A positive attitude is a powerful influence for good in the life. But living by faith is positive thinking on steroids, because it is founded upon the promises of the sure Word of God. Learn new insights into living by faith that will aid in your personal spiritual growth.

<p>A positive attitude is a powerful influence for good in the life. But living by faith is positive thinking on steroids, because it is founded upon the promises of the sure Word of God. Learn new insights into living by faith that will aid in your personal spiritual growth.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

How to Grow Spiritually

Chester Clark

Knowing Better

Leaping for Joy

Light in the Darkness

Giving Up, Giving All

Looking to Jesus

I'm so glad that no matter how old or young we are, we can praise the Lord, amen?

And that we can be a part of the family of God.

Today our scripture, Jesus speaking of leaping for joy, And it's not when we might normally expect to be leaping for joy.

Leap for joy, Jesus says, even when things are going wrong, even when things aren't going our way, even when things seem to be problematic, As Jesus said, even when you are persecuted for righteousness sake, leap for joy.

Don't just be happy, don't just be positive, but leap for joy.

That's a pretty high demand that Jesus places upon us.

I don't know about you, but Usually when things aren't going so well in my life, I don't feel too much like leaping.

But that's what we're talking about this morning.

Let's go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, thank you for your children.

Thank you for the young people that made this service so special.

We just want to dedicate them again to you.

We want to pray that you will bless them, that you'll bless their parents, that you'll bless their home, that you'll bless our school.

They might be raised to be men and women of faith.

They might be raised to be productive and happy, not just in this life, but throughout all eternity.

Lord, as we open your word now, we just want to pray that you would be with us, that you will guide us, that you'll teach us through your spirit.

And the African king loved to go hunting.

Now the king had a particular friend who had this very strange habit.

The habit the king's friend had was no matter what happened in life, he would always reply with a, this is good.

No matter what happened, no matter what situation he found himself in, he would always say, this is good.

And so when they were hunting, sometimes it was a little annoying, you know, the game would get away and the friend would say, this is good.

Or when they got their target, he would say, this is good.

Well, the king sort of put up with it until 1 day The king's friend, 1 of his jobs when he was hunting with the king was to load his gun, and there was somehow a malfunction and the gun went off, and it blew off the king's thumb.

The king said, how in the world can this be good?

And he got so angry with his friend and his habit that he threw him into prison.

He was missing his thumb, but his hand healed and he went hunting again, except this time, about a year later, this time he got in the wrong place and a neighboring tribe of cannibals captured him and they took him to their village and they were lighting the fire And then they recognized, they saw that he was missing a thumb.

And because they were superstitious and they wouldn't eat anything that wasn't whole and complete, they had to let the king go.

And when they let the king go, what do you think the king thought of?

So he went to his this-is-good friend, and he visited him in jail.

He said, I'm going to let you out of prison.

I've let you suffer here for a whole year.

If you hadn't put me in prison, I'd be out hunting with you.

You see my friends We talk about the power of positive thinking and there's something to it isn't there?

There's something to positive thinking that allows us to be filled with with some Some satisfaction and joy even when things aren't going so well.

And even from a humanistic point of view, we see that there is a benefit to positive thinking, right?

Positive thinking brings its benefits through focusing the attention away from the negative and onto whatever positive that we can find, right?

But I want to present to you this morning that there's something even better than the power of positive thinking.

And that's the power of faith-filled living.

Faith-filled living is positive thinking on steroids.

Because faith-filled living is based upon the promises of God's Word, and God's Word is creative.

God's Word is eternal, and we can count on it, we can depend on it.

You see, faith-filled living sees benefits not just in the positive things of life and dwells upon them, positive, faithful living sees benefits also in the challenges of life, also in the problems of life, in the negative experiences you might say of life.

Romans chapter 8 and verse 28 tells us, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose, amen.

We know that, we know this is a promise of God that all things work together for good.

Even the problems we face, even the challenges we face, even the heartaches, God is able to bring something good from it and that is far surpassing even the benefits of positive thinking.

God is able to bring something good from our challenges.

Now we are going to explore this a little bit more this morning.

We're going to see what it means, what it means to have the power of faith-filled living.

First of all, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of James, James chapter 1, and we're going to read a few verses here together.

Turn with me to James chapter 1, and let's look at what James had to say about the problems of life.

James chapter 1, and we're going to read beginning with verse 2.

James chapter 1 and verse 2, and I'm reading from the New King James this morning.

My brethren, he says, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.'" Count it all what?

Sounds similar to what Jesus said, right?

Even when we're going through persecution, leap for joy, James says, "'Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

The testing of your faith produces patience.

Now, we're going to look a little more closely at this as we go on this morning.

I want us to, by the time we're finished, I want us to understand that not all problems produce patience.

Only the problems that are testing our faith produce patience.

Sometimes we go throughout problems without faith-filled living, and then the problems don't really do us that much good.

But, verse 4, let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Verse 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.

Aren't you glad for that added promise of wisdom?

We need wisdom, especially when we're facing trials, especially when we're facing hard times, to be able to live a faith-filled life so that those problems can bring about positive results in our lives.

1 Peter, just a few pages further in the epistles, 1 Peter 1 and verse 7.

And here we find that Peter is actually only reflecting that which is a theme found throughout the Old Testament as well.

1 Peter 1 and verse 7, Peter says that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Why is Peter expecting that their faith will be found intact at the revelation of Jesus Christ?

Because they're going through trials, and their faith is being refined and purified as gold is refined in a fire, right?

Gold is refined in a fire, not throughout, not through an easy process, but through a hot process, right?

Gold is refined through fire, And that is the theme we find throughout the Old Testament.

Well, let's look at a couple verses here.

And this is what Job had to say, and I think Job knew something about trials, didn't he?

Series

How to Grow Spiritually

Leaping for Joy

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

And Hope Does Not Disappoint

46m

The Atheist Who Found God

1h 25m

God is Teaching Me Five Lessons Through Pain

21m

Trust God Through the Uncertainties of Life

Why Doesn’t God Do Something?

1h

"Tell It Again"

What We Must Know: Prophecy Update

1h 6m

Making God Feel Like A King

53m

Now Converted: Lessons from the Life of Peter

Lessons from the Life of Peter 1

52m

Hebrews 11- Faith

21 The Faith of David

45m

Joseph

Imprisoned and Forgotten

41m

Cancer, Crisis, and the Cross: Part 2

57m

Experiencing God

Session 1: New Life in Prayer and Praise

52m

Flip the Script

02 How Bible “Buts” Change Trials Into Triumph

53m

Sound Doctrine