Count it all joy!

 

Count it all joy!

 

James 1:2-7 Trials and Temptations

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

How do we get past temptation? Key word – lacking, obedience – obey. First see my condition for what it is, our life is unmanageable by ourselves. We need Heavenly Father! Psalms Chapter 51 – conclusion, God works with a humble contrite heart.

 

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

 

 

Luke 16:14 – Pharisees – God chosen people they thought things they valued God saw as an abomination. Luke 16:19-31- 

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²² “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

 Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. God is the light, the truth, no man goes to God but through me

We always want things our way, God wants us to do things his way. We are called not to judge others 1. We see ourselves, 2. how others see us, 3. how God sees us. Three ways that we are seen. We are called to be servants, not to be exalted. Difference between grace and mercy?

Grace is a gift, we don’t deserve. Mercy is God overlooking what we do deserve.

 

There is mercy in God’s law. Great Peace – the Lord is always with you. Great Peace is fleeting, Gift of God, knowing God, knowing his word.

Get great peace back when it is lost – Draw nearer to God - Look up verse. Mercy – now every morning, look up verse. Philippians – prayer and supplication. Reason for trials – great peace, sin takes us from peace and turns your world upside down. We all want peace in our life. Repentance and forgiveness gives us great peace.

 

Fear – have respect for the Lord, fear not those who can destroy the body, fear those who can destroy the soul.

 

 Fear = respect. We are called to respect.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

 

We don’t stay there, it is like a process. His grace and his mercy = respect. How can I please? The fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Fear is a motivation, a motivator. Sin that we covet is there to destroy us. Addictive behavior – a lot of condemnation, one way through addiction – power of God.

Psalms 3:3 – David in a time of trial – But thou art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head. Our way leads to death, God’s way leads to life. We are not called to judge others. St. Francis of Assisi - “Preach the Gospel to everyone and use words if you have to”. 1 Peter 4:14 – Look up scripture. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed for the spirit of glory and of God rest on you. Satan be behind me Peter stated – Look up scripture. Satan Zechariah 3:2 – The Lord said to Satan “The Lord rebukes you Satan! James 4:7 – Resist the devil and he will flee. Promises/Covenants tons in the Bible, look them up. Hebrews 10:38 – But my righteous one will live by faith and if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. We go from faith to faith, glory to glory, we are being changed in his image. 1. Jesus is the Word of God. 2. Treat God as holy. The Holy Spirit works through Jesus and us.

 

Remission of sins Acts 2:37-41 ³⁷ When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Hebrews 6:13-20 – God’s purpose; ¹³ When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”^{[a] 15} And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

2 Peter 1 – whole chapter, things we can do, things we can change; 1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

² Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters,^[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Prophecy of Scripture

¹² So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. ¹³ I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, ¹⁴ because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ¹⁵ And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

¹⁹ We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

 

A. promises b. conditions c. the answer d. the entrance – God can not lie, it is impossible for him to lie. God cannot be thwarted. God’s purpose will not stop.

God’s Promises – 2 Peter, Chapter 1 Verse 2 –Grace and peace be yours in multiplied abundance. Stop making excuses for our behavior – call a spade a spade. Galatians 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

 

Why this trouble and pain in my life is – help me out Lord, help me to understand. Please give me wisdom, endurance, patience to understand this situation. I love you, Lord, I need your love, I desire not to feel angry about this, and there is nothing I can do about it today. I love you Lord – I give this to you, may the power of the Holy Spirit comfort me and bring me comfort from this pain. I cannot control anything. It is only money. Money is the root of all evil. I need to live within my means; I fear I won’t be able to do that. I fear the future. Heavenly Father, I believe you will provide for me and my family, I don’t need to worry about the future, there is nothing I can do about it today. I am not going to let this rob my joy that I have this day. I love you Lord, Jesus Christ. Thank you for your spirit, I choose to focus on you not perceived problems. I take personal responsibility for my actions; I need and want your help. I can’t do this on my own – please help me! Don’t let this bother me, Satan be gone, by the power of our Lord, Christ, I command you to depart. The blood of Jesus Christ is over me. I cannot be affected by your evil. I love you, Lord, Jesus Christ. Thank you for this time together, I feel better already. I have faith and believe you will take this anger from me Lord. I believe you will see me through. I need to live one day at a time, moment to moment basking on Heavenly Father’s glory. I humbly submit myself to you, Lord. I am but a fragile ego, I pray for strength, I pray for courage, I pray for Love. This problem with my anger is way too big for me, I handed to you oh Lord – hear my prayer. Bless me, inspire me to be a better man - oh how quick I am to turn when I hear bad news, I will not let Satan deceive me this way. I will continue to do what I know is right in the eyes of the Lord. I will pray, I will read his scriptures; I will give my Lord the glory – Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I fall down and you pick me up. I stumble and you are there to catch me. I honor you, Satan be gone – I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I listen and obey his commandments, I walk in his paths of righteousness, and I will follow him and receive eternal salvation in his Celestial Kingdom. Thank you Lord for my trials, I will come through for you. Praise to you, Lord, Jesus Christ. Praise your name – Yeah! I love you Lord. Thank you for your spirit, thank you for his guidance, his comfort, his reassurance that everything will be all right. Everything for I walk with the Lord – he is my Lord and Savior