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Anger isn’t always wrong but it is always dangerous!

How many times we have stood at a place where paths diverged? One way led to knowing God better, the other to knowing him less. One way led to endurance, the other to indulgence. One way led to being confirmed, the other to being doubtful and full of doubt. And how often we have taken the wrong path?

If you could ask God for anything and know that you would receive it, for what would you ask? Health? Money? Friends? When Solomon was given just that opportunity, he asked for none of those things. Instead, he asked for wisdom. He realized that wisdom would do him (and those for whom he was responsible) more good than any of these other things. James tells us that we too can ask for wisdom and receive it. There is, however, a condition.

Imagine if a company sold an expandable jigsaw puzzle. You could buy the base-line, 100-piece model or you could purchase extensions that added 400 or even 1,400-pieces to the base-line model. In fact, the puzzle could be as big as you desired it to be. People are like that is some ways. They have the potential to grow to various sizes. They can be, as Jesus pointed out, least or greatest in the kingdom of heaven, depending on what they do on earth. The Book of James is about what people do on earth and, as such, it is practical. It is also about what people can become in heaven and, as such, it is glorious.

Ever had something completely unexpected happen? It might have been good, might have been bad but, either way, you didn’t see it coming. That’s because the future is not within our range of vision, not even the near future. We can anticipate it, plan for it, but we can’t really see it. But God can. So how can we learn to trust God for the future? Doing so is a key to spiritual health and growth.

What do these places have in common: Somme Valley, Pevensey, Normandy, Guam, Marathon, Bethlehem? At least this: they were all sites of famous invasions, but the invasion of Bethlehem was by far the most important. It not only changed a region, it changed the world. It not only changed history, it changed us. Christmas may have come and gone but the mission continues, and we are a part of it.

We’ve all known people who makes promises but rarely keep them. This week we look at the God who makes promises and would rather die than break them. The promise made in Micah 5 is all bound up with the Christmas story. Prepare to worship the God who delivers on his promises. Once, he even wrapped his Special-Delivery Promise in swaddling.

I don’t remember the first time I heard the phrase “grandfathered in.” It was probably in connection with a building code. But long before there were building codes, some people thought that they could be grandfathered in—to God’s kingdom. They hoped to slide in on the ethnic and religious coattails of old Father Abraham. In our text, John the Baptist sets them straight – and gives us a lot to think about!

As we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christ’s first coming, we will also get ourselves ready for Christ’s wonderful second coming! John the Baptist was a major figure in God’s work in the world. Jesus said, “…among those born of women there is no one greater than John.”