How To Face Trials | James 1:1-12 | Pastor John Miller

James chapter 1 James the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered greeting my brethren counted all the joy when you fall into different trials or testings knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh or produces patience or steadfast endurance but let patience or endurance have it's perfect or complete work in you that you may be perfect and equipped wanting nothing if any of you lack wisdom let him ask God who gives to all men liberally and abrade if not and it shall be given him but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wave worth is like the waves of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways let the brother of low degree which is a reference to the poor man let him rejoice and that he is exalted but the rich and that he has made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away but the son is no sooner arisen with the burning heat but at withers the grass the flower fails and the Grace and the fashion of it perishes so shall the rich man fade away in his ways verse 12 blessed is the man that endures temptation for when he or she has tried they shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him the book of James has been called the Epistle of applied Christianity and I think that's my favorite title for the book of James the Epistle of applied Christianity James is Christianity 101 the book of James is asking us this morning does your faith work is your Christianity real I've met people to say why I tried Jesus but it didn't work for me it just didn't work and my question is then you probably don't have real faith because the theme of the book of James is faith that works or the idea that a real faith a genuine faith are in a synthetic faith that it does produce works in our lives so you might say that James is the book of applied Christianity it's for those who are long on theory but short on practice in the first place that James says that our faith should work is in how we face trials how we face testings how we face hardships how we face difficulties someone said Christians are like tea bags they you don't really know what flavour they are until they're put in hot water I like that you know if you're a real Christian let me see you through the fire let me see you in the heat let me see the face the difficult what does Jesus Christ do in your life to help you through the hard times in life and when I say hard times let me tell you this whether you're Christian or not we all have hard times you know all the money in the world can't save you from trials you can get so you can be a billionaire and get sick and die you can't you can't save yourself with your money everyone reaches a point where they need help outside themselves and we have to trust in God and as believers we have not only the Lord to help us through life's difficulties but we have the hope beyond the grave amen we have hardships like any other man but we have the help of God who is with us he said I'll never leave you or forsake you I can't imagine trying to live life without the hope of Jesus Christ in my heart in the book of James chapter or job chapter 5 the Old Testament book of Job verse 7 it says man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upwards and so we need to learn how to handle our hardships and our difficulties and our trials and James is going to give us five things we need to be able to face trials and difficulties but before we look at them let's ask a few questions about this book of James and the first one is in verse 1 who is this James notice at verse 1 James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ now I can make it very simple and get right to the point here this James is actually a reference to the half-brother of Jesus you go what do you mean half-brother of Jesus after Jesus was born Mary and Joseph got fully married they culminated their relationship and they had other children and so Jesus had stepbrothers and step sisters now they didn't believe in Jesus until after he was crucified and risen from the dead and you can imagine how difficult it would be growing up in a home where the Messiah the savior of the world the Son of God is your big brother and you're constantly hearing why can't you be like your big brother Jesus he's always so perfect I know I know I'm trying you know it's just crazy and I can imagine one day when Jesus stood up and said I'm the way the truth and the life that his brother and mom Jesus is flipping out but this is the James who is the brother of our Lord and Savior but he doesn't use that title he uses the title servant and the word servant in the Greek as the word Doulos or bond slave so he was the property of God he he belonged to God he was a servant of God eeeh no will of his own he had to voted himself and we should too of being servants of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ uses the full title for him and he's writing to who's he writing to verse 1 the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad and he gives them the normal greeting now the twelve tribes which by the way are not lost God knows who they are but the fact that they are called scattered it's the word de spora we get our word seed from it and it indicates that they are Jews living outside the land of promise they are not Jews who live in Palestine or in Canaan or the land of Israel but they live outside the land and they are of the de spora the dispersion so they are persecuted for being Jews outside the land and because they were also believers and he gives them greedy now James is writing early it's believed that the book of James is one of the earliest epistles written it's written about 41:42 ad and he's writing to tell them that if their faith is real and genuine that it will be evidence by the way they live now throughout church history a lot of people have not really alike to the book of James it's been kind of rejected by some people because it's emphasis