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LOVE HIM THROUGH THE TRIAL • Jun 15th 1973

Gaining the Crown of Life: Loving God Through Trials

Eternal Purpose Gene's Messages to the Church in Isla Vista, CA New Testament Organic Church The Epistles

How can Christians love God through trials instead of simply enduring them? In this powerful Bible teaching, Gene Edwards explores James 1:12 and the meaning of the “crown of life” promised to those who love the Lord.

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial… he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”

Gene challenges us to consider something deeper than merely surviving hardship. A Christian may persevere through a trial and still emerge wounded, exhausted, or resentful. But what if God desires something more? What if our trials can become occasions for a deeper, more passionate love for Jesus Christ?

Throughout this message, Gene traces the extraordinary love for Christ found in the early church. He points to Peter, the believers at Pentecost, and Christians who continued loving the Lord even when following Jesus brought persecution, suffering, and loss.

The challenge is not simply to endure adversity. It is to discover Christ in it.

Gene describes a Christian life in which even frustrations, disappointments, and painful circumstances become opportunities to turn toward Jesus—to worship Him, adore Him, and respond to His sovereignty with love.

This is what Gene connects with the crown of life: a believer who has discovered a love for Christ that circumstances cannot conquer.

If you are walking through a difficult season, struggling to understand God’s purposes, or longing for a deeper relationship with Jesus, this message offers a challenging perspective on Christian trials, spiritual growth, and victorious Christian living.

SCRIPTURE:
James 1:12
James 2:5
1 Peter
2 Peter

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Take hold of a fender, hold it, and say, Lord, I thank you for your blessed, pure, precious love, and sit there or lie there and love Him and worship Him and adore Him, with your whole being poured out. Skies and heaven are under your feet, and you will have matched your Lord. She’ll be a bride worthy of the King of Kings.

I want to say one more thing: I know everybody here is going to go out looking for a smashed-up automobile. You’ll find your smashed-up automobile in the form of a contrary wife, a horsey husband, or a worldly employee you work with. Your wrecked automobile may be nothing more than a flat tire on the freeway.

All I can tell you is this. Jesus Christ loves you passionately and has already expressed it. And there’s a passionate love in you that you have for the Lord. Probably, if it lacks anything more than anything else, it lacks an unabandoned expression at the slightest move of His sovereignty. I am talking about something I have never seen in a corporate group of people, and only an eye of faith can see it. If you see it, it can be yours, and in it is the crown of life.

I want to remind you of James 2. It says God has taken the poor of this world and given the kingdom of God to those who what? Who love Him. You get the crown, and you get the whole kingdom when you can love the Lord like that. And we love Him because He first loved us like that.

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