Proving Grounds: The Forging of a Complete Christian

By Joshua Kelley

James 1 tells us what is going to take place in our life in order to forge us into the Christians that we need to be. God has told us clearly in this chapter about the proving grounds (trials of life) that he would take us through in order to make us into the perfect (complete) Christian. Understanding this chapter helps us understand the purpose of the trials, so that we might be able to obtain the lessons we are supposed to learn. These lessons will forge us and help us prove ourselves so that we might have confidence in our faith and our walk with the Lord. Passing through the trials of life makes us ready to serve God in every capacity He has for us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387931156

Book preview

Proving Grounds: The Forging of a Complete Christian

By Joshua Kelley

Copyright

Proving Grounds: The Forging of a Complete Christian

Copyright © 2022 by Joshua Kelley. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-387-93115-6

Edited by Marianne Kelley

Cover design by Austin Binkley

All scripture quotations are taken from the Authorized King James Version.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my dear friend Mark Oprzedek. I thank the Lord for using him in a great way to encourage me through some of the darkest days of my ministry.

Introduction

Have you ever been unsure of yourself? Have you faced something in life for the first time wondering if you are ready? I have, many times.

I remember a time that stands out in my mind when I was fresh out of the police academy. I had been at work for several hours, and midnight had come and gone. The police radio was so busy with radio traffic that it was difficult to keep up with what was going on in the city. I was driving in a police car with my field training officer next to me evaluating my every move.

I remember the radio call like it was yesterday, breaking through the busyness of 911 calls my fellow officers were dealing with, when I heard my badge number over the radio, 445. I responded, and the dispatcher immediately began to dispatch us to the north side of the city to a violent domestic disturbance with weapons. She explained that she did not have any closer officer to respond and that all the other officers in the city were busy on other calls.

Enroute, more information was being relayed to me. Based on the 911 caller, the situation was getting worse and involved several people outside the house. My thoughts were spinning on what I had been taught and learned, and at the same time, trying to remember the details of the call. I was trying to make sense of the information that was given to me, the reality of exactly what we were walking into.

I turned on the street that the disturbance was on and thankfully remembered to park a little way down the road. We got out of the car and started walking towards the house, and we could hear some people threatening each other. Two men were in the street arguing, one wielding a baseball bat. My field training officer and I immediately split them up because they looked like they were ready to come to blows at any moment.

Several minutes went by with us trying to figure out what was going on when, suddenly, a suburban pulled up and parked down the street. At least half a dozen angry, drunken men started pouring out of the vehicle, wanting to get involved in the situation between the two original men. Immediately tensions flared back up, and commands were given to multiple people to go back to the vehicle.

Everything happened so fast that my memory of this begins to get blurry. I watched as the man with the baseball bat turned on my field training officer. He started shouting at him and lifted his bat to strike him on his head.

I immediately had to decide how to respond, and quite frankly, I did not have time to think about it.

The man I was talking to was trying to rush past me so that he could fight the man with the baseball bat. So many thoughts were racing through my mind. I knew that if the man swung that bat, there was a high probability that my field training officer would be severely injured or possibly die.

Standing in the street in the wee hours of the morning with just shy of a dozen drunken men and the other officer in imminent danger, I had to figure out what to do. With one hand I grabbed the man trying to get past me to keep him away from the man with the baseball bat. Simultaneously, I drew my weapon, aiming at the man with the bat.

My heart was pounding, and I began to get tunnel vision. All I remember about that moment was zeroed in on the man with the bat. I looked down the top of my pistol trying to make sure I had a clear shot so that no one else would get hit. I was terrified.

I watched as my field training officer turned to look at the man with the bat. I put my finger on the trigger, and suddenly, my field training officer pushed the man with his left arm. He barely made contact with his chest, and it did not hurt him. It did not even move him backwards, but instantly, in his face you could see a change, and he lowered the bat. I do not know why he changed his course, but I was glad for it. I holstered my gun, and in the next twenty or thirty minutes, we solved the problem and left.

This was the single most difficult and trying circumstance I had ever been in, in my entire life, up until that moment. I would have had no idea how I would have reacted to this situation prior to this occurring. No amount of training and knowledge could have taught me what I learned that night.

Over the course of the next six months, I was placed in many similar situations. It was my proving grounds, a time of trials and scrutiny that I had to go through before I was allowed to continue in my career.

It may sound strange to hear, but I look back on that night with a smile, not because I enjoyed it or because it was fun. I think about the protection of God that night. I think about the lessons I learned. I think about the assurance that I received, knowing that I would react properly when crisis would come.

