Please Turn to James 1:2 4

1
Please Turn to James 12 4
2
What is this Perfect Result?

• Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you
  encounter various trials, knowing that the
  testing of your faith produces endurance. And let
  endurance have its perfect result, so that you
  may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
  (James 12-4)

3
What Happens to Carrots When Boiled in Water?

• Before boiling, they are hard and firm.
• When boiled, they become soft and weak.

4
What Happens to an Egg When Boiled in Water?

• Beforehand, an egg is relatively fragile.
• After boiling it looks the same on the outside,
  but has become very hard on the inside.

5
What Happens to Coffee Beans (Colombian, of
course) when Boiled in Water?

• When roasted, ground and boiled, they release
  oils and flavors that change the water into
  delicious, aromatic Colombian coffee.

6
People tend to react to adversity as either
carrots, eggs or coffee.

• We can find each type illustrated in the Bible.

7
Carrots Those Who are Weakened

• Judas
• In a time of great difficulty (following his
  betrayal of Jesus), he broke down and killed
  himself.
• Elijah
• After his victory on Mt. Carmel quickly ebbed, he
  ran off to Mt. Sinai and, in despair, asked the
  Lord to take his life.
• The Lord strengthened Elijah and he had years of
  active, courageous service, but he initially
  responded with weakness.

8
Carrots Those Who are Weakened

• "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky
  places, this is the man who hears the word and
  immediately receives it with joy yet he has no
  firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and
  when affliction or persecution arises because of
  the word, immediately he falls away. (Matthew
  1320-21)

9
Eggs Hardened Inside

• Pharoah
• The trials of the plagues led him to harden his
  heart against the Lord, and he grew more
  resistant and defiant.
• King Saul
• After each trial in his life Saul became
  embittered and increasingly defied the Lord,
  culminating in his slaughter of the Lords
  priests who had helped David in Nob.

10
Coffee Beans Change Their Environment

• David
• He inherited leadership of a people weakened by
  civil war and by decades of Sauls spiritual
  defiance.
• David endured many afflictions before and during
  his reign, yet led a nation to be stronger, more
  united, and in possession of a stronger spiritual
  identity.
• Jesus
• He endured betrayal, mockery, torture,
  abandonment and death, yet gave life and hope to
  untold numbers.

11
Like Coffee Beans, Changing Ones Environment

• "You are the light of the world. A city set on a
  hill cannot be hidden "nor does anyone light a
  lamp and put it under a basket, but on the
  lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in
  the house. (Matthew 513-15)
• He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of
  heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid
  in three pecks of flour until it was all
  leavened." (Matthew 1333)

12
Whats the Secret to Enduring Adversity Without
becoming Weak or Embittered?

• The blessed ones delight is in the law of the
  Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
• He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams
  of water, which yields its fruit in its season,
  and its leaf does not wither And in whatever he
  does, he prospers. (Psalms 12-3)

13
James 12 4

• Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you
  encounter various trials, knowing that the
  testing of your faith produces endurance. And let
  endurance have its perfect result, so that you
  may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

When we root ourselves in the Lord, so we may
weather adversity, we become stronger beacons of
Christ. We not only keep and strengthen our
faith, we lead others to the Lord as well which
changes the water.
14
Jesus Guaranteed Wed Often be in Hot Water

• You will be hated by all because of My name,
  but it is the one who has endured to the end who
  will be saved. (Matthew 1022)

15
Luke 2119

• By your endurance you will gain your lives.

16
Hebrews 121

• Since we have so great a cloud of witnesses
  surrounding us, let us also lay aside every
  encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles
  us, and let us run with endurance the race that
  is set before us.

17
How Do You Choose to Handle Difficult and Adverse
Circumstances?

• Lose faith and fall away from God?
• Become embittered against the Lord or His people?
• Act as Light and Leaven, letting the Lord work
  through you to give a different flavor and aroma
  to your environment, and to the others who are in
  it?