Over Christmas Peggy and I spent a lot of time assembling a jigsaw puzzle.

There are many principles of life involved in assembling a jigsaw.

1) it requires patience and perserverance
- many times spent 20 30 minutes without fitting in a single piece.
- after a short break we fit in many pieces with little effort.
It would have been easy to have simply given up.

In life we live in an evil corrupt world.

We often go a lot longer than hr without accomplishing what we
want/
We can become very frustrated by obstacles.

Solution:
Remember that God loves us immensely.
John 3:16
1 John 3:16
16
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his
life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

He wants to take care of us and our care - He has made this clear to
us in His Word.
1 Peter 5:7

He has given us many blessings promises. Eph 1:4

He has made us partakers of His divine nature.
2 Peter 1:4
4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

He wants to be involved with us. - tells us to pray to him when we

have a need -Phil 4:6
He wants us to walk and talk with Him.
He wants us to be much more aware of His presence and His voice.

There are times when life seems difficult.

- too much to do, too little time
- apparently insurmountable obstacles
- uncomfortable circumstances
- doubts concerning future prospects.

Christians often are uncomfortable talking about this

Nothing should ever go wrong
If it does that means I am out of fellowship

John 9:1-4
 JV
John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from
his birth.
2
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or
his parents, that he was born blind?
3
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents:
[There should be a period here followed by But with a capital b] but
that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night
cometh, when no man can work.

We live in a fallen world ruled by the devil therefore things will go wrong
KJV
2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Acts 7:54 - 8:4 Stephen

54
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they
gnashed on him with their teeth.
55
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost [he was not out of fellowship],
looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God,
56
And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God.
57
Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and
ran upon him with one accord,
58
And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid
down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
59
And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.
60
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Notice below how the disciples responded to the tragedy of Stephens death:
They mourned his death
While they were mourning many of them were persecuted
imprisoned
They scattered BUT they didnt go into HIDING
They went everywhere preaching the word.
They continued to look to God
to walk with God
to speak Gods Word.
KJV
Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time
there was a great persecution against the church which was at
Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions
of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
 2
And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great
lamentation over him.
3
As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every
house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
4
Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where
preaching the word.
They didnt give up!!
During trying times its important for us to persevere.
(The following verses talk about Phillips time in Samaria what if he had
given up because of the persecution)

Paul certainly found himself in difficult situations.

He had a choice to make
- preserve or give up or perish

2 Corinthians 11:23-28
23
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours
more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in
deaths oft.
24
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered
shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils
by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren;
27
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me
daily, the care of all the churches.

I have never experienced beatings, stonings, and shipwrecks.

Paul persevered through all these things
so he could do Gods work
God had made him responsible to preach the gospel and to care for the
church.
How did he do it? He didnt just endure.
He endured and continued to bless Gods people
How?

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance
of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above
measure.
 8
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from
me.
9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in
my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak,
then am I strong.

The answer: Paul didnt face troubles alone.

He looked to God when faced with beatings, stoning, and
shipwrecks.
He recognized that on his own
independent from God he was unable to deal with the
circumstances.

He went to God.
He prayed 3 times.

God didnt ignore his prayer

- answered his prayer by giving revelation.
- Gods response is quite interesting.
(For many years I had a problem with Gods response.
God didnt tell Paul,
Dont worry about it Paul,
I will take care of these people so they wont be able to
beat you.

God didnt simply make the problems vanish.)

Why? --- I dont know maybe it wasnt available.

Gods response to Paul was that His grace was sufficient for Him.
God also told Paul that
- Gods strength was made perfect [complete, most
effective] in weakness.
- that is - when Paul recognized that he
was unable to handle something on his own
so he would look to God to help him,
then and only then would God be able to help him
-- so he would able to endure the hardship and
-- push through to accomplish Gods work

1 Pet 5:6-7
6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time:
 7
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

People often read verse 7 without reading verse 6, but I believe that verse 6
sets the context for verse 7.
Verse 6 tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.
Verse 7 tells us how to do that
we do it by casting our cares on Him.
Why? His grace is sufficient for us and
He cares for us, and He is mighty.

So the lesson of the jigsaw puzzle is

when life seem hard
persevere
How? Humble yourself under the MIGHTY hand of God by
casting ALL your care upon Him
KNOWING He cares for you.