God uses trials and hardships in our lives to produce perseverance and maturity. We should consider it pure joy when facing trials of many kinds, knowing that the testing of our faith strengthens us. When we lack wisdom during trials, we should ask God generously for help, believing that he will provide what we need. Through steadfastness during trials and asking God for wisdom, we can develop deep spiritual maturity and joy that is not dependent on circumstances.

2. HARD LIFE,
GOOD GOD =
DEEP JOY

3. JAMES 1:2-8
1 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers
and sisters, 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.

4. JAMES 1:2-8
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.

5. TRIALSand
WISDOM

6. SUFFERINGMAY
NOTENDBUT
DEEPJOY
ISFOREVER.

7. PROBLEMWHETHER
SOLVEDORNOT
SOLVEDDEEPJOYIS
FOREVER.

8. JOYDEEPENSON
JESUS
CHRIST.

9. John 16:33
"I have told you these things, so
that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble.
But take heart! I have overcome
the world."(NIV)

10. LUKE 2:40
40 And the child grew and became
strong; he was filled with wisdom,
and the grace of God was on him.

11. God became a man, he set aside
the continual use of his divine
attributes, and he lived humbly as
we must live. He had to grow as we
grow, he had to learn as we learn,
he had to endure as we endure.

12. Jesus never cheated. He lived the
perfect human life. God did that.
God became a man to identify with
us, to set an example for us, and to
empower us to become like him.
And he does that by the power of
God the Holy Spirit.

13. LIFEissometimes
wonderful,
Sometimes
PAINFUL

14. James was there when no one was
there. Before the disciples were
there, before the critics were there,
James was there. James was there
as Jesus’ little brother to see him
learn, to see him grow, to see him
resist temptation, to see him
overcome trial.

15. 6thingsgodis
notsaying
inthemidst
oftrials

16. 1. He is punishing you.

17. Jesus went to the cross, took upon
himself all of the sin of all of his
people, and suffered and died in
their place for their sin. It would be
unjust for God to punish Jesus and
you, much like sending two people
to prison for the same crime.

18. 2. He is failing you.

19. God is not failing you. God may not
be done with you, but God is not
failing you. God is not without
power and God is not without a
plan. And when you’re hurting, you
need to grow in trusting, and that’s
what faith is.

20. 3. He has abandoned
you.

21. When life is hard, it does not say
that God has abandoned you. It’s
easy sometimes to believe that God
is near when times are good, and
it’s hard to believe that God is near
when times are hard. You need to
take God at his word.

22. He sends the Holy Spirit so the
presence and the power of God is
available to us through the person
of the Holy Spirit. God has not
abandoned you. You are not an
orphan. He doesn’t abandon you.

23. 4. He is acting evil
toward you.

24. God is not acting evil toward you. And
sometimes, when evil comes upon you,
it can feel like God is acting evil toward
you. There are things that happen that
grieve God, that break the heart of
God, that are rebellion, folly, and sin
against God. Not everything on the
earth is as God intends.

25. God is not evil. God doesn’t do evil.
God’s only good, God’s always good,
and God is dealing with the evil. And
the evil is not representative of God;
it’s war and rebellion against God.

26. 5. He will make it
all better for you.

27. God doesn’t promise that things will
change, God promises that you can
change.

28. 6. He will answer every
question for you.

29. When life is hard, it does not say that
God will answer every question for
you. When life gets hard—a trial, a test,
a storm comes—it’s easy to have a list.

30. God says, “Live by faith, not by sight.
Look to me, don’t look to the answers.”

31. 3thingsgod
Doessay
abouttrials

32. 1. You are going to
get trials.

33. JOHN 16:33
33 “I have told you these things,
so that in me you may have
peace. In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world.”

34. 2. It’s a test and an
opportunity.

35. Don’t forget this. Hold this truth in your
hand. Cling to it. Here’s your life vest.
Know this: when a trial comes, it’s a test.
A test can be a good or a bad thing. It
depends on how good you are at taking
the test. If you pass the test, it’s actually
really encouraging. Life is filled with
tests, spiritual tests. A trial is a test.

