2. Embrace the Hill Gain

3. Reasons for Hardships: - You - Them - Life

4. Reasons for Hardships: - You - Them - Life What's missing?

5. It is impossible to Read the scriptures And come away believing That God doesn't love His creation fervently

6. It is impossible to Read the scriptures And come away believing That God is never the Cause of hardship

7. Reasons for Hardships: - You - Them - Life - God

8. Hardships can bring A desire for escape Hardships can become a Rationalization for choices That lead me away from God

9. God redeems It's who he is And what our faith Is all about

10. Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship For our growth and blessing And his witness to our world

11. Choose focus + Act in faith = Discover God And Redemption

12. James…

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

14. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing James 1:2-4

16. Philippians 3:4… If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

17. …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;

18. …as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless

19. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ Bad deal…written off

20. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord

21. Set aside ego Set aside pride Lost reasons to be “better than” = Death to self To know Christ by experience

22. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…

23. To really know Jesus Involves a type of trial In and of itself A death to ego, pride Preferences and desires

24. To the degree that put aside Ego, preferences Personal convenience, comfort For the sake of following Jesus I experience Christ

25. Well-worth it: Skubala compared to Jesus

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

27. …but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

28. "One day I'm going to get right… Start doing the right things… And become a Christian" Great. But that's not Christianity

29. …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

30. …may share his sufferings Pathema: "Under God, páthēma is redemptive, preparing us to know the Lord better now and forever in glory"- Word Studies

31. The more I seek God through Hardships, the more I'm Identified with Christ and The greater I know him By experience

32. …that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead

33. Goal: Sinless and perfect

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

35. Why fellowship of sufferings And like him in his death? God can redeems hardships So that I am sanctified And become more like Jesus

36. I closer to Jesus As I experience him Through the suffering

37. Hardship brings clarity I focus on Jesus Trust him through it And seek him in it And see my own life differently

38. Until I see sin as God does And hate the sin in my own life I'll never fully experience Jesus And all that he has for me

39. Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship For your growth and blessing And his witness to your world

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

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

45. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God

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

47. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions Make no provision for the flesh

48. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness… Worship language

49. …but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness

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

51. Crucifixion= The pain of death To self Produces freedom to become A new creation in Christ

52. As you respond to suffering well, God is working through Your sufferings To produce freedom from the Enslavement to sin in your life

53. Hebrews 12:3… Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted

54. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood Jesus did for us

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

56. “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”

57. It is impossible to Read the scriptures And come away believing That God is never the Cause of hardship

58. Causes of Hardship: - You - Them - Life - God

59. Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship For our growth and blessing And his witness to our world

60. It is for discipline that you have to endure For the sake of growth (Endure hardship as discipline - NIV)

61. God redeems ALL of it Even what he didn't cause As we trust him through it

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

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

64. Hardships always Contain choices

65. How I miss the blessing: - Excuses and Bitterness - Blame - Eyes on hardship - My own strength

66. How I gain the blessing: - Deserving isn't the issue - Kills blame and bitterness - Eyes on Jesus - Rely on God for strength

67. 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?

68. 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 holiness Produces set-apartness

69. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant…

70. …but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it - Heb. 12:3-11

71. Not a moment But a process

72. If I know Jesus Positional righteousness Will be followed by Experiential righteousness

73. Endure hardship as discipline God is using it for your blessing And growth James…

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

75. Trials- peirasmos Trial and temptation Enemy uses it to see you fail God uses it to see you grow And will redeem it if you fall

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

77. Grows your ability to trust God And find his strength to endure In all circumstances

78. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing

79. The full effect of learning To really trust God and Rely on his strength in trials Is that you are finished And complete in him

80. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God… - James 1:2-6

81. Because of God's great love He plans to redeem all hardship For our growth and blessing And his witness to our world

82. God's stated desire: Grow you through trials So that you know Jesus more Walk closer and show the world How Jesus changes lives

83. Ball is in your court The issue is either the hardship Or it's what God is doing Through the hardship Your choice…

84. It's not about fairness Or "Why me?" It's about a God who longs To redeem it for your growth And others' blessing

85. Seek God Choose to focus on Christ Pray…really pray Allow fellow believers To comfort

86. Not Pastor-centered For this very reason

87. Questions, Comments Disagreements

88. Pray

89. Baptisms last week!

90. Next Sunday: Blessing of the Children