We read in the Scriptures, in James 1, about something very similar. We are told about the proving grounds of our spiritual life, teaming with trials, testings, and difficulties that will come our way. These times will not be pleasant but will be of great value.

Serving the Lord is not easy. During these trials of life, God will teach us some of the most valuable lessons in our lives. They will prepare us, step by step, so that we can be well equipped to serve Him faithfully.

Chapter 1

Dear Church

JAMES, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

(James 1:1)

God is in control. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows what is going to be in your life tomorrow. He knows what is going to be in your life the next day and the one after that. He knows that you are reading this book right now. He knows everything.

God providentially orchestrates the circumstances in our lives. Not all of them are pleasant, but they are provided for a reason.

In the book of James, we find the very first words of the New Testament being penned. Up until this point in history, no single New Testament book had been written. There were no epistles or letters from John or Paul. There were no Gospel records of Jesus Christ written down. When James began to pen this letter to his church, they only had access to the Old Testament of the Bible for reading and study.

You may wonder who James was. There are four men that bear the name James in the New Testament. He was not the James that, along with Peter and John, was part of the inner circle of the twelve disciples. This James was the pastor of the Church of Jerusalem. He was the first pastor of the very first church, and it was one of the largest churches you could ever imagine. Recorded for us in the book of Acts, we see that on one day alone they had three thousand people added to the church.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

(Acts 2:41)

Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

(Acts 2:47)

Because this was such a large church, James would have had many responsibilities and duties, to include counseling, discipleship, witnessing, visiting the sick, in addition to preparing messages and teaching the people the Word of God.

James was also the pastor of the church that the apostles attended. Can you imagine pastoring a church where the apostles were in the congregation? That is from whom we are reading.

Before we begin to read from this book, I want you to travel back in time with me for just a moment. I want you to think about your family. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the original hearers of this epistle.

The year is approximately AD 35. You have traveled to the temple for worship, or you are around the temple complex doing business. You hear Peter preaching, and you draw closer and listen to him as he preaches from the Old Testament. As a good Jewish person, you would know it well. Peter reads from the Isaiah scrolls and from Ezekiel, the Psalms, and Daniel. He proclaims Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Savior.

You know that Jesus had just been put to death on a cross and that many people in Jerusalem had seen Jesus walking around alive after He came out of the tomb. In I Corinthians 15:6, Paul tells us that Jesus was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. It was common knowledge that He was risen from the grave. You, along with the entire city and region, would have been aware of these recent events.

You listen as Peter preaches, and you know that he is right. Jesus Christ is the Messiah, and you and other people who are sitting there listening to this sermon fall on your knees and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior. This is the beginning of your new life in what we would call Christianity.

You join the church. You grab your family. You tell them that you heard this great passage of the Old Testament being preached. It is Jesus that the prophet Isaiah was talking about in Isaiah 53. It is Jesus that David was proclaiming in the Psalms. It is Jesus that Moses said would be the Great Prophet. It is Jesus who is the Christ who can save us from our sins. And your family comes to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

You begin to meet with the rest of the New Testament church in Jerusalem. You spend time in each other’s homes. You hear Pastor James preach from the Word of God regularly and consistently, and you and your family begin to grow in your Christianity. You begin to see Jesus for who He is, and you grow in your faith.

Let us move forward a few years. You and your family have now spent a decade in this church. Your children have grown up hearing men like Peter, James, John, Thomas, and Philip preaching and teaching from the Word of God. You saw as the Holy Spirit of God came. You saw as the church went through exponential growth and God performed miracles. Your church was predominantly comprised of other religiously literate Jewish people. They knew the Bible stories that we grew up listening to in Sunday school as children.

Gradually, over time, you find yourselves in a vastly different position. Peter and John, along with other apostles, are beaten for preaching the Word of God. This exciting nature of church growth and biblical knowledge takes on a different tone. Something happened, slowly at first, and now the Sanhedrin are coming after people who attended this church and throwing them in jail.  The Romans are involved. It is not safe to even name the name of Christ outside of your door, yet you have been commanded to proclaim the Gospel and be a witness for Jesus Christ.

Severe persecution comes. Families begin to leave. It is either leave the city and move to another region or risk persecution. Those of us who have been together for the last decade are scattered abroad. We had become a family because our relatives disowned us when we left what they believed was the Jewish faith. Our families would have held funerals for us. Bolstered by the persecution