Advent and the celebration of Christmas is a glorious reminder that our past, present, and future hope does not rest on our willingness, but on the willingness of the ONE from whom the angels sing, the shepherds worshiped, and the kings searched for on that first Christmas morning. Christmas is a declaration of the willingness of Jesus!

The promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, was born on Christmas day to save sinners and destroy death forevermore. This is what we celebrate during the season of advent! The one lawgiver and judge, Jesus Christ, is the only one who can save sinners and destroy death, and He did this through his perfect life, substitutionary death, and triumphant, bodily resurrection! Jesus is the only Judge who can save and destroy. This became a reality for you and me when Jesus was born on Christmas morning.

We celebrate God's calling, provision, and grace of sending off our first church plant, Sufficient Grace Church. SGC will be located on the South Hill of Puyallup and will be led by elders, Noah and Jeremy, and elder candidate, Andrew. Gospel Life will be sending off a little over 100 people from our body to start the new work. God is good! It's all about Jesus!

James presents this section for anyone who’s ever been in a fight before and is given to us as a way of helping us understand what’s really going on when you and I begin to experience conflict. Wars among us are caused by wars within us. Conflict in my life is caused by conflict in my heart. The flesh carries out what the heart wants.

Godly wisdom cannot be attained from intellectual effort or practical experience, but instead, it's received from time spent with God and walking closely with Him by faith. Godly wisdom, unlike worldly wisdom, sees things from an eternal perspective. Godly wisdom’s foundation is faith in the eternal promises of God. Therefore, the source of God’s wisdom is God himself, so to receive it, we must become saturated by God through our time in the WORD of GOD, time in prayer, and daily functional dependence on Him to survive living in this world. Wisdom from God is received by people who know their need for Him!

James continues his examination of the relationship between faith and works by exposing the tongue, which represents our speech and communication. He paints a detailed picture of the wicked potential that we can expect from our tongue. This description allows us to see that our tongues are a window to our fallen hearts that need saving and renewing. When our hearts are redeemed by Jesus, our tongues can be used to declare the gospel, encourage believers, and praise God.

Real, saving faith by grace through faith in Jesus always produces the good fruit of mercy! Authentic faith is visible, expressive, and active. The people of God show loving care and concern for others.

Our world is polluted because of the sin of partiality – it’s everywhere and in everything. Therefore, every Christian and every church must consistently examine their personal lives and corporate practices, so they can remain free of this devastating sin that destroys lives, uses people, and leads to idolatry. When they do, they’ll remain to be SALT and LIGHT in their community as God intends.

In this section of Chapter 1, James is NOT writing to tell us what to do to be saved. Instead, he is telling us what saved people do. We are deceived, at some level, if we think we love Jesus and the Gospel without telling others about the One we love. You can have perfect doctrine in your head but worthless religion in your heart.

God is winning and working in our world by advancing His Kingdom. God’s people are re-created by God’s grace, and therefore, empowered to participate in His work of making disciples and planting churches through their doing.