Sunday Summary, 27/7/14
Valley Church
On Sunday, we launched our new preaching series entitled James: Wisdom From Above. The book of James was written to help Christians reach maturity, developing fully, by applying the wisdom of God to all of life’s circumstances. So it talks about money, judging, faith, works, speech and much more. The importance of James lies in the fact that all the way through he contrasts between a conventional wisdom and the Wisdom From Above.
And so, we began with an overview of the book in the morning and in the evening, Ps Dave Stoner from Hope City Church in Liverpool spoke on the topic of Wisdom and Trials.
One of the things he said which was just so powerful was that “trials are not there to break you… they are there to make you.” In other words, God may not be sending the trial your way, but He can certainly use it to make you the man or woman God wants you to be!
It’s often said that God will turn your greatest misery into your greatest ministry. Or perhaps, if God will use you greatly, He will allow you to be wounded deeply.
Trials as far as James is concerned are there to produce maturity and fruit in our lives. Ps Dave Stoner went on to say that “we are not who we are despite our trials, but because of our trials.” In other words, it’s often through the challenges, stretches and difficult times of life where God really does something powerful in us that He can use for His purposes in a great way!
So, in the midst of trial, difficulty and suffering, let’s remember that a trail doesn’t have to break you! It will make you if you go to God in the midst of it and ask Him what He’s teaching and showing you.
As always, you can download the weekend podcasts at valleychurch.eu/messages or search for Valley Church on iTunes.
Keep coming back each Sunday as we look at more and more areas of life where we need to apply the wisdom that comes from above.
– Dave