is upon works Paul's emphasis was on faith and James's on works now they don't contradict each other we're saved by grace through faith but a faith that saves is a faith that works faith alone saves but the faith that saves is not alone it produces works if someone says I'm a Christian but they have no works in their life to back it up then I have to believe that they are not really a child of God now to what degree to an amount that's in the hands of God some people grow quicker some people grow slower but there's got to be some evidence and some change of new life a Christian is a person who has the life of God in their soul you know when the Bible says that we have eternal life eternal life is the life of God in our soul if we are Christian God actually lives in us and we actually have the life of God in us it's amazing to think about so how can you go through life with God in you and it not being manifested out through you so James tells us five things that we need to do when we face trials or troubles or hardships or difficulties as Christians in this dark world the first thing we need to do is have a joyful attitude yes you heard me right we need to have a joyful attitude now there's going to be five key words by the way I want you to note in each of one of these points and the first word is count that's the key notice verse 2 my brethren is writing to believers count it all joy when not if but when you fall into different trials and testings now you might be saying well John my Bible says temptations there and my King James translation renders that temptations but the word temptation and the word trial mean different things depending upon the contents context now when you get down to verse 13 and this will be my message next Sunday we'll be talking about temptation and that's when he begins to talk about a solicitation to evil but in this section verses 1 to 12 he's talking about trials or testings we read lead me not into temptation in the Lord's Prayer our big stink about the Pope changing the Lord's Prayer and it wasn't really changing the Lord's Prayer there's already a lot of translations that render it that way lead me not into testings or trials because many times as we go into a testing or a trial Satan will capitalize on that and he will tempt us so temptations and trials go hand in hand and they're the first two topics in James chapter one so we're tried and tested by God to bring out our worth and then we're tempted by Satan to bring out our worst and when I'm in a trial I'm in a dangerous time in my life because then Satan comes along and tempts me to disobey tempts me to doubt God tempts me to turn away from God rather than trust him and obey Him in every aspect of my life but I wanted to point that out in verse 2 that the work should be rendered their trials or testings and notice he says not if you fall into them but when you fall into them it's part and parcel of the Christian life you cannot be a Christian and not go through difficulty because this the one of the chief ways that God uses that in our life to produce maturity and equip us for ministry and service notice that the trials differ in verse two uses the word diverse or different there's physical trials there's financial trials there are spiritual trials as emotional trials there's different trials and relationships with people there's trials of persecution there's trials of finances and relationships and they come in all shapes and all forms and by the way the older you get more often your trials are physical right you get together with your friends and it's like an organ recital you talk about everything in your body that doesn't work anymore I mean that has hit me so hard lately I'm with my friends and we're all talking about what's going wrong with our bodies ago you know what we are full on old people like official buzzards you know when that's what we do is talk about do I do it doesn't work right in anymore and the older you get the more trials your body brings you but God is gracious is not he is not the Lord with us and promised to be our help and our strength so what do we do when we go through different trials and difficulties verse to count it all joy now I know some of you are saying now please tell me that's not what it means in the Greek right now there's got to be something a little deeper in there to indicate that that's not really what it's saying is it no that's really what it's saying count it all a Joyce talking about a joyful attitude even in our sorrows and then our suffering now this is something that the believer has that the non-christian does not have the non-christian has all their eggs in one basket and that's this life and things better go smooth because this is all you get get all the gusto get all you can can all you get because this is it and if something goes wrong then you lose everything but for the Christian we have the hope of heaven beyond this life we have heaven now in our soul we have heaven to look forward to one day so we can actually rejoice joy is that fountain well of springing up within my soul that even though I'm going through difficulty in sorrow or someone I love has died and my heart is broken and I'm grieving the Bible says we sorrow not as others who have no hope I love that for if we know Jesus died and rose again even so those who have fallen asleep or died in Jesus God's going to bring with him there's so many people that I can't wait to see when I get to heaven and I'm gonna see him and we're gonna be together and it's gonna be wonderful and there's a blessing to know that we have that blessed hope so we can rejoice now by the way this is a command James is famous and his epistle there are in the book of James 108 verses and of those 108 verses 58 commands or imperatives are found in this book of James it's very straightforward and very to the point and the first key word as I've mentioned is the word count it's a financial term it means to evaluate or what we value it's all about your