36. Here’s what it means: it’s an
opportunity. It’s an opportunity to
prove who you are in Christ, to see
who you’re becoming in Christ.

37. 3. You will get trials
of various kinds.

38. You need to know this, that the trials are
of various kinds. Financial, emotional,
physical, spiritual, mental, relational,
marital, vocational. You don’t know
where it’s coming from next. It could be
coming from anywhere. Any aspect of
your whole life, a trial could come from
there. And they don’t always come one
at a time.

39. Don’t compare
trials.

40. We’re all different. We get various kinds
of trials. And God doesn’t cause evil to
come upon us, but he’ll use evil for our
good and his glory. And sometimes God
allows a trial to come in in our area of
weakness. And so what’s hard for you is
easy for someone else, and the same is
true conversely.

41. STEADFASTNESS
ANDMATURITY

42. We need to know that they are a
test and that we shouldn’t compare
our trials to others. And ultimately if
we’ll avail ourselves to them, it could
produce two things: steadfastness
and maturity.

43. Steadfastness is this perseverance,
You endure, you persevere, you
weather the storm, you make it
through, you don’t give up, you
don’t give in.

44. What this means is you’ll become more
godly, you’ll become more like Jesus.
The trial will be used to transform you.
Steadfastness produces maturity. The
reason why some of you are immature is
because you have no steadfast—you
have no steadfastness.

45. Steadfastness produces maturity. What
that means is your godliness is not in
spite of your problem or around your
problem, it’s what God will do in and
through you through your problem.

46. RELIGIOUS
CHEERLEADERS

47. HAPPY because of
circumstances, while JOY is
inspite of circumstances, joy
comes from jesus.

48. Happy is connected to circumstances.
Joy Is the domain of God’s people. Joy is
not because of your circumstance; it’s in
spite of it. Happiness is because of your
circumstance. Joy is in spite of your
circumstances. It’s that peace that
surpasses understanding.

49. You can become more steadfast and
mature. You can rejoice, not in the
circumstance but in the Lord, who will
change you through the circumstance to
become more like Jesus. You’ve got to
know it’s a test. That test is an
opportunity. You need to learn to be
steadfast. Let Jesus do a work in you. And
if you’ll respond that way, there’s joy for
you because God loves you.

50. GODIS
ALWAYSGOOD

51. ASK GOD FOR WISDOM,
HE GIVES IT
GENEROUSLY.

52. What do we do when we’re feeling unstable?
Because we will. And don’t let the religious
people come up and give you the verse,
“Count it all joy.” No, count it all joy that you
can do this: get wisdom. And wisdom will
explain, Here’s how it happened. Here’s
what’s going on. Here’s what you’re
supposed to learn. Here’s how you can get
your sea legs. Here’s how you’re going to
feel. Here’s how you find your equilibrium.

53. Here’s how you’re going to persevere
through this.
Here’s how you’re going to become more like
Jesus.
Here’s how he went through it.
Here’s what the Holy Spirit can do in you. Not
the storm, but the goodness of God in the
midst of the storm.

54. So he says to do something. He says to ask
God. And friends, because it really comes
down to two options: self-help or God help.
Our life is filled with self-help. You need
more than self-help. You need God’s help.

55. During your steadfastness
and maturity you create
wisdom

56. FAITH GIVES YOU
WISDOM TO MAKE THE
PLAN

57. Some of you are very unstable. You’re
emotional, you’re volatile, you keep
changing your mind, you keep altering
your life. You get wise counsel and
foolish counsel, and you try to integrate
both. Our world is not lacking in
information; it’s lacking in wisdom.

58. This is what we need to do. This is where
the church, as we learn wisdom, could
share it with one another. Faith is not
opposite of planning. Faith gives you
wisdom to make the plan.

59. NoJesus
nowisdom.

60. FAITH GIVES YOU
WISDOM TO MAKE THE
PLAN

61. WHEREIS
WISDOM?

62. IN SCRIPTURE

63. Open the Scriptures, open the
Scriptures, open the Scriptures, open the
Scriptures. The one who wants to grow
in wisdom keeps it open. Spurgeon used
to say that the Bible that is falling apart
usually belongs to the person whose life
is not. Please open the Bible, read the
Bible, study the Bible, memorize the
Bible, get into Faith Group, talk about
the Bible.

