To the Praise of His Glorious Grace

Sermon on James 1:12-18

Gideon Report

Most people in America would identify themselves as Christian, but when it comes to how their beliefs about God have affected their daily lives, it becomes very apparent that their Christianity is name only and many individuals think this is completely okay according to God's Word. James has to say something about this mindset that is so prevalent in our day and was beginning to play a part the churches to which he ministered. James writes,  "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away...

The two words every student in all the history of student-hood absolutely loathes is final exam. In one of my language classes in school, our teacher encouraged all the students not to worry if we miserably fail a test here or there in the semester because the final exam was the most important. The flip-side to this "good news" was that if we failed the final exam, it didn't matter how may other tests in the class we aced, we'd be back next semester! In the book of James, the half-brother of Jesus teaches us a similar concept related to our spiritual lives. The believers James wrote to knew about tests of faith and were in the middle of them on a regular basis, so James challenges them to have the proper perspective as they encounter these tests and not to become confused about who God is because of the difficulty of these tests. James also reminds these believers that life is full of tests, but the most important test is the one that spans from our conversion unti...

Sermon on James 1:9-11

Sermon on James 1:5-8

Have you ever had "more month at the end of your paycheck than paycheck at the end of your month", as one brother in Christ has worded it to me? It's not a good feeling when the money runs out and you've got half the month's groceries and gas still needing to be bought. Can you imagine living paycheck to paycheck for years on end? Perhaps you don't have to imagine at all. Maybe you're on your last P, B, & J and your about to try a ritz cracker, ketchup and mustard sandwich…you perhaps can teach me a thing or two about financial trials. Whether you're sipping a 'vente' frappuccino from Starbucks in your leather recliner using your iPhone or at the local library with sweat down your back from walking 3 miles there because your car has no gas, James has this message for you: financial stability is no way to measure the status of your life, but only the riches that you will carry with you beyond the grave. In James 1:9-11, we read, ...