values your values determine your evaluations if you value comfort over character then your trials will upset you if you value character over comfort then Lord have your way do with me as you want to make me what you want me to be Jesus put it like this he said when you're reviled and persecuted for righteousness sake Matthew 5:12 rejoice and be exceedingly glad why because great is your reward in heaven and we get to there in verse 12 and I it's hard for me not to get ahead of myself because my favorite is verse 12 the end of this section blessed is the man that endures temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to all those who love him that's what the end is so the end game when the outlook is bad we try the up.look we keep our focus upon heaven and Romans chapter 5 verse 3 Paul said that we glory as Christians in tribulation you go well you know that's all fine and dandy but I really find that very difficult so what we need is the second thing and that is in verse three we need to have an understanding mind this is how I am able to rejoice in my sorrows and suffering verse three look at it with me knowing something that's the key word keyword in verse two is count keyword anniversary is knowing knowing this that the trying of my faith works what patience some if you don't want to read that word because you don't like that word the minute you hear the word patience you get all bummed out we want everything fast turn the computer on boom it comes on before you even touch the button just think computer on boom it comes on the other day I went into an in and out and I stand a church bus just show it up before I did and I was so hung gods like about ready to die I'm like I felt like II saw you know please just one pot you know and I went to the front the lion I'm talking he is III almost said I'm a pastor can I take cuts praise God I didn't do that but I almost did I was like man I'm a man of God let me in here I want to eat I need food right now I had to get my car and drive somewhere else I won't tell you where I went but I went somewhere else but we're tested and we're trying I don't know how I got to that point I've lost my spot right now I'm gonna in and out trying to get a hamburger now I don't know where I am in the text lord help me patience patience there it is right there see that's what happens when you get old patience you know what the word patience means it's not a passive concept it's a positive concept it means stead fast in Durance now it would actually be used of a person that's in a strong wind and he's leaning into the wind and pressing forward we think of patience is just standing when the wind is blowing hard but patience is actually progress leaning into the wind when the wind is blowing so it means stead fast in Durance so this is how I can rejoice I know that God is producing steadfast in Durin's now I need to know two things and I want to make them clear from the text verse three I need to know that my trials are designed by God and I use that word designed important to test my faith notice verse 3 says the trying of your faith that which is being tried and tested is your faith it's like being put to the test so you find some gold or iron or you take it to the Assessor and they run tests on it to determine if it's genuine if it's authentic you might find gold in them there hills and say I've got gold how do you know has it been tested hasn't been proven you say I have faith how do you know is it genuine someone said a faith that cannot be trusted or tested cannot be trusted I think of Abraham whose faith was tested in Genesis 22 God actually told him to offer his son on a mountain you talk about a trial or a testing god you want me to do what you want me to offer my son on an altar but the next morning Abraham rose up in obedience saddled the donkey took Isaac and journey to the land of Moriah and as they were going up the mountain Isaac said father here's the here's the wood and here's the fire and here's the knife but where's the sacrifice can you imagine how Abraham's heart was breaking it was being tested and tried by God and he said to his son God will provide himself a sacrifice Isaac lay on the altar and he lifts his hands to plunge it into his son and God stops Abraham and said now I know that you love me and that you will obey me and he looked over in the bushes and there was a ram caught and he took the RAM and he substituted for Isaac picture of how Jesus died in our place and he substituted the RAM there but the testing of this faith to prove that he loved God more than even his own son knowing that God if he had to would raise his son from the dead even as Jesus died and rose again for us but notice secondly that my trials will make me strong so number one they're testing the value and the reality of my faith and then secondly they're given to make me strong verse three works patience or steadfast in Durin's trials are for our good and for God's glory to prove our faith and produce patient endurance so number one we need to count it a joy number two we need to know that God's producing steadfast endurance in my life and here's number three it's in verse four we need to have a surrender to will to God and if we don't do this it can circumvent God's purpose and plan for the trial in our life this is so important verse 4 but lat patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect or mature entire or equipped lacking in nothing now the key word here in verse 4 is the word let so you have count verse 2 knowing verse 3 and then let you have to surrender your will the great danger when we face trials is that we resist God and we don't allow him to work in our life you need to let God have his way you know the Bible metaphorically pictures God is a Potter and we are on the wheel and we are what clay I am the Potter thou art the clay mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting yielded and still I love that song have nine own way Lord have thine own way hold or my being