Even Trouble Is Welcome
James 1:1-8
I. When trials & temptations come
A. Not “if trials come”
1. Our lives will be permeated with trials
2. The Christian life does not make trials stop
B. Trials - adversity
1. sickness
2. persecution
3. tragedy
C. Temptations
1. lust
2. greed
3. bitterness
II. Welcome your trials
A. Do not be bitter or resentful
1. trials can be viewed in 2 ways
B. Accept them openly
III. What’s in it for me?
A. Testing of your faith
1. testing is the measurement of understanding and application
2. It takes time
B. Endurance - active overcoming
C. Character - wholeness of character
D. Integrity
E. Strength
IV. But I don’t know what to do?
A. Ask God
B. He will give generously of His wisdom, not yours
C. Without guilt or shame
V. Ask without doubt
A. No secret assassins
B. Believe - be in one mind about God’s ability to answer prayer
C. Unanswered prayer is connected to the quality of the asking, not
to God’s unwillingness to give.
VI. Without total faith in God we become unbalanced and unstable
A. We will be hot one minute and cold the next
