Victory Over Life's Difficulties Part 1

INTRO: Life is filled with difficulties. There is a very good reason for that, and if we know God at all we should know that. How many say, "If there is a God, why do people suffer?" But there are very good reasons why people suffer.
We are going to look at how to deal with life's problems from a Christian perspective. But for those who are not Christians to deal with life's problems for what God has intended these problems, they must first determine whether there is in fact a God and if so, who is He or who are they? In this message we take for granted that the listener is a Christian.
To hear some Christians, one would think that a Christian should not have problems. If he does, he must be living in sin. But the facts are there is a very good reason why the lost and the saved both have a lot of difficulties in life and we will look at that.
Let me further give the main reasons I see why unbelievers have difficulties and that is through these God wants to bring them to Christ. He wants them to recognize they are sinners and lost and through this bring them to repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. The reason God allows Christians to suffer is to conform them to the image of Christ. Let me just say this, if we never had problems we would never get saved and all of mankind would go to hell. And second, if the Christian did not have problems, he would never become like Christ.