absolute sway filled with thy spirit till all shall see Christ only always living in me he is the Potter and we are the clay when I was in high school I had a arts and crafts class and I'm a bit of an artist but I've never been able to throw a pot on the wheel never and then I get to clay set on the wheel the minute the wheel starts to turn everything's fine until I touch it the minute I touch it to go boom flies off I can never get it right it just moves it flies off so I've always just kind of put two grooves in it you know hit it on the wall put a couple of grooves made an ashtray every time my mom got more ashtrays that urine she didn't smoke your mom is another ashtray aren't you glad that I'm not the Potter you'd all be ashtrays right now but God is the master Potter and as you look closely at his hands they're scarred because he loves the clay He gave His life for that clay and the circumstances are the wheels of our life and they're turning and God knows how to speed things up or slow things he knows the pressure he has to apply he knows just how to develop that pottery many times there's pain and there's difficulty but we need to stay pliable and yielded living by faith and trust in God now what happens if we surrender to God two things verse 4 we will grow up that's what it means when it says that you may be perfect in other words you will grow up you'll be mature there's no short cuts to maturity you have to be tried and tested it's like ripe fruit you'll grow to maturity and then secondly you will be equipped to help others and this is so important to understand if you want to be used by God if you want your life to be a blessing to others verse 4 says that you will be entire or equipped lacking or deficient in nothing you know what it's saying it's saying that not only will you grow up but you will be used by God to be a blessing and an encouragement and a help to other people I believe with all my heart because the two things number one the Bible teaches it and number two life has proven it to me that God equips us for service through suffering if you want to be used by God you can't find it all in a textbook you're not going to get it all in a classroom or a Bible College or seminary you're going to get it in the school of hard knocks to be able to have a sympathetic heart to be able to understand people's sorrows and identify with it to be able to encourage people in hardship and difficult time you must also know what it is to suffer Charles Haddon Spurgeon the great Baptist preacher of yours past he said god gets his best soldiers from the highlands of affliction I was thinking about this the other day we have a son that just got out of army boot camp and he just started a military school for learning languages and I've never experienced it and my whole life being an army dad or having a son that's in the military and now I understand when I see military and my heart goes out to them because I it's like I you know that that's your son that's your daughter that's your child I have a lot more compassion for him but you know though he's classified a soldier now he's not been in any warfare you don't know what kind of a soldier you are until you're and more right it is you're not really a soldier until you're been in a war situation and then it's proven what kind of character you have so God equips us so that we might serve others and be a blessing to others jesus said to Peter Peter Satan desires to have you so that he could sift you like wheat he wants to sift you like wheat but Peter I've prayed for you can you imagine Jesus turning to you and say hey Satan called me last night he asked for you by name like whoa what'd you tell him Lord tell him to bug off Beelzebub Satan calls God you know that johnmiller dude I want him he said but I prayed for you and when you have been tested and tried and you are converted strengthen your brothers so he wrote first Peter and second Peter after he fell on his face and denied the Lord wept tears bitterly and God brought him back and restored him and then he wrote those epistles to encourage us second Corinthians chapter 1 there's a whole section in that chapter what talks about God allows us to go through suffering so that we can encourage other people who are suffering I've been a pastor for many many years now and I remember when I was a young pastor do marriage counseling or I would counsel people with children I didn't have any children I'd do a funeral and nobody I loved it ever died and has taken all these years for God to ripen me and to mature me to be able to experience all these things in life so that I can minister out of not only theory but from a heart of experience so God is making you he's not made you he's making you and God has a ministry for you to do and it may be that you're still in school you haven't even graduated yet God was gonna open that door Moses was 80 years old I just thought I'd share that with you to come courage you know when God called him into full-time ministry you never know what God's plans and purposes are so God uses us by suffering but let me give you the fourth thing you need when you face trials and that is in verses 5 to 8 and that is a prayerful heart so you need to have a joyful attitude you need to have a knowing understanding mind you need to have a surrendered will and then verse 5 to 8 you need to have a prayerful heart nothing's more important than learning how to pray when you pass through trials notice verse 5 if any of you lack wisdom let him ask or pray to God that giveth to all men liberally and abrade if not and it shall be given him but you need to ask in faith nothing wavering for if you're not asking in faith you're wavering you're like the waves of the sea driven with the wind and tossed let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord for a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways now what is one of the things we need most when we're going through a trial the answer wisdom isn't what we