the OT shows it

Ro 8:36; Heb 11:25–26; Heb 11:32–38

The experience of the NT shows it

Ac 4:3; Ac 5:40; Ac 9:29; Ac 12:1–3; 2 Co 11:23–29; Ga 3:4; 1 Th 2:2; 1 Th 2:14; 1 Pe 4:4; Heb 10:32–34

Suffering for Jesus Christ is commendable

See also Ac 5:41; 2 Ti 1:8; 1 Pe 2:19; 1 Pe 3:17; 1 Pe 4:12–16

Suffering is profitable

It affirms believers’ adoption

See also Jn 15:19; Jn 17:14; Ro 8:17; Ga 6:17; 2 Th 1:4–5

It is the price of godliness

See also Ps 119:67; Ps 119:71; Is 38:17; Jn 15:2; 1 Pe 1:6–7

It is a condition of service

2 Co 4:10; Col 1:24

See also Ps 126:5–6; Ac 9:16; Ac 20:23–24; 1 Co 4:9–13; 2 Co 1:3–5; Ga 4:19; Php 3:18; Col 2:1; 2 Ti 1:11–12; 2 Ti 2:3; 2 Ti 2:10

It develops trust

See also 1 Pe 4:19

It develops character

See also Heb 5:8; Jas 1:3

It deepens fellowship

See also Ro 12:15; 2 Co 1:7; 2 Co 8:2; Ga 4:14–15; Ga 6:2

It draws believers to the Lord

Php 3:8; Php 3:10

See also Job 42:5; 2 Co 4:8–10; 2 Co 12:9–10; 1 Pe 4:13

It prepares believers for heaven