Fresh Manna 2021

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Strong Tower Radio

Jacob Gibbs

Finding Joy in Affliction

Ah Fresh manna fell to the ground as a gift from God while the Israelites were in the wilderness.

It was fresh from the ovens of heaven, baked by the master baker himself.

How the Israelites must have anticipated the taste and smell of each morning's delivery.

Just like the Israelites, you too can experience the taste and smell of fresh manna.

To Jacob Gibbs, pastor of the Cedar Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cedar Lake, Michigan.

That is our thought for today, finding joy in affliction.

Most likely, it doesn't put a smile on your face, but let's pray.

Father, we want to understand how affliction is used so that we can have joy, So that we can understand what pain can do for us, what trials and tests, how you use them to help us.

Help us to respond to these things rightly, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Trial is something that is common to everybody, isn't it?

You can look back in your experience and there's been moments where you don't know how you're going to get through or you're worried about something.

It could be relationship marriage turbulence.

It could be work issues where you get let go and trials take place or we've had many trials and we go through trials but how in the world can these things bring us joy?

What are some of the big issues that you had to face?

Go through the, for some of you, the Rolodex of the mind.

For others of you, go through the database of the mind.

And just think about right now, just think about what was the hardest trial that you had to face.

Did that trial, when you're going through it, was there any joy there?

There's a song about when Jesus is in the vessel.

When Jesus is in the vessel, Were you smiling at that storm?

But sometimes the trial comes and goes and we get through it and then we can see a different perspective.

And 1 thing that I, it's an anchor point in my life, it was in 1996, and you've probably heard of this story or bits of it.

I woke up in a hospital and I eventually saw my mom and that was a trial.

I didn't know how to handle it and I was not smiling.

But looking back 25 years ago when that happened, I can realize how that accident put my family in such a position so we could accept Jesus, the whole family.

The oldest brother accepted Jesus first and led the whole family to Jesus.

After everything we can count it joy because we see how God works these trials.

And in the midst of these hardships, how in the world do we get through?

You know, you go to the doctor and the doctor has that serious face and says, this is what's happening.

I mean, we understand the trials that we have.

When I first became a Christian at 19, I loved the book of James.

I Struggled with Paul Maybe some of you understand that James writes kind of in a Layman's terms a little bit easier to understand so I gravitated towards that 1 right away because I married an English teacher because I never really read a book in high school and so she's been helping me ever since.

You know when I met Jesus, I realized that you can learn about Jesus from the book.

I started reading and so I've been reading ever since I was 19, but it's nice to have a head start.

James chapter 1, James the bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings.

My brethren, count it or consider it all joy when you fall into diverse or various trials, temptations.

Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, or you could say endurance.

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

When you think of that word count or consider, what's happening in the brain?

Could you imagine The Bible wants us to be thinking people.

I did a little bit of study on the internet because I wanted to see what's out there when it comes to thinking in society.

You know, it goes along with what people jokingly say is after they read a little bit or study for a test, what do they say?

I've been thinking too much or studying too much, but today it seems like there's a dearth in thinking.

Just type in lack of thinking in society and look at the articles you get.

And you get it from various disciplines across the field about how today there's a lack of thinking in society.

So James tells us 2, 000 years ago, and it's a good idea, think, start thinking.

I gave you brains, God says, let's use them.

What brain are you thinking with when trials, tests, afflictions come?

In a sense, we could see it as a higher or lower type of thinking.

When I say higher, I mean powers of thought that come from the brain's center of thinking where morals and judgment and examination comes from, reasoning, rather than the lower side of the brain that thinks with the passions and the feelings and the emotions.

Now we don't want to demoralize or demonize the lower brain.

Sometimes we say, well, 1 is good and 1 is bad.

God made these, but we just want to make sure we crown the 1 so the other is in its proper sphere.

What's happening, why people are saying society is not thinking, it's because they're crowning passion, they're crowning feelings, they're crowning emotions, and letting that dictate life and paths that we take in life.

Finding Joy in Affliction

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