say why not when things go wrong why why God what are you doing what are you trying to teach me or why did this happen to me Lord what do you want me to learn so we need wisdom from God that's what we need Paul was going through a time of tests in trial in second Corinthians chapter 12 he had a thorn in his flesh a messenger of Satan to buffett him and three times Paul asked God prayed and asked God to do what taken away take it away taken away God he I want to escape my sorrows isn't that what we do Lord heal me take away the pain Lord provide for me take away the difficulty Lord worked this problem out so we pray to escape our sorrows but God told Paul no I won't take it away but I'll give you my grace and my grace will be sufficient for you my grace will make you strong it will be your strength in your weakness so we need to pray for wisdom God helped me to enlist not escape my sorrows let me give you some ideas of things you can pray for pray that God would use you or teach you what he wants you to learn don't pray to escape pray that God will teach you give you wisdom secondly you can pray that God will make you humble that's a good thing humility is a good thing the proud God knows afar off the humble God knows close he is 9/2 those who have a broken heart ask God to humble you as well as teach you and thirdly ask God to wean you from the world you know it's Christian sometimes we get too tied to the world we'd get too drawn to the world and you know what will wean you from the world having the world taken away from loss of a job loss of a loved one loss of your health nothing will wean you more from the world faster than to have it taken away but it's a blessing in disguise God trying to teach you the value of spiritual things James gives us for encouragement to pray and I want you to see him in verse 5 first encouragement is that God gives to all he says in verse 5 that he giveth to all secondly God gives liberally five he gives liberally and generously so God is good and God is generous and then thirdly don't be hesitant to pray because God will not abrade you or reproach you you ever gone to ask somebody for something and they go I've already helped you before and what you know what you do with what I gave you before and you know I'm sick and tired of helping you out okay well I want to ask you anymore aren't you glad God doesn't do that lord I need help I'm sick of you didn't you ask for help last week yeah but Lord I'm short this month and I need some money to pay the mortgage I already helped you pay your mortgage what's your problem you're glad God doesn't deal with this like that and he's like okay sorry God I won't bug you anymore God doesn't only give to everyone God does not only give liberally but he doesn't chide us or abrade is and then fourthly verse 5 God will answer God will answer it says in verse 5 and it shall be given him it shall be given him that's a promise that God will answer your prayers jesus said I like this ask and you shall receive seek and you shall find knock and the door shall be opened to you John Newton the man that wrote the famous song Amazing Grace wrote these words thou art coming to a king large petitions would be bring for His grace and power are such that none could ever ask too much I love that so when you come to God bring your petitions bring large petitions because you can't ask too much God is liberal and generous and he answers prayer but James tells us that when we pray verse 6 to 8 that we need to pray with a believing heart not in unbelief but faith we don't want to be like the waves of the sea driven with the wind and tossed so important that we are committed to believing that God is that he's the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him but there's the fifth and last thing we need when we face the trials of life and this in verses 9 to 12 we need to count it all the joy we need to know that God's working it for my good we need to let God have this perfect way in me to mature me and then fifthly or fourthly we need to ask God through prayer for wisdom to use it wisely and then fifthly verse 9 to verse 12 we need to keep our eyes on the prize we need to keep our eyes on the prize let the brother of low-degree now that's a reference to the poor person some of you go amen that's me in the Bible I claim that I'm the poor guy then you need to rejoice why because God exalts you in other words you may be financially or monetarily poor but guess what if you're a Christian you're a child of the king amen and you have treasures untold and you're going to heaven I love there's an old hymn that talks about I'm a child of the king I'm a child of the king with Jesus my Savior I'm a child of the king and it talks about heaven a tent or a cottage why should I care he's building a palace for me over there of rubies and diamonds and emeralds and gold his coffers are full he has riches untold on the child of the king it doesn't matter what's happening around you right now you are rich in God through Jesus Christ and so he takes the low man and he lifts him up but the rich man verse 10 he is made low so you rejoice that if you're poor God exalts you and if you're rich God makes you low and he's actually saying that if you've got money and wealth and you're well taken care of thank God if he does something to Humble you and to bring you down to make you more dependent on him and it's that you understand the value of spiritual things because why because there's a flower the grass he shall pass away you know all your money can't save you all your money can't save you from and of the grave it's appointed unto every man once to die and after this the judgment I don't care how rich you are you get sick like the poor man you die like the poor man death is the great equalizer rich and poor die alike the question is where do you go when you die where will you spend eternity and that is answered in verse 12 the Christian has blessed is the man that endures temptation or trials or testings