Study of James: ”Triumph Through Trials” by Dan Owen

April 21, 2023 - Equipped Day 2

9:00AM Auditorium Speaker

 

Dan Owen kicks off day 2 of the Equipped Workshop. He looks at what it means to be open to change and accepting God's control over your life.

 

Slides:

• Wisdom for Navigating Conflict in the Book of James (James 1:2-12)

• Conflict Brings Trials Which Test Our Faith!

• 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 

• 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation (trial); for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12).

• Sincerely seek God’s wisdom when dealing with conflict.

• 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8).

• 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

• James is addressing a real conflict between the rich and the poor.

• 9 Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 but the rich person is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out.

• 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

• 2 My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 

• 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called? (James 2:4-7).

• 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? (James 2:15f).

• What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts? 2 You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask (James 4:1-2).

• 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil (James 4:13ff).

• Come now, you rich people, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure (James 5:1-3). 

• 4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies (James 5:4). 

• God’s wisdom calls for Christian behavior during conflict.

• Listen lots, Speak little, Control Anger

  Be Fair and Impartial Toward All People

  Admit Your Wrongs Toward Others

• Learn to See Yourself and Others Through God’s Eyes.

• 9 Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; 10 but the rich person is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out.

• Recognize Conflict As a Time to Truly Show Your Faith!

• 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12).

 

Duration 36:22