Welcome, readers. It's Sunday once again here at
Jaquelle's Rose Garden. Today we will look at the first sermon in my dad's new series on James.
To begin, let's say that we live in the
real world. Because we live in the
real world, we are faced with death, sorrow, pain, sickness, and loss pretty often. Do you know what you would call that?
Testing. In the
real world, we are tested pretty often. My dad had a professor in
seminary who was nick-named (by his wife of all people) Dr. Death. Dr. Death was my dad's Old Testament professor. When he gave a test, he
gave a test. In his tests, he could and would pick out any little, itsy-bitsy piece of information anywhere in the Old Testament and ask you about it. Other professors at the seminary would look at the tests, and they didn't know half of it. My dad hated the tests, but when the tests were done and he received his grade, he was glad that he
perservered. He pushed through the tests, and
was rewarded. James tells us that "...
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." In the
real world, Jesus is our rope, and we've got to hang on to Him for dear life. Since we live in the
real world, we will be tested. Are you going to pass or fail? I assume that you want to pass. To pass, we need to focus our faith on:
- Our Objective-We need to focus on our objective, our Maker. He will lead and guide us through our trials and troubles.
- Our Hope-We know that in the future, Christ is coming. It is then that we will have no more pain, sorrow, death, sickness, losses.
We need to persevere. If you are a Christian, you are going to face trials and tribulations. The question is, how are you going to deal with it?
