Embrace the Hill

Gain

Reasons for Hardships:

- You- Them- Life

Reasons for Hardships:- You- Them- Life

What's missing?

It is impossible to Read the scriptures

And come away believingThat God doesn't love

His creation fervently

It is impossible to Read the scriptures

And come away believingThat God is never the Cause of hardship

Reasons for Hardships:

- You- Them- Life- God

Hardships can bringA desire for escape

Hardships can become aRationalization for choicesThat lead me away from God

God redeems

It's who he isAnd what our faith

Is all about

Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship

For our growth and blessingAnd his witness to our world

Choose focus+ Act in faith

= Discover GodAnd Redemption

James…

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be

perfect and complete, lacking in nothing

James 1:2-4

Philippians 3:4…

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the

flesh, I have more:

…circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

…as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness

under the law, blameless

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ

Bad deal…written off

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing

worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord

Set aside egoSet aside prideLost reasons to be “better than”

= Death to self To know Christ by experience

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them

as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…

To really know JesusInvolves a type of trial

In and of itselfA death to ego, pride

Preferences and desires

To the degree that put asideEgo, preferencesPersonal convenience, comfort

For the sake of following JesusI experience Christ

Well-worth it:Skubala compared to Jesus

…that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law…

…but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness

from God that depends on faith—

"One day I'm going to get right…Start doing the right things…

And become a Christian"

Great. But that's not Christianity

…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death

Died to sin

…may share his sufferings

Pathema: "Under God, páthēma is redemptive, preparing us to know the Lord better now and forever in glory"- Word Studies

The more I seek God through Hardships, the more I'mIdentified with Christ and

The greater I know him By experience

…that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection

from the dead

Goal: Sinless and perfect

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect- Philippians 3:4-12

Why fellowship of sufferingsAnd like him in his death?

God can redeems hardshipsSo that I am sanctifiedAnd become more like Jesus

I closer to JesusAs I experience him

Through the suffering

Hardship brings clarityI focus on JesusTrust him through it

And seek him in itAnd see my own life differently

Until I see sin as God doesAnd hate the sin in my own life

I'll never fully experience JesusAnd all that he has for me

Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship

For your growth and blessingAnd his witness to your world

Romans 6:5…For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall

certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin

For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that

we will also live with him

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he

lives he lives to God

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you

obey its passions

Make no provision for the flesh

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness…

Worship language

…but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought

from death to life, and your members to God as instruments

for righteousness

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace- Romans 6:5-14

Crucifixion= The pain of death

To self

Produces freedom to becomeA new creation in Christ

As you respond to suffering well,God is working throughYour sufferings

To produce freedom from theEnslavement to sin in your life

Hebrews 12:3…Consider him who endured from

sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood

Jesus did for us

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be

weary when reproved by him.For the Lord disciplines the one

he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives”

It is impossible to Read the scriptures

And come away believingThat God is never the Cause of hardship

Causes of Hardship:- You

- Them- Life

- God

Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship

For our growth and blessingAnd his witness to our world

It is for discipline that you have to endureFor the sake of growth

(Endure hardship as discipline- NIV)

God redeems ALL of itEven what he didn't cause

As we trust him through it

God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons

Hardships always Contain choices

How I miss the blessing:

- Excuses and Bitterness- Blame- Eyes on hardship- My own strength

How I gain the blessing:

- Deserving isn't the issue- Kills blame and bitterness- Eyes on Jesus- Rely on God for strength

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined

us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to

the Father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holinessProduces set-apartness

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than

pleasant…

…but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to

those who have been trained by it

- Heb. 12:3-11

Not a momentBut a process

If I know JesusPositional righteousness

Will be followed byExperiential righteousness

Endure hardship as discipline

God is using it for your blessingAnd growth

James…

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…

Trials- peirasmosTrial and temptation

Enemy uses it to see you failGod uses it to see you growAnd will redeem it if you fall

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness

Grows your ability to trust God And find his strength to endure

In all circumstances

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be

perfect and complete, lacking in nothing

The full effect of learningTo really trust God andRely on his strength in trials

Is that you are finishedAnd complete in him

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God…

- James 1:2-6

Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship

For our growth and blessingAnd his witness to our world

God's stated desire:

Grow you through trialsSo that you know Jesus more

Walk closer and show the worldHow Jesus changes lives

Ball is in your court

The issue is either the hardshipOr it's what God is doingThrough the hardshipYour choice…

It's not about fairnessOr "Why me?"

It's about a God who longsTo redeem it for your growth

And others' blessing

Seek GodChoose to focus on ChristPray…really pray

Allow fellow believers To comfort

Not Pastor-centeredFor this very reason

Questions, CommentsDisagreements

Pray

Baptisms last week!

Next Sunday:Blessing of the Children