James gives us a stark reminder. We can’t try to play Christian and fool God. We either follow Him or we don’t . We either live lives that are different from the prevailing culture or we don’t. God calls us to be humble and trust him for daily strength. We either do it or we […]

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Throughout this past summer we examined wisdom as it is seen in the Proverbs. In a brief segment of James, tied in contextually with how we use our words, we are given an outline of the differences between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. It should be obvious, what path we want to choose, but it […]

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The ability to communicate is a gift. God has gifted humans with speech. Words are important. Words are powerful. Words are permanent. Words can build up or tear down. James reminds all of us that we need to be very careful as to how we use our words.

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It is easy to talk about how good we are or how much faith we have. James essentially says “talk is cheap.” The proof of one’s faith is not in their personal declaration, it is in the way they live their lives. If one is not exercising their faith, then there is a possibility it […]

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Who is unworthy of your kindness? Who is unworthy of your help? Who is unworthy of your respect? Think very carefully before you answer those questions. We have a tendency to determine who is worthy of our attention based on what we see. No matter who we are we can be guilty of showing favoritism. […]

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A new theme that will play out through the book of James is introduced in this section. James is about living what we say we believe. First we are instructed to be good listeners, and people who don’t adopt ungodly standards for bringing about change. We are reminded that just taking in the word and […]

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Navigating difficult times in our lives can be managed as we learn to have the right perspective. We have learned to have an attitude of joy because of what we know to be true (James 1:3-8). As James develops this thought he reminds us that we need to be dependent upon God, not our wealth. […]

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We all face pressure. We all have struggles, or tests, or trials that come into our lives which are hard. It is at these times when our faith in God’s presence, or His ability, or His care are called into question. As we begin a Fall study in the book of James we discover that […]

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Why are we here? Many of us have at one time or another wondered either out loud or in the depths of our own minds. The simple answer is we are here because God created us. But maybe the question that is really being asked is “What is my purpose?” We want to know that […]

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All too often the epilogue of the book of Proverbs is reserved for Mother’s Day sermons. However, we need to  look at these last 22 verses of Proverbs from the standpoint of the whole book, that being wisdom. Since wisdom is personified as a woman in the early parts of Proverbs, it stands to reason […]

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