THE POSITIVE SIDE OF TRIALS

THE POSITIVE SIDE OF TRIALS
James 1:2-12

What I long for most of all as pastor of this church is for
God's people in this place to really and truly experience the
Father in worship. So often when we come in a Midweek Lift,
we've had such a busy time, our lives have been so full and we
come burdened by things, just things. I pray more than anything
else that every time we come together to honor the Father, and
to sing these choruses that your focus would be on personalizing
every word that we sing. Not to sing about the Lord, but sing
to the Lord. That's exactly what God wants.

I wish I could fully express to you the depth of my desire for
your personal experience with God. It's the greatest thing
beyond all things that you could ever experience. The Father
wants to be so rich to you. He longs to embrace you and to meet
your needs, not only intellectually, but emotionally, and
financially. He wants to be real to you.

I think back in my life to the times that the Father has been so
dynamic have been through times like the ones I read to you
tonight. Birthed out of a concern for the church, James begins
to talk to people that would span the globe for years and years
to come. You and I need to realize that problems happen in our
lives and if becoming a Christian meant that you would never
have any problems in your life then there would be a lot of
people who would run to the cross just to get away from pain.
But I want you to know that the Bible teaches us that sometimes
it is through the process of pain that we draw into real
intimacy with the Father. That is so creative, that is so
powerful that I cannot explain ...

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