What is important about the book of Psalms? The psalms point to Jesus, were sung by Jesus, and help us connect to Jesus. Why should we pay attention to the psalms? They are a powerful devotional and prayer tool, they validate our human experience, and they connect our present to our past.

"Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." The problem is we don’t love, nourish, attend to, and protect our body. When we don’t, it’s not neutral - it is opposite.

The Blessed: Abraham and Sarah show us that we inherit a relationship with a faithful God and access to the power of life.

The Bondservant: Through Hagar the bondservant, we see that we inherit a relationship with a present King and access to the well of life.

The Bridegroom: Ultimately, it is through relationship with the bridegroom that we inherit our true identity as blessed bondservants.

“For the natural man is wholly occupied about the things of this world, and he seeks felicity here … but Christ, by the preaching of the gospel … reforms all our earthly affections, and so having striped us out of the vices of our flesh, he separates us from the world.”

- John Calvin

“In the biblical view, a miracle is a signal that God is, for a moment and for a special purpose, walking down paths he does not usually walk. A miracle is not a sign that a God who is usually absent is, for the moment, present. It is only a sign that God who is always present in creative power is working here and now in an unfamiliar style.” – Lewis Smedes

The ability to be truly patient is connected with who you believe has the power in the situation. If you believe you do – you can’t exercise true patience. James calls that arrogant. If you believe that a person, government, or boss does then you aren’t really exercising patience you are just submitting to a power relationship. But if you believe that God is in control you are able to exercise a Spirit-empowered patience.

Hoarding vs. Saving – Jesus helps us to see where our hearts are drawn away from God. What am I doing with the resources God has placed in my hands? God rescues, redeems, and invites His people to do the same.

Everyone has a war internally. It is our fanatical pursuit of “what I want and believe I deserve” that amplifies the war in our souls. Only God gives the grace and the ability to fight the battle. When we surrender to Him we resist the devil and the devil will flee. Imagine the freedom of no anxiety, competition, fights and quarrels. Imagine a stable and joyful soul, a deep satisfaction and certainty that your Father is good and powerful regardless of the craziness of the world. That is God’s promise if we draw near to Him.

James says that we all stumble in what we say, and that no human being can tame the tongue. Why is that? Because a tongue issue is really a heart issue. It is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. We cannot fix our hearts, but God can create in us a new heart. From the overflow of this new heart, the mouth will speak new things. The exceedingly great resurrection power of God is in us, He has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

"My BROTHERS and SISTERS, show NO PARTIALITY as YOU HOLD the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of GLORY. " Where do we go wrong? We allow cultural pressure to dictate our actions. We all have blind spots. We treat people as an IT rather than a THOU. Remember John 15:7-12, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."