for when he has tried he shall receive what crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that what love him there's the last key word love count no let ask love do you love God do you love God with all your heart and all your soul and all you shake you know what trials often do and this is a good thing trials often show us what we really love the most if you're whining and complaining about something that's happened to you and you're all upset maybe it's because you love that more than God the Bible says that were to love God with all of our heart all of our soul and all of our strength and we're to love our neighbor as we love ourselves on those two things hang all belong the prophets you know that if you love God supremely nothing much can go wrong with you God will take care of you that's the most important thing in every area of your life if you just make your love for God to be supreme and obedience to God and faith in God and trust in God and hope and God and longing for God and God becomes your all and all you're in good shape God will take care of you but the thing that it's saying and I love it in verse 12 I don't want to complicate this I want to make it as simple as I can this is one of those passages that Lord I I don't want to fog up this this passage I don't want to cloud it up James is saying you're going to heaven you're gonna have the crown of life you go other than that pie in the sky and the sweet by-and-by yes and praise God for that because I plan on eating that pie I plan on enjoying my pie in heaven it's a crown of glory it's a crown of life it's a crown of rejoicing and I plan on hearing those words one day well done thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord and at that moment all the sorrow and the suffering and the hardship and the difficulty in the pain and the heartache is going to be gone and wiped away there'll be no more tears he'll wipe away the tears from our there'll be no sorrow no crying no sin no sickness no sadness it's the land of no more Satan will be bound he'll be banished and we'll be in the presence of the Lord heaven is a wonderful place and we're going to go there someday met and there's nothing wrong with wanting to go to heaven but until that day we need to live here on earth there's nothing wrong with hoping for heaven and longing for heaven and anticipating heaven but here's the sad thing if you're not a Christian this morning you don't have that hope all you have is this life all you can do is cross your finger and hang on to your rabbit's foot and bless your lucky stars and hope that everything goes smooth because this is all you have here and now but if you're a Christian you have heaven in your soul right now you have joy in the midst of even sorrow and suffering and you have hope beyond the grave it's all because Jesus Christ came from heaven died upon the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead and he's gone back to heaven and one day he's going to take us there he said I've gone to prepare you a place and if I go to prepare your place I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also every year that passes means we're only a year closer to going to heaven and being with the Lord amen my question this morning is do you have that hope of heaven are you a Christian have you been born again have you trusted Jesus Christ do you know that if you died right now that you would go to heaven the Bible says are all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God the Bible says there's no one righteous know that well we're separated from God our sins have separated us from God and that's the reason Jesus came from heaven died on the cross to pay for our sins and he rose again from the dead now if you will trust him he will save you give you heaven in your heart and take you to heaven someday when you die and if you're here right now listening to these words and you don't know beyond any doubt that if you died you'd go to heaven I want to give you an opportunity right now right here to trust Jesus Christ and invite him into your heart and let him forgive your sins you can leave here today with the hope of heaven in your heart by saying Jesus I am sorry for my sins Jesus I believe you died for me I asked you to come into my heart and forgive me and make me your child if God has spoken to you through this message today and you're not sure that you're a child of God maybe you don't know for sure that if you die today that you would go to heaven you've never really trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior I would like to lead you in a prayer right now inviting Christ to come into your heart and to be your Savior so as I pray this prayer I want you to repeat it out loud right where you are after me make it from your heart inviting Christ to come in and be your Lord and Savior let's pray dear Lord Jesus I'm sorry for my sin I pray that you'll forgive me and come into my heart and make me your child fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to live for you all the days of my life I believe in you I receive you as my Lord and Savior in Jesus name Amen if you prayed that prayer and you meant it God heard that prayer and I believe that God will and does forgive your sins we'd like to help you get started growing in your walk in relationship with Jesus Christ god bless you if you just prayed with Pastor John to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior we are so excited for you and we'd like to send you a Bible and some resources to get you started in your relationship with the Lord simply click on the contact' link at the top of the page and tell us something like I prayed to accept Christ we'll get your Bible and resources mail that to you right away god bless you and welcome to the family of God

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

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Length: 43min 37sec (2617 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 14 2018