64. IN PRAYER

65. Some of you only want to bring your
wins to God, not your losses. You only
want to bring your solutions to God, not
your problems. God can handle it all. He
loves you. You’ve got a great Dad. You’re
not a burden; you’re a blessing. You’re
not a burden; you’re a blessing. Ask your
Dad.

66. IN HOLY SPIRIT

67. You can grow in wisdom by the power of
the Holy Spirit. In fact, when Paul writes
to the Corinthians, he calls the Holy
Spirit the Spirit of Wisdom. And the Holy
Spirit always answers, “Yes.” He’s happy
to help. He’s happy to serve.

68. IN GENERAL
REVELATION

69. Special revelation is the Bible. It’s perfect,
but there’s also general revelation where
common grace allows people who are
perhaps not even Christians to have some
knowledge of things and some wisdom
regarding how things work, that can be
insightful and helpful to the Christian. There
are people that, because of general
revelation, they know some stuff that could
be really helpful to you.

70. IN GODLY
TEACHERS

71. The Holy Spirit gifts some people to be
teachers. This might be a class you could
take, a podcast you could listen to, a
curriculum you go through, a book that
you read. Whatever the case may be,
somebody has some wisdom that they
can impart to you.

72. Beware of “The Mentor Myth.” The
mentor myth is this: there’s one person,
and if you listen to them, you’ll learn
everything you need to know. Not true.

73. IN EXPERIENCE

74. As God teaches you something, we
don’t want you to be haughty, and
arrogant, and religious. There’s humility
there. There’s a potential for ministry
there.

75. IN EXPERTS

76. Various people have various locations in
their life and skills of expertise. You’ve
got to be humble. You’ve got to be
teachable.

77. Your joy is no longer dependent on
circumstances, but it depends on Jesus
alone.

78. IN
OPPORTUNITY
TO RESPOND

79. This is not to deny your feelings, but to
submit them to faith in the God who
rules over all of your storms, and to say,
“You know what, Lord Jesus? This is
storm.
Thanks, Lord, that you will help and you
are helpful.” Count it all joy.

80. Colossians 2:2-3
My purpose is that they may be
encouraged in heart and united in
love, so that they may have the full
riches of complete understanding,

81. Colossians 2:2-3
in order that they may know the
mystery of God, namely, Christ, in
whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge.(NIV)

82. Colossians 1:9-10
For this reason, since the day we
heard about you, we have not
stopped praying for you and asking
God to fill you with the knowledge of
his will through all spiritual wisdom
and understanding.

83. Colossians 1:9-10
And we pray this in order that you
may live a life worthy of the Lord and
may please him in every way:
bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of
God,(NIV)

84. 1 Corinthians 2:13
This is what we speak, not in words
taught us by human wisdom but in
words taught by the Spirit,
expressing spiritual truths in spiritual
words.(NIV)

85. 1 Thessalonians 4:11
Make it your ambition to lead a
quiet life, to mind your own
business and to work with your
hands, just as we told you,(NIV)

86. 1 Corinthians 4:15
Even though you have ten thousand
guardians in Christ, you do not have
many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I
became your father through the
gospel.(NIV)

87. Ecclesiastes 12:13
Now all has been heard; here is the
conclusion of the matter: Fear God
and keep his commandments, for
this is the whole [duty] of
man.(NIV)

88. 1 Timothy 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the
command of God our Savior and of
Christ Jesus our hope,(NIV)

89. 1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take
hold of the eternal life to which you
were called when you made your good
confession in the presence of many
witnesses.(NIV)

90. Ephesians 4:11-12
It was he who gave some to be
apostles, some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists, and some
to be pastors and teachers, to
prepare God's people for works of
service, so that the body of Christ
may be built up(NIV)

92. FAITHWORKS CHRISTIAN CHURCH GLOBAL
Presented By:
Pastor Vetty Gutierrez
FCC Main
March 13, 2016
Website: http://faithworkschristianchurch.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Faithworks-Christian-